The first regional e-commerce platform launched
Compared to the countries of the Western Balkans, Bosnia and Herzegovina is behind Serbia, Northern Macedonia and Kosovo, and ahead of Montenegro in the percentage of the population that buys online.
Compared to neighboring countries, Kosovo ranks first in Europe in the number of customers who buy clothes online, as much as 77%, followed by Montenegro with 71%, and below the European average are Northern Macedonia with 57%, BiH with 56% and Serbia with 52%.
Profit tax is highest in Albania at 14.1% and lowest in Montenegro (8.3%), while the time required to export and import products is the shortest in Moldova. As of today, these and many other business facts and information related to e-commerce management are officially available on the first regional e-commerce platform E-commerce for all – ecommerce4all.eu.
The regional web platform was developed by the eCommerce Association of Macedonia, as the main implementer, in cooperation with eCommerce associations and organizations of related industries from CEFTA, more precisely with the following partners: eCommerce Association in Bosnia and Herzegovina; eCommerce Association of Serbia; Chamber of Commerce of Montenegro, Tirana Chamber of Commerce and Industry, eCommerce Association of Albania, STIKK – Kosovo ICT Association, eComm Association in BiH and the American Chamber of Commerce in Moldova.
The platform, which is a regional extension of Macedonia’s Ecommerce4All initiative, will be available today in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro and Moldova. Users from the region will be able to use this web platform for free, and the first of five modules called “Data on eCommerce” is already available.
The module presents the current state of e-commerce in CEFTA markets through statistics and other data (interactive graphs of the state of e-commerce in each market and comparisons of e-customers, UNCTAD B2C e-readiness index – trade and other relevant Eurostat data), related information on the willingness of countries to conduct e-commerce, information on how often, how much and where customers shop online, etc.
This data can help companies improve their business in their local markets, but more importantly, it can serve their plans to expand into other markets in the CEFTA region.
In addition to the currently available module, the platform will be upgraded with four more modules in the future. The first three cover key aspects of e-commerce business, such as regulations, e-payments and delivery.
In addition, the platform will be enriched with another additional module – success stories from each market. Each of these modules will contain relevant information specific to each of the CEFTA markets, as well as tutorials, manuals, topic documents and video presentations. The web platform is available in English and local language for each market.
The project partner in our country is the first eCommerce association in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
On the occasion of the launch of the ecommerce4all.eu platform, the director of the Association Belma Agić pointed out the following:
- The goals of our Association are to strengthen and facilitate online business and improve all aspects of online trade and cross-border sales is a very important segment. BiH has a huge potential for marketing products abroad and the CEFTA region market opens up countless opportunities for our online retailers. For all startups as well as established businesses that have such aspirations, this platform will be extremely important and valuable and we believe that it will offer a wealth of information and data that will help our companies to place products faster and easier in the CEFTA region. “
- The development of this web platform is of great importance for e-commerce, for the organizations involved and for regional cooperation between the CEFTA markets. E-retailers can find out important business facts and relevant information for all markets in the region, which they can use to expand their business outside their own market. In addition to the fact that they have already started mutual cooperation, organizations in the region working on the web platform will be able to establish themselves as the “voice of e-commerce” in their markets, but also regionally, says project manager Maria Ristovska.
The development of the Ecommerce4All platform is part of the e-commerce project of the Open Regional Fund for Foreign Trade implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the European Commission and the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
The Fund aims to improve the implementation of the reform agenda for trade and competitiveness in the CEFTA region in line with the requirements of the EU accession process.
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