Artificial intelligence is set to become the key growth engine for online retail in Romania, according to Tudor Manea, CEO of eMAG, who said the company plans major investments in logistics, AI and financial services in the next fiscal year.

“We believe AI is the boost that e-commerce needed in order to grow from the current 11-12 percent penetration in Romania toward 20-30 percent, levels already seen in other countries,” Manea said.

He added that e-commerce still has “huge growth potential” and could “double or even triple” its share of total retail in the coming years.

“We strongly believe AI is not just a trend,” Manea said. “We already see practical results showing that AI can create shopping journeys that were previously impossible in e-commerce.”

According to the executive, AI is already improving internal efficiency and customer experience across the business: “AI can help employees become more efficient. AI can increase process efficiency. We believe it will continue to support the growth of e-commerce,”.

Manea said the group plans to invest 1.2 billion RON in the next fiscal year, exceeding last year’s investment level. “Approximately RON 700-800 million will go into logistics and delivery infrastructure,” he said. “Another roughly RON 200 million will be invested in AI.” 

At group level, eMAG currently has 9 million active customers generating around 100 million annual transactions, while working with approximately 80,000 partners. The company reported group turnover of 11.1 billion RON, broadly flat year-on-year. Taxes paid to the Romanian state reached 1.3 billion RON, up by several hundred million lei compared with the previous fiscal year. 

Sales generated by the eMAG Romania platform reached RON 10.6 billion in 2025, up 4 percent year-on-year. The number of products sold rose nearly 10 percent to 87.2 million units.

Manea said consumers became more cautious with large-ticket purchases during the year.

“What we saw in the market is that customers postponed more expensive purchases,” he said. “They bought fewer televisions, fewer washing machines and refrigerators.”

Instead, shoppers diversified their purchases across more categories. “People reoriented themselves and ordered products from as many categories as possible,” Manea added.

The platform recorded more than 1 billion visits throughout 2025, while the number of available offers on eMAG Romania expanded to 38 million.