Romania's e-commerce boom is expected to double the value of contracts sealed between online sellers and parcel shipping companies by the end of the year, and could account for 10% of couriers' turnovers on the short term.

The boom has been anticipated on the market, with Internet sales and home delivery pushing up couriers' turnovers. Sensing the business potential, the majority of delivery firms have started developing services specialising in this field.

Fan Courier, a major firm on the domestic courier market, expects the value of contracts sealed via online sales to double this year. As a result, the company will collect around 2m euros from e-commerce companies in 2007. Fan Courier's manager, Adrian Mihai, believes deliveries generated by e-commerce have advanced at a rate of 400%-500% over the past 2 years. Thus, e-commerce accounted for 5%, namely 1m euros, of the company's 21.5m-euro turnover last year.

"This year, e-commerce expanded, accounting for 7.5% in the company's turnover," said Mihai. Therefore, for turnover estimated at 32m euros this year, e-commerce is expected to account for 2.4m euros. In addition, the rapid growth rate is also expected to continue.

"E-commerce is still in its early stages in Romania, whilst statistics indicate we could double compared with 2006. Taking into consideration the future growth rate, e-commerce could account for 8%-10% of the company's turnover next year," says Mihai.

TCE Logistica, which operates on the internal courier services market, also expects the value of contracts signed with e-commerce firms to account for 10% in turnover. "At present, the value of contracts sealed with e-commerce firms weighs 4% in turnover, an increase from 3% last year," says Sorin Sofian, the company's manager. Last year, TCE Logistica generated turnover worth 8.5m euros and forecasts a 30% increase t