Online trade in Armenia grows 3 times during coronavirus-related state of emergency

YEREVAN, MAY 14, ARMENPRESS. In Armenia, people have done 3-time more online trade during the coronavirus-related state of emergency. This method of trading not only rules out the risks of not printing cash register receipts, but also prevents the further spread of the virus via banknotes and coins.

Stepan Tsaturyan, deputy minister of High Technology Industry, gave an interview to ARMENPRESS, talking about the electronic trade and the country’s actions in this sphere.

“During the state of emergency the online trade grew by nearly 3 times in terms of volume. Many restrictions were applied in Armenia after declaring the state of emergency, and under such circumstances the economic entities tried to present their services online”, he said.

This figure is general and includes the cases when people make a card payment at stores, as well as the cases when people order something online and get the product with the delivery. Various meetings, inquiries are organized with the businesses to clarify the concrete volume. When the payment is made online, it is immediately fixed. The state sees that, but it’s not visible whether the good ordered online is delivered to the client or he/she personally visits the store to get it.

The deputy minister said it’s important that both the economic entity and the clients prefer to make payments online as this reduces the risks. “Both the Prime Minister and the government’s other members encourage the citizens to demand cash register receipts in stores. But during the online trade these problems do not exist, as the whole turnover is seen very transparently in an electronic way”, he said.

Asked what actions the state is taking to make this culture of online trade constant after the completion of the state of emergency, the deputy minister said this depends on the quality of services provided by the businesses. “For instance, if a person buys something online and gets it broken, it’s obvious that he/she would not like to use that option again. Whether that culture will be maintained or not depends also on the citizens’ trust to the online trade. If the citizen doesn’t trust online deals, it’s an obstacle for the development of electronic trade”, Stepan Tsaturyan said.

The deputy minister said the ministry is engaged in the development of ecosystem. He highlighted the availability of services with the whole volume. Opening brackets, he said that HayPost, the national postal operator, is currently developing a strategy and a vision on new services. It’s one of the biggest infrastructures, offers its postal services across the Republic and ensures availability even in remote areas. Mr. Tsaturyan said in developed countries an important component of e-trade is through which partner the good is delivered. “This is one of the most important components for the development of ecosystem, which can be supported by the state”, he said.

Touching upon the question about the availability of ATMs, terminals in remote settlements, he said in this case the turnover is in cash. “But the ideology is for the cash to be used as little as possible. We should avoid using coins, banknotes as much as possible, as the experience showed that these methods serve as the best mean for the spread of a virus. Non-cash transactions are more preferable options, the whole world is going to that, and keeping banknotes is a very expensive process for the state”, he added.

Mr. Tsaturnyan informed that Minister of High-Tech Industry Hakob Arshakyan initiated meetings, discussions with the economic entities to reveal the problems and solve them during the current state of emergency. He assured that the ministry has made and is making initiatives, at the same time also works with the mobile operators.

Interview by Anna Grigoryan

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan