The FINANCIAL — A successful online business marketing campaign does not require financial investment, nor university education. It requires peace of mind and the right calculations. David Zghudadze, Head of the E-Commerce Department at Cartu Bank, and Natalia Khizanishvili, E-Commerce Manager, explain how e-commerce works in Georgia.
“ Last year’s turnover from online shopping shows stable growth and that more and more new companies are interested in cooperation with Cartu Bank. Our expectations are quite high and we assume that the number of transactions in e-commerce will double in 2009,” David Zghudadze told Levan Lomtadze, reporter of The FINANCIAL.
“According to our information 65-70% of Georgian Internet shops work through the Cartu Bank e-commerce system.”
Creating an online shop
“Our services at Cartu bank offer an opportunity to sell products/services via the Internet and receive international Visa and MasterCard cards as a means of payment. The premium package of e-commerce includes an e-shop template with a design modification opportunity, consultation and training for e-shop administrators, e-shop integration into the e-commerce payment system. We have a free multi-currency account, internet banking and one-year free SMS Banking service, and also special discounts on courier services,” he said.
“The website can be customized. The e-shop template has some options to change logotypes and banners and select a colour scheme for the e-shop’s interface,” e-commerce Manager Natalia Khizanishvili says.
“The Bank provides technical documentation and all registered parameters for integration with its e-commerce server. The only thing the company’s web developer has to do is write a special script to connect to the e-commerce payment page. When buying a premium package of e-commerce, all jobs are done by the Bank’s representatives.”
“The website should be technically well organized. An e-shop’s main requirements are to keep all information regarding consumers and transactions securely. But the most important part of payment is the card data. During online shopping the cardholder is providing card data on our secure payment page and a merchant or unauthorized person has no access to this information.”
On the payment page the company can only place its e-shop logo and select the language of the page: English or Georgian.
Bank rates on e-commerce services at Cartu vary depending on the business risk. The average commission fee from a transaction is 4.0-4.5 %. Standard package price is USD 100 and for a premium package – USD 500, which includes a pre-made e-shop.
To create a merchant account you should have a business account with a bank and conclude an e-commerce agreement.
According to Zgudadze, every kind of Visa and MasterCard card is accepted if the issuer bank allows their cards to be used to make purchases in a card-not-present environment.”
Q. What if my customers claim a wrong transaction?
A. The cardholder has the right to dispute a transaction. But firstly the customer should contact the merchant and try to solve the problem directly. If the issue can’t be resolved between these parties, the cardholder contacts the card issuer bank and disputes the transaction.
Q. Do you accept payments by cards of Georgian banks?
A. We are the only bank in Georgia that accepts any kind of Visa and MasterCard cards that have on-line shopping options.
Q. What I can sell online and what is prohibited?
A. Visa and MasterCard cards allows selling pharmacy, gambling and adult content online but due to Cartu Bank internal policy we have limitations on these high risk merchants.
Q. Do you provide consulting for new starters?
A. Cartu Bank always provides consulting for Georgian merchants as most of them have no experience in online shopping. We can provide consultations in designing e-shop websites, how to organize the delivery of products/services and make guaranteed and secure payments.
Written By Levan Lomtadze
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