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20 I Companies & Markets bne March 2021
Local fashion chain Miniprix, which had eight stores in the Roma- nian capital Bucharest at the start of the pandemic, also moved swiftly online when its stores were forced to close. Not only that, but the family-owned retailer moved into an entirely different segment of the market, opening up Minimarket grocery stores. When the lockdown eased, the move online had been so success- ful that Miniprix decided against re-opening two of its stores as it moved its emphasis to online sales, according to e-commerce platform provided Vtek which supported the project.
The shift to online fashion retailers, and the scramble by some major mass market retailers to up their online game is part of a global trend. People didn’t stop buying clothes during the pandemic, though they changed what they bought, with sales of loungewear and easy garments like throw-on dresses rising, while workwear and eveningwear purchases fell.
Berlin-based online fashion giant Zalando reported a 28.6% increase in the number of orders in the 2Q20 compared to the same quarter of the previous year, as well as a 27.4% y/y increase in revenues. This trend continued into the third quarter, despite the easing of lockdowns across Europe.
In the UK, Boohoo’s revenues were up by an even stronger 45% in the six months to August 31, 2020, putting the 14-year-old online fashion retailer in a position to buy the 242-year-old British retailer Debenhams. Other major European online fashion retailers have reported similar leaps in revenues.
Amid this international trend, Romanian analysts are bullish about the future for the country’s online retail segment.
Israeli agritech unveils “indoor growing” plans to challenge Iran’s global saffron dominance
bne IntelliNews
Saffron Tech, an Israeli wholly owned agritech subsidiary of Seedo Corp, has announced that it plans to develop
a new technology to challenge the global Iranian monopoly on saffron supply, which it says has been in place for 1,000 years and presently meets 90-95% of world demand.
The technology, it said, would provide for automated, year- round high-yield growing of high-quality saffron indoors.
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A report from Bucharest-based Tuya SEO & Digital Marketing estimated the country’s e-commerce sector would grow
30% y/y in 2020 to reach €5.5bn amid an 8% increase in the number of online shoppers. Fashion is the largest segment of the online market with a projected market volume of $943mn in 2020, said the report.
“The major breakthrough comes in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic ... e-commerce has kept the Romanian economy open and moving throughout the pandemic,” says the report.
“Many Romanian companies, but also many Romanian entrepreneurs who relied exclusively on a physical presence, realised the advantages of the online sector, so they shifted to e-commerce during this year.”
Another report, by iSense Solutions, expects an even bigger rise of 40% to €6bn in 2020, and a 13% increase in the number of Romanians shopping online.
“The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the market and shopping habits and was an opportunity to increase online shopping,” says the report. iSense’s survey revealed that 43% of respondents said they feel uncomfortable shopping in traditional stores because they are too crowded (71%) and do not adhere to social distancing rules (68%).
According to the report, the top 10 online stores and shopping apps in the fashion category are: online retailers eMAG, Fashion Days, About You and AliExpress; fast fashion retailers H&M and Bershka; local retail chain Miniprix; and European supermarket chains Auchan and Carrefour.
Harvesting on Torbat-e Heydarieh saffron farm in Iran's northeastern Razavi Khorasan province.
Iran is the dominant player in meeting world demand for saffron because it has natural conditions fit for the growing and production of saffron with traditional, labour-intensive methods, Saffron Tech noted.
"Saffron is used in many industries, such as the food industry, particularly by famous chefs and Michelin starred restaurants, the natural cosmetics industry and the natural medicine