You're reading: Ukraine second in pace of e-commerce growth in Europe

The Better Regulation Delivery Office (BRDO) assesses growth of the e-commerce market in Ukraine at over 30 percent every year, IT Telecom Sector Head at BRDO Oleksandr Kurbakov said at a roundtable devoted to e-commerce and smart regulation for the progressive market held in Kyiv on Dec. 5.

“The e-commerce market in the world is growing at a rate of 23-25 percent per year. In Ukraine, these rates are much higher – about 30 percent per year,” he said, citing statistics.

At the same time, Kubrakov said that Ukraine is in the second lowest position in Europe in terms of GDP per capita, the lowest in terms of Internet penetration, and the country is lagging behind the neighboring countries in terms of penetration of bank cards by 10-20 percent.

According to BRDO, the volume of the e-commerce market in Ukraine in 2017 exceeded $50 billion, or 3.2 percent of the total retail sales. At the same time, the growth rate of e-commerce in Ukraine amounted to about 31 percent, which is the second highest growth rate in Europe.

“A significant problem for the market is the obligation of the seller to print a fiscal receipt in hard copy at the moment when the money paid for the goods arrive. This practically makes Internet acquiring impossible with payments of more than Hr 7.5 billion per year and cash on delivery in the amount of more than Hr 12 billion,” Kubrakov said.

He said that the solution to this problem could be permission to submit receipts in electronic form.