Lockvia — открытая сеть постаматов для интернет-магазинов в региональных городах Румынии

Comparables: InPost (Poland/UK — the locker-first model), BOX NOW (a locker-only carrier in Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia and Cyprus that charges merchants per parcel), Packeta with its Z-BOX lockers, and in Romania Sameday easybox (≈ 6,000+ lockers nationwide, ~6,400 delivery points in 2025) and FAN Courier's FANbox. Romania passed 10,000 active lockers in 2025 — Sameday ≈ 60%, FAN Courier ≈ 25%, GLS ≈ 12% (eAWB via gadget.ro) — but they are concentrated in Bucharest and Ilfov (2,821 of 10,122). Lockvia bets on density in the next three metros, where locker coverage per resident is still thin.

Who pays

Paying customers are e-shops (a 'sale' = an e-shop that shipped paid parcels after the discounted onboarding batch); an active account is one that shipped that month. The average account sends about 220 parcels a month into the three cities — most are small and mid-size shops (fashion, cosmetics, books, supplements), a few send thousands. Shoppers pay nothing to Lockvia. Couriers renting compartments are a separate, contract-based income line.

How it makes money

Delivery to locker at 10.5 lei ex-VAT (≈ $2.32 at 0.221 $/lei) per parcel — about $510 per account per month; returns through the locker at 6 lei (≈ $1.33) for ~4% of parcels (≈ $12). In November–December (Black Friday, Christmas) the same shops ship ~37% more. Other couriers drop their own parcels into spare compartments at 3.5 lei (≈ $0.77) per parcel — modelled in proportion to e-shop volume (≈ 15%, ≈ $25 per account), because spare compartments exist only where e-shop volume has already built the grid. Ad screens on lockers earn ≈ $8 per account-equivalent of network size.

Key assumptions

• Price: 10.5 lei per parcel is below what full-service couriers average — Sameday booked RON 1.6 bn of revenue on 135 m parcels in 2025, ≈ 11.9 lei per parcel (thediplomat.ro) — and sits around the 9.99 lei eMAG once charged shoppers for easybox delivery. Locker-only delivery is cheaper to run, so it can undercut and still earn more per parcel than door delivery.
• VAT: Romania's standard VAT rate is 21% (raised from 19% in August 2025). Prices are quoted ex-VAT to VAT-registered e-shops, who reclaim it, so VAT is a pass-through and not an expense line; if you sell mainly to non-registered micro-shops, VAT becomes a real cost of ~17% of the gross price.
• Lockers: a large outdoor locker installs for €27.5–43k at retail, a medium (20–40 compartments) for €13.5–21k, and costs €50–120 a month to run (power €10–35, connectivity €15–35, maintenance €300–600/yr) — parcelhive.com. We assume €13k per 40-compartment unit at volume pricing (estimate), leased over 6 years (≈ €200/month), plus €70 operations and €40 site fee: ≈ $341 per locker per month. Because each city's grid must exist before it fills, lockers average only ~380 parcels a month over their life (estimate; ~550 when full), so locker capacity is modelled as a variable cost of ≈ $0.90 per parcel (≈ $198 per account), plus city hub rent ≈ $0.07 per parcel ($15). Courier parcels use the same compartments: ≈ $0.62 per parcel of capacity ($20 per account).
• Grid ahead of demand: each new city needs a minimum grid before the first parcel (40 lockers in Cluj, 30 in Timișoara and Iași). Rather than a separate fixed line, its idle cost is folded into the per-parcel capacity rate above (lifetime utilization, not mature utilization) — so the model is honest only if roll-out keeps pace with volume; a city opened far ahead of demand costs ≈ $10–14K a month more than shown.
• Transport per parcel ≈ 2.25 lei ($0.50): pickups and locker runs by subcontracted van partners paid per route; overnight sorting by a hub labour agency paid per parcel ≈ $0.10 (estimate); app, SMS and claims ≈ $0.04. Field technicians who service lockers are in the team; overflow to partner pick-up shops and extra agency sorters cover the November–December peak.
• Acquisition: account executives selling to e-shops — their salaries and commission are booked in the channel cost (≈ $1,100 per signed account), not in the team; Google Ads to e-commerce owners at ≈ $0.8 per click (estimate), 4% leads, 6% of leads ship; plugin listings on Gomag, MerchantPro, WooCommerce and Shopify at ≈ $200 per account referral fee; Meta at ≈ $4 CPM (estimate); shopper pull and word of mouth ≈ a fifth of new accounts. Onboarding: first 200 parcels at half price (≈ $154 per new account).
• Retention: 85% of e-shops keep shipping after month 1 and 53% after a year, then 3.5% a month leave — shops multi-home between carriers and move volume on price before Black Friday.
• Salaries (gross, monthly): developer ≈ $3,500, account executive ≈ $2,000, field technician ≈ $1,300, sorter ≈ $1,100; employer-side contribution (CAM) 2.25% because Romanian social contributions are withheld from gross pay.
• Horizon 60 months: a locker network is a density business — each new city is loss-making until its grid fills — so cumulative payback comes late. Initial capital of $0.6M is equity plus vendor lease financing for the lockers. Revenue per FTE is high because van transport and hub sorting are bought per parcel from partners, not staffed. Market cap: only ~1,500 e-shops ship meaningfully into three regional metros, so market saturation is on and growth flattens in year 4.

