An increasing number of parents in Romania are choosing to purchase school supplies and other back-to-school items online, seeking to avoid the crowds in shops ahead of the new school year, according to a national survey conducted by Cargus.

Shopping baskets exceeded 500 lei for nearly 58% of them, and even surpassed 1,000 lei for around 22% of families. More than 49% of parents reported having to increase their back-to-school budget due to rising prices and the VAT increase, with 23% of them allocating over 20% more compared to last year.

Although Romanians are increasingly cautious with costs in the current economic context, quality was the key criterion for parents preparing for the new school year: 58.4% prioritized durability and reliability, while only 33.4% based their choices mainly on price.

School supplies clearly dominated this year’s shopping lists (88.9%), followed by clothing and footwear (79.2%) and backpacks and bags (48.6%). By contrast, electronic products such as laptops, tablets, or printers were purchased by just 6.6% of respondents.

For online purchases, parents focused on speed and flexibility. While most started shopping early – at least two weeks before school began (57.4%) or even more than a month ahead (22%), more than a quarter of online shoppers expected delivery within 1-2 days, while 52.3% were willing to wait up to 4 days, the survey shows.

Over 68% placed at least two online orders for their children’s school needs, with roughly half choosing to collect parcels from proximity points and 38.2% opting for home delivery. The Cargus survey was conducted in August-September 2025, on a nationally representative sample of 876 respondents from urban areas.