Kazakhstan aims at increasing export through e-commerce
At the Kazakh Government meeting on February 18, Prime Minister Askar Mamin ordered to work out measures to expand the export of Kazakhstani products through electronic platforms, the prime minister’s press service reported.
In 2019, 36.8 thousand new jobs were created in electronic commerce in Kazakhstan. Exports of Kazakhstani goods through electronic commerce reached $5 million. On the platform of the international company Wildberries registered in the Astana International Financial Center (AIFC), 21 Kazakhstani companies sell 594 types of goods in the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) countries. In the near future, the geography of sales will expand to EU countries.
It was said at the Government meeting that the e-commerce market of Kazakhstan in 2019 increased 1.8-fold and exceeded 700 billion tenge. The share of electronic commerce in total retail trade increased from 2.9% in 2018 to 3.7% in 2019. The volume of purchases on Kazakhstan’s online stores amounted to 422 billion tenge, on international online platforms – 280 billion tenge. The most popular products are accessories and appliances (35%), cosmetics (30%), household goods (15%), clothes and shoes (10%).
In 2019, 3.2 million active online buyers were registered in Kazakhstan (in 2018, 2.3 million people). There are more than 2 thousand online stores in the country, of which only 579 online stores are registered for tax benefits in the form of exemption from income tax.
In 2019, the volume of non-cash payments increased 2.3-fold and amounted to about 14.4 trillion tenge (in 2018 – 6.4 trillion tenge). The growth was due to the development of the infrastructure of trading POS-terminals, the entry of Apple Pay and Samsung Pay to the markets of Kazakhstan, the stimulation of customers of banks through bonuses and cashbacks, as well as the active use of cashless payments on all types of public transport.