Risks

• Incumbents: Sameday added ~1,000 easyboxes in a year and FANbox is growing; if they saturate the same three cities, the price gap narrows and site hosts sell exclusivity.
• Sites: supermarket and residential hosts can demand higher fees or exclusivity; losing a high-traffic host strands a leased locker.
• Utilization: the per-parcel economics assume 550 parcels per locker per month; at 275 the locker cost per parcel doubles and the contribution halves.
• Peak capacity: in Black Friday week lockers fill up; overflow to partner shops is slower and costs more, and shoppers blame the e-shop.

How to adapt this model

• Other CEE markets (Hungary, Bulgaria, Czechia): change the per-parcel price, locker lease and site fees, salaries and VAT treatment; check the incumbent locker counts per city before choosing where to start.
• Pure infrastructure play (lockers for other carriers only): drop the e-shop channels and per-account delivery revenue, grow the carrier compartment line — revenue per parcel falls to ~3–4 lei but transport costs disappear.
• Buying lockers instead of leasing: move the locker cost out of per-account costs into an upfront investment (initialCash) and depreciation; cash need rises sharply, margins look better.
• Faster roll-out: open cities earlier with the matching hub, sorters and Google line — and lower the per-parcel capacity utilization assumption (raise the $0.90 capacity cost) while the new grid fills.

Sources

• gadget.ro (eAWB data) — 10,122 active lockers in Romania end-2025; Sameday 60%, FAN Courier 25%, GLS 12%; Bucharest 1,944, Ilfov 877, Cluj 702, Timiș 504, Iași 450: https://gadget.ro/romania-ajunge-la-o-retea-activa-de-peste-10-000-de-lockere-aka-easybox-uri-de-la-toata-lumea/
• thediplomat.ro — Sameday 2025: RON 1.6 bn revenue, 135 m parcels, ~6,400 delivery points in Romania, ~500,000 compartments: https://www.thediplomat.ro/2026/06/03/sameday-ends-2025-with-1-6-billion-ron-in-revenue-and-135-million-parcels-delivered/
• economedia.ro — eMAG flat fee for easybox delivery (9.99 lei): https://economedia.ro/emag-introduce-o-taxa-fixa-pentru-livrarea-la-easybox.html
• parcelhive.com — outdoor locker costs: medium €13.5–21k, large €27.5–43k installed; €50–180/month to run: https://www.parcelhive.com/blog/outdoor-parcel-locker-costs-specs-roi
• Global VAT Compliance — Romania standard VAT 21%: https://www.globalvatcompliance.com/globalvatnews/vat-rates-in-europe-2021/
• Wikipedia — InPost locker roll-out (16k lockers in Poland in 2021, 18.5k by mid-2022): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InPost