Romanians spend about EUR 200 million a year on flowers. The official flower market is some EUR 100 million, but the grey market is roughly equal, according to Marius Dosinescu, CEO and founder of FlorideLux.ro, one of the biggest local online flower shops.

The grey market includes flower resellers that buy the flowers outside the official retail channels.

Romanians are more interested in buying flowers online and orders have been increasing, despite the fact that they don’t see the final products before paying for them.

“Online sales are growing, as many classic flower retailers are going digital. Currently between 5% and 7% of the market represents online sales, which is some EUR 5-6 million,” said Marius Dosinescu, cited by local Economica.net.

He estimates that his online shop will reach EUR 1 million in sales this year. An online flower order has an average value close to RON 200 (EUR 45), which is double compared to traditional purchases.

editor@romania-insider.com