The FINANCIAL — Amazon.com, 6pm.com and forever21.com are the most popular fashion sites for Georgian shoppers according to the data provided by some of the Tbilisi based transportation companies to The FINANCIAL.
The FINANCIAL — Amazon.com, 6pm.com and forever21.com are the most popular fashion sites for Georgian shoppers according to the data provided by some of the Tbilisi based transportation companies to The FINANCIAL.
Up to 10,000 customers are served every month by the leading Georgian shipping companies. Georgians mainly tend to buy clothes and shoes online, but shopping for home appliances or car parts and accessories are also quite common, claim the representatives of the transportation companies.
Online spending in Georgia has tripled since 2007 according to National Bank of Georgia. People are eager to shop online as the prices in Tbilisi’s shops are sometimes twice as much as those on US-based online shops. That said however the Georgian authorities do limit online shopping by imposing 18% tax on the import of purchases worth over 170 USD.
The first transportation companies oriented at online shopping were founded 4-5 years ago, but at that time few people knew about the possibility of shopping on US sites from Georgia.
“Since this period the whole transportation service has developed significantly,” said Nino Tsereteli, Executive Director of USA2Georgia. “Now parcels are delivered much faster and we offer a home delivery service across Georgia as well. It has supported the development of online shopping in Georgia and increased the number of our customers as well.”
Express Line Service (ELS), established more than a year ago, now serves over 4,000 customers a month. The company is only transporting orders from the USA. The top five most popular products amongst their customers are shoes, clothes, electronic products, auto parts and different accessories.
The most popular e-commerce websites of ELS clients are: amazon.com; ebay.com; 6pm.com; oldnavy.com; urbanog.com; wallmart.com; carters.com; forever21.com; yoox.com; asos.com.
“We served the largest number of customers in December 2011 when we distributed over 7,000 parcels. In 2011 we had over 35,000 parcels,” said Davit Kurkhuli, Director at ELS.
USA2Georgia had up to 60,000 customers in 2011 and the company was receiving five shipments a week. Tsereteli declined to name exact figures.
“Most often Georgians are ordering goods from US online websites. Clothes and shoes are the most frequently ordered goods that we deliver. These are mostly brands that do not have representative shops here in Georgia,” Tsereteli said.
Amazon.com, 6pm.com and forever21.com are the most popular websites among the Georgian online shoppers served by USA2Georgia. “We had the largest volume of orders in 2006,” Tsereteli noted.
“I have not shopped in local shops for the past three years because I have become such an active online shopper,” Lisi Zambakhidze, 25, told The FINANCIAL.
“Online shops permit me to wear exclusive clothes and shoes. I also avoid crowded shops and save my time that way. I have seen lots of advantages to online shopping and have therefore become a devoted customer of virtual shops,” said Zambakhidze.
She added that a lack of activity of online shopping three-four years ago was because of a lack of experience. “At first my friends were afraid in case a purchase’s size, colour and quality didn’t match their expectations, but after the initial successful purchases of a couple of bold shoppers, others were encouraged. I can even recognise from which different websites Georgians have bought some of their clothes and shoes.”
Shipping company bestex.ge serves from 5,000 to 7,000 consumers a month. Online shopping on US websites is dominating in terms of popularity amongst our customers. As for the most popular products that are ordered, clothes make up 40%, shoes – 30%, electronic products – 20%, and the remaining 10% is made up by accessories, jewellery, perfume and other products,” said Irakli Bazadze, Founder and Director of Bestex.
The top ten websites for online shoppers using the service of bestex.ge include: amazon.com; 6pm.com; ebay.com; wallmart.com; oldnavy.gap.com; forever21.com; urbanog.com; victoriassecret.com; zappos.com; target.com.
“Bestex was founded in February 2010. The largest turnover was recorded from October 2011 to February 2012. We serve from 2,000 to 3,500 customers a week. The freight turnover in 2011 was 47,000 kg,” Bazadze said.
Another transportation company Getit.ge, receives a large number of orders not only from the USA, but also from the UK. “We serve approximately 10,000 customers a month. Clothes, shoes, computer technology, auto parts and jewellery and accessories are the most popular products that we ship. Meanwhile the most popular websites are: amazon.com; ebay.com; 6pm.com; oldnavy.com; bidz.com; rockaouto.com; sportsdirect.com; urbanog.com; bandh.com and asos.com,” Davit Beroshvili, Director at getit.ge, told The FINANCIAL.
“As well as the low prices, the USA has a much more convenient internal shipping system which helps result in the high number of online orders made in the US,” Beroshvili added.
There are some restrictions on imported products however, such as food products, easily flammable goods such as perfume, paint and firearms, pornographic materials, animals, seeds, bones, fur and products including narcotic substances as well as the coins and banknotes of any country.
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