Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 28
By Nigar Guliyeva – Trend:
Uzbek e-commerce market is still in the process of growth, the founder of the online store LeBazar, Batyr Arifjanov, told Gazeta.uz.
Arifjanov noted that people now use internet not only for entertainment content, and at the next stage people will trust enough the internet to make purchases online.
"We understand that this will not happen massively now, it will happen gradually. But we must prepare for this and in fact we invest in educating the market and our potential audience, instilling in them the habit of making purchases through the internet," said Arifjanov.
Speaking about obstacles to the development of online shops in Uzbekistan, he noted that the problem can be divided to two parts: the legislative framework and the taxation.
"For example, we are now communicating with colleagues from Kazakhstan, they are closer to our mentality and we have similar histories. For retail and online purchases, our colleagues pay about 12 percent tax. Recently, a law was adopted there under which companies involved in e-commerce are completely exempt from income tax, and this is an excellent incentive to develop this market. We have huge income taxes (around 36 percent). Now we are working not for profit, but for investment, but there must be some incentive for entrepreneurs to see the light at the end of the tunnel and further engage in this business," said Arifjanov.
He noted that another important factor is the availability of the internet.
"In neighboring countries unlimited internet costs $10. This is an infrastructural issue. When you want the economy develop, you build roads. In the online life, internet is the road. If there is no road, cars can not move. Taking into account our internet, we now go off-road, because the quality and availability of the internet leave much to be desired. If these components improve, then the e-commerce market will grow and develop," said Arifjanov.