Ameriabank, Ucom, ArmenTel

Ameriabank held a panel discussion yesterday on “Electronic Commerce and Prospects of its Development in Armenia”.

Commercial Director of ArmenTel Hayk Karapetyan expressed an opinion that Armenia had larger market for e-commerce than it might seem.

“If we order food online and pay in cash, we are using e-commerce system. We need to allow communications operators to use the money on users’ accounts as a prepayment. Each citizen of the Russian Federation can demand the communications operator to transfer the money from a given mobile account to a bank account. The balance on mobile account should also be used as a means of making payment, which will significantly increase the number of e-commerce deals. I think that the operators should be allowed to return certain part of prepayments to a bank account,” Hayk Karapetyan expressed his view.

According to Commercial Director of Ucom Aram Barseghyan, they encourage e-commerce in Armenia, as it implies first and foremost the reduction of operational expenses.

“The fewer visitors we have at the offices, the lesser expanses we cover. We have registered 20% less cashless interactions in comparison to the last year. Many people still avoid making payments through smartphones or web pages. We try to encourage electronic payments, offering services of our own U!Pay app, which allows making payments in Ucom network and other types of services. I think that the indicator of e-commerce will grow in Armenia,” Aram Barseghyan said.