As the number of Internet users grows in Ukraine, so does the popularity of online shopping.
Gradually, the ease of buying from home and cheaper online prices appear to be overcoming the lack of service and low consumer trust in online money transactions.
Every fifth Ukrainian under 45 years old now shops online, according to a recent poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology. Most of these online shoppers are city dwellers between 18 and 25 years old and they spend an estimated $1 billion on the web every year.
Ukraine has about 8.84 million Internet users, according to Gemius, an Internet market research company.
“Most online shops’ customers are young people that are often looking for presents and souvenirs,” said Svitlana Kravchenko, owner of Art-Futbolka online store, selling mostly T-shirts with original prints.
Yevhen Mudzhyri, a popular Ukrainian blogger, who frequently shops online, said he often puts money on his cell phone account through the Internet, sometimes buys computer equipment and mobile phones at web stores and he occasionally gets clothes online.
“Buying clothes online is a little risky,” Mudzhyri said. “In some cases, like with shoes and pants, a small difference in size may make it not fit. Buying T-shirts or sweaters online is a totally different story as a marginal difference in size is rarely critical.”
His shopping habits reflect some of the major consumer tendencies online, studies show. Customers go online to buy white electronic consumer goods, books, clothes, food, and cosmetics.
Saving time and money is a big factor, Mudzhyri said. “The only cons are that you can’t touch the product until you actually purchase it and you have to wait some time to have it delivered,” he said.
Kravchenko of Art-Futbolka said Internet shopping is much more user-friendly than going to a store.
“What’s good about shopping online is that no one pushes you with their ‘Can I help you?’ questions and some ‘special’ deals. Online store customers can take their time to browse through practically everything at an Internet shop and do it at any time of the day,” she said.
But there are downsides.
According to the Gemius studies, almost half of all Internet users find paying online risky, and are cautious about purchases that require online payments – a major obstacle in the development of online trading.
Tetiana Popova, a board member of the Internet Association of Ukraine, which aims to foster development of the Internet in the country, admits that this market in Ukraine is underdeveloped compared to the West.
“Most webstores in Ukraine are not more than a private bulletin board. These Internet stores are simply intermediaries between wholesalers and end customers. They don’t have their own warehouses, which is the reason why they sometimes deliver the orders with significant delays,” she said. “Also, a customer is often limited to paying for an order either by cash or through wire transfer.”
In the West, most of the online shopping is paid for by credit and debit cards, and consumer protection legislation works in favor of the buyer, in both physical and online stores.
In Ukraine, returning or replacing the goods might turn into a headache for the customer. Mudzhyri said he is well aware of the risks.
“I understand that an Internet shop might fail to deliver everything as ordered or that the product might not look as good as it does on the picture,” he said.
The only time he had to return something bought online, he had no trouble at all – to his own surprise. But not all are so lucky, according to Lyudmyla Rozumniuk, a division head at the Kyiv municipal Department for Consumer Rights Protection.
“Some online stores simply refuse to accept an order back and return the money within two weeks after the purchase, which is against the law on customer rights protection,” she said.
Half the consumer complaints in Kyiv – about 100 cases in 2009 – were related to Internet shopping. “Only when it comes to court proceedings do those stores agree to satisfy a complaint,” said Rozumniuk.
In some cases Internet stores have no physical address listed on the website to send official complaints to.
Rozumniuk said to make online shopping safer, the buyer needs to make sure that the store has official registration and is capable of producing quality certificates that go with the goods on offer.
Several online stores we called assured us they abide by the law to let customer return their order within first fourteen days after the purchase. Some online stores’ representatives admitted they had complaints from their customers, but solved these fast and without detriment to their customers.
Kyiv Post staff writer Yuriy Onyshkiv can be reached at [email protected].
