31.10.2012, 11:35 13489

Online retail market grows in Kazakhstan

"Staking its claim in the Kazakh market, Russian online clothing retailer Lamoda, one of the Rocket Internet sites, entered Kazakhstan in March. Six months later, the company secured an investment - said to be between $50 and $80m - from JP Morgan, which will be used to grow its business in Kazakhstan and other Commonwealth of Independent States countries."

Astana. October 31. Kazakhstan Today - As a country with steadily rising incomes and low population density, Kazakhstan has the future growth potential in online retail sector.

According to Business New Europe (bne), "staking its claim in the Kazakh market, Russian online clothing retailer Lamoda, one of the Rocket Internet sites, entered Kazakhstan in March. Six months later, the company secured an investment - said to be between $50 and $80m - from JP Morgan, which will be used to grow its business in Kazakhstan and other Commonwealth of Independent States countries."

"According to Lamoda's Kazakhstan country manager, Alexios Shaw, the company was looking to benefit from the lack of competition in Kazakhstan's online retail market and the appetite for international brands not yet available in the country. "Retail is waking up with international players such as Saks Fifth Avenue entering in the market, but internet retail is primitive. Low competition was an obvious reason why the market was attractive for us," Shaw tells bne. "E-commerce also has a natural advantage in a country like Kazakhstan, provided you have on the ground infrastructure or a good delivery partner," the online edition writes.

"Almaty-based Chocolife, which at present mainly offers discounts on events, is increasingly active in retail, with sales of goods now accounting for around 25% of transactions. Chocolife plans to transform itself into a fully-fledged online retailer and is set to launch an online store, Choco-Mart, by the end of 2012. The company is also mulling expansion into Azerbaijan and Ukraine," the article says.

"The market potential is significant. Now that internet penetration has passed the 50% threshold, we expect an e-commerce boom. We expect that by 2015, the volume of e-commerce transactions will reach 10-times their current level," Chocolife spokesperson Latina Satarova tells bne.

"Drivers for Kazakhstan's online retail market include the steady growth in incomes. By 2010, income per capita had reached $10,000, 15 times higher than in 1994, and Astana is targeting $15,000 by 2015, putting Kazakhstan among the world's high-income countries," bne informs.

picture from megaobzor.com

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