Facilitating E-commerce to Stimulate Growth and Overcome Challenges

TIRANA, March 7

Global e-commerce markets are expected to reach over 4 billion dollars by 2020. In Albania, the e-commerce marketplace has been expanding at a fast pace as many businesses are choosing to sell their products online. Retailers know the advantages of adding an online offer to their physical offer thus, they increase their brand’s exposure across the world.
Yet, not all e-commerce markets are the same. Some are more profitable than others.

Therefore, Risi Albania held for the first time a joint round table with stakeholders and official authorities representing institutions that can help identify and address the challenges that the e-commerce sector is currently facing in Albania.
So far, the industry has been growing due to the internet penetration rate and the use of multi-devices such as mobile or computes during online shopping.
On the other hand, the sector is facing issues related to informality, shipping infrastructure, taxation for online sales, and the high percentage of cash payments.

Director of Economic Development Policies in the Ministry of Finance and Economy Majlinda Hafizi said that Albania has a good regulatory framework. However, there is still room to improve its implementation in order to bring mutual benefits to consumers and businesses.

On their part, representatives of e-commerce companies present at the meeting raised concerns related to informality, taxation, shipping costs, infrastructure, and other factors that hamper the Albanian e-commerce market expansion.

“Time has arrived to develop both time e-commerce and m-commerce and move at the same pace with global trends,” Easy Pay’s Linda Shomo highlighted.

The officials from the Ministry of Finance and Economy and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy will address the concerns raised by representatives of the e-commerce industry with respective authorities.

The e-commerce sector represents an opportunity for growth and investments which means new employment prospects.

Source/Photo Credit: Risi Albania