BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 25
By Sadraddin Agjayev – Trend:
Individual buyers and sellers aren't the only ones in the e-commerce market of Azerbaijan, it also includes state agencies and banks, Tariyel Agazade, program manager of Azerbaijan’s SUP.VC center, expert, told Trend.
“The entrepreneurs can’t actively work in the field of online trading in Azerbaijan because such giants as Amazon and AliExpress offer the same or similar products in a wider range and cheaper,” Agazade added.
"We, in turn, as developers and start-ups will participate in expanding the capabilities of entrepreneurs who own online platforms by offering them our startup projects, which in the future will help drive some foreign suppliers out of the market, replacing them with local ones," the program manager added.
Azerbaijani expert in the field of e-commerce Orkhan Ahmadli stressed that not only sellers, but also domestic producers of goods need to step up as far as development of e-commerce in Azerbaijan goes.
“We often purchase the goods that we don’t have, on foreign online platforms abroad,” the expert added. “It is unprofitable for our entrepreneurs to purchase accessories for their further sale on the local market, which are less popular in our country.”
“If the range of production of accessories for various gadgets is expanded in the country, then there will be no need for our citizens to buy these goods abroad," Ahmadli said, stressing that this step will also attract foreign buyers to the Azerbaijani market.
“Kazakhstan is exemplary in successful development of e-commerce, where sellers in e-platforms have been exempted from paying taxes for five years since 2018,” the expert added. “This has had a great impact on the development of such commerce. Many entrepreneurs have closed their facilities and switched to online trading by using their facilities as warehouses."
“Many people think that entrepreneurs involved in online sales earn more than traditional stores, but this is not so,” Ahmadli said. “They also pay for renting warehouses, have employees, pay taxes, spend money on advertising, pay a certain percentage (usually within three percent) to the acquiring system (the technology that allows to accept payment cards) and bear other costs.”
"I think that the e-commerce may rapidly develop in our country and the foreign markets may remain in the background when the state, entrepreneurs and manufacturers apply joint efforts,” the expert said.
“Of course, these issues are resolved at the state level and the banking sector is also working in this sphere to simplify the process of introducing the necessary technologies on online platforms," Ahmadli added.
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