E-commerce should be clearly defined given the real situation existing on the market. A guidebook on e-commerce should be developed for traders and clients and transparency should be ensured in the opening of an account, such as capping of bank deposits for e-commerce, institution of a special interbank commission for some of the transactions, etc. Such conclusion and recommendations are contained in a report on the assessment of e-commerce and cashless economy that was produced within the USAID Moldova Structural Reforms Program, IPN reports.
In the presentation event, Ion Lupan, head of the Secretariat of the Economic Council under the Prime Minister, said this subject is very important in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, which showed that the companies adjusted to the digital environment go through the crisis easier. Online trading enables the business entities to develop the local market, to explore markets from outside and to expand. But online migration remains a challenge for a number of reasons. For example, a company cannot now determine how much the transition to the online environment will cost.
Corneliu Rusnac, representative of the USAID Mission to Moldova, said the report covers such aspects as the creation of an electronic shop versus placing of products or services in an existing marketplace and the costs related to this decision. A separate chapter concerns the electronic payment solutions within which the experts provide calculations and recommendations for the business community and the authorities.
Iurie Cicibaba, expert of the USAID Moldova Structural Reforms Program, said that before moving to the online environment, any entrepreneurs should first decide how to work – on an own webpage or through marketplace. The study shows the creation of a website and connection to the systems of payments cost at least £2,000, while the costs for the marketplace are smaller, of about €200, but a commission is paid on sales. Also, the persons without experience can rent a website through price.md.
Expert Veronica Sirețeanu said the pandemic influenced a lot the activities of business entities, including the electronic payments. She referred primarily to the four “Cs”: 1. “Convenient”; 2. “Cost-efficient”; 3. “Common” (a lot of knowledge is needed to know how everything works) and 4. “Common Law” (people should get used to this type of “modus operandi”).
The assessment report was compiled in the process of implementing the roadmap for stimulating the digitization of economy and e-commerce worked out by the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure with the assistance of the Secretariat of the Economic Council. The first package of laws on digitization of economic processes is to be presented to the Government for examination.
