How The Pandemic Impacted The E-Commerce Market In Georgia


GR Blog Featured Image COVID E Commerce version
Spread the love

E-commerce has significantly lowered transaction costs associated with buying, sales, operation, inventory keeping, and finance charges. According to eCommerce search statistics, 35% of consumers buy a product within five days of Googling it. In this case, smartphones have accounted for 40% of all eCommerce purchases completed during the holiday season. Also, 79% of American consumers consider free shipping to be the most essential factor for ordering online.

Georgia also does not fall behind in the race as the country is expected to generate $734.80 million in eCommerce market revenue by 2022. Besides, revenue is projected to grow at an annual rate of 18.86 percent (CAGR 2022-2025), begetting in a market volume of US$1,234.00m by 2025. Georgia’s logistical advantage is critical in assisting businesses in rapidly and effectively delivering their product to foreign consumers. Also, there will be no delay to observe Georgia enterprises moving e-commerce items with access to rapid, dependable shipping channels. 

Challenges of e-Commerce In Georgia

Although demand has seen a quick uptick, the online shopping experience has not been up to the highest standards in Georgia. It is logical as this new and fast adaptation had its challenges. The following are the obvious reasons for this.

Post-soviet countries generally lag in online shopping compared to western countries and Georgia is one of them. Domestic buyers are either not active or do not prefer purchasing through e-commerce platforms in post-Soviet states. The largest numbers of buyers come from the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Orders from former USSR countries are, on average, almost half from other regions, and there is thus a relatively low amount of sales from these countries. The companies in these countries (36%) are mostly young in e-commerce, only landed either in 2015 or 2016.

See also  6 Factors That Can Help You Get a Small Business Loan

Before participating in eCommerce, the absence of telephone connections, companies in developing nations need to solve the low quality, sluggish speed, and high bandwidth cost, as well as security concerns. Most underdeveloped countries lack ICT policies that guide Internet service provision. According to the survey results, 61.8% of households have a computer. The value of this indicator was 76.0% in urban areas and 42.4% in rural areas. Among the regions, the highest value was observed in Tbilisi and Ajara AR, 81.4% cent and 69.6%, respectively. There were 2.74 million internet users in Georgia in January 2021. The number of internet users in Georgia increased by 239 thousand (+9.5%) between 2020 and 2021. Internet penetration in Georgia stood at 68.9% in January 2021. However, only 21.7% of people 60 years of age and over, use the internet, minimizing the overall eCommerce shopping population.

Mobile apps are soaring in the leading channel for e-commerce globally, but they are unexpectedly restricted in underdeveloped regions in Georgian e-commerce. Online buyers expect computer-like functionality while shopping online from mobile apps. However, most Georgian online shops cannot provide a user-friendly mobile experience or do not have a mobile app at all only to encourage a poor shopping experience for the customers. The UX and UI were not as smooth and user-oriented as they should be. Load times, unclear product categories, and slow deliveries have resulted in a not-so-good shopping experience for many customers.

Deliveries are inconsistent on most platforms, making the shopping experience even worse so that grocery remains the least penetrated category in Georgia. But it is expected to increase the most in the medium and long run. As Georgian grocery merchants’ internet platforms were underdeveloped, meal delivery service providers integrated grocery delivery. So, it is to encourage the main hyper- and supermarket chains need to grab the opportunity for online sales, establish a digital environment and boost their sales channels.

See also  The Art of Stress Management PLR Review 2022 - Legit Or Hype?

However, it is fair to say that Georgians love online shopping as one of the newest and already successful Veli.store has managed to generate thousands of visitors within its first few months. Let’s dig deeper and see what makes Veli stand out from its competitors.

How Veli.Store Is Changing The Game

Veli.store is a relatively new player in the Georgian eCommerce market but did not take long to prove it to be the best with multiple products to avail, fast delivery, and an excellent shopping experience. They boast of products that may not be available in other stores in the Georgian online space before.

The brand is established to pioneer the best online shopping experience in entire Georgia and make people’s lives easier. Now, daily shopping includes 12 categories: Appliances, Beauty & Personal Care, Books, Baby Care, Toys, Home Furnishings, Stationery, and Home Care.

There are two things including retail prices and on-time delivery that have been key to Veli’s success. Surprisingly, the brand has made it possible to deliver the products within the same 3 hours, even with the free delivery service to the entire Tbilisi. This is the pure reason people have already been using Veli as an everyday shopping platform.

However, Veli is not limited to Tbilisi only. Rather, the brand aims to become Georgia’s largest and fastest e-commerce platform. So, the platform can be available anywhere, and the delivery service runs in regions.

Now, the delivery period is currently around 3-5 working days for regions. Most importantly, Veli has already started to offer one-day delivery for the capital of Georgia, Tbilisi. Besides Tbilisi, the brand delivers the orders in 3 hours to the 13 different locations near Tbilisi.

See also  8 Skin Care Products That Are Worth Buying For Their Effectiveness

Conclusion

Online expenditure in Georgia has been expanding over the last few years and is expected to accelerate in 21 century. According to reports, Georgia’s e-commerce economy is expanding as Covid-19 lockdowns have led many people to buy online for the first time or increase the frequency of their online transactions, while Georgian businesses have been obliged to expand their online services. Though the e-commerce sites in Georgia are doing well, they are also under restrictions with orders from the domestic regions and user experience while shopping. However, e-commerce companies are in continuous change to improve them.


Spread the love

Abhay Singh

Abhay Singh is a seasoned digital marketing expert with over 7 years of experience in crafting effective marketing strategies and executing successful campaigns. He excels in SEO, social media, and PPC advertising.