The latest from Banca Transilvania is that, together with Blugento, it has launched a complete eCommerce solution for SMEs, GoOnline. In practice, with this, an entrepreneur can open an online store or take their business online in no more than 3 days.

Through GoOnline, BT and Blugento set out to support entrepreneurs by giving them everything they need to move from offline to online. And because every partnership is about people and has a story behind it, let’s take a look at what’s behind the scenes :).

BT – Blugento – entrepreneurs: a win–win–win relationship

Blugento is an ambitious Cluj-based company specialising in eCommerce solutions built on the Magento platform. They describe themselves as flexible, high-performing, complete. The collaboration between BT and Blugento began more than a year ago. “The aim from the very start was to create a turnkey solution for all small retailers who want to expand or complement their brick‑and‑mortar sales with an online presence. At first it was quite hard because we faced reluctance and fear of the unknown. But today we can say we’re pleased, especially with the launch of GoOnline as an accessible option,” says Marius Flore, Director, Integrated Digital Services Department, Banca Transilvania.

“Our first meeting with Blugento confirmed that the path we chose to support entrepreneurs was the right one. Beyond the support we can offer through lending and everything that falls under banking transactions, it was increasingly clear that together with relevant partners we could also address other pain points for businesses in Romania. At BT we have over 250,000 entrepreneur clients; we want to—and can—find partners with an innovative product that solves a real need, can scale online and integrates with the bank’s other products and services. Blugento is such a partner. They’ve been working for a long time on a do‑it‑yourself online store solution and I’m convinced it will be a success. We at BT will certainly do everything we can to make that happen,” says Daniel Szekely, Coordinating Director, SME and Microbusiness Division, BT.

The first concrete step came last year, with the pilot phase of the GoOnline solution, available to entrepreneurs in Cluj‑Napoca and Bucharest. Positive feedback and tangible results followed quickly, paving the way for today’s nationwide launch. “The partnership with BT is Blugento’s biggest achievement so far; it’s a win–win relationship. We joined forces to create an integrated eCommerce solution and to give entrepreneurs in Romania easy access to a new sales channel: online. It’s great to see a bank standing by its clients and actively contributing to the development of their businesses. Through Banca Transilvania, we’re reaching many entrepreneurs who operate offline and see the opportunity to go online,” says Sandu Babasan, CEO, Blugento.

Blugento for entrepreneurs

With GoOnline, Blugento gives entrepreneurs everything they need to successfully launch an online store: “In at most 3 days we can deliver a fully functional store, ready to sell. We handle hosting, security updates, and the ongoing maintenance and development of the platform, so clients can focus on what matters to them—promoting and growing their business,” adds Sandu Babasan.

Setup is EUR 59, and there are three subscription plans, depending on the number of products in the online store and the features required, priced at EUR 19, EUR 59 and EUR 99 per month. Find details about the plans here.

A few simple steps to get an online store with GoOnline:

• Visit goonline.blugento.ro to choose your preferred design and subscription plan and place the order. Within 24 hours, the Blugento team will get in touch to start customising the store with details specific to the business.
• If the entrepreneur isn’t sure what suits them best, they can fill in the form available at www.bancatransilvania.ro/GoOnline, where the GoOnline offer is displayed. The Blugento team will also reach out to learn more about the business and propose the best solution.

Blugento: over 300 online stores in its portfolio and a 25‑strong team

Blugento’s story began in 2015. The actual development of the platform started within MindMagnet, an agency with 13 years’ experience building online stores on Magento technology. “Most of the agency’s clients are in the US, but when requests started coming from Romania, we realised that the EUR 5,000–10,000 needed to build a custom Magento store were prohibitive for this market and kept entrepreneurs out of eCommerce. That’s how the idea for the Blugento platform came about—designed to simplify building an online store and, above all, to offer the service at an accessible cost,” Sandu Babasan told us.

Blugento’s clients span a wide range of sectors: stores for product designers, restaurants and coffee shops, NGOs, manufacturing‑focused businesses. “One of the projects close to our hearts is the online store of the Cluj brand Meron, shop.meron.coffee, a brand focused on specialty coffee and barista equipment. It was interesting because Meron’s coffee shops have a strong offline presence, so we had to create a design that fit the brand’s visual identity perfectly. Meron’s owners were open to our proposals, and it turned into a very nice project,” added Sandu Babasan, CEO, Blugento.

Go online with GoOnline :)