The FINANCIAL — Bank of Georgia and TBC Bank, two leading banks in Georgia, with total profit of GEL 10 million and GEL 24 million respectively according to the first quarter results of 2011, have started trying out e-commerce services in Georgia.
Cartu Bank was the pioneer in developing e-commerce services in Georgia. The Bank holds third position among profitable Georgian banks, with 6 million profit in the first quarter of 2011.
e-commerce is defined by the following – commercial transactions conducted electronically on the internet. It provides unique opportunities for businesses to sell products/services via the internet and make and get payments via Visa and MasterCard. Many companies using e-commerce services have moved from brick-and-mortar to click-only businesses. This provides additional benefits for entities like saving costs of stores and other operating expenditures, totally focusing on business operations.
“TBC Bank has already switched several web pages to its e-commerce scheme and by the end of the year we intend to cover approximately 100 companies,” said David Zgudadze, Head of the e-Commerce Team at TBC Bank, who previously ran the position – Head of the e-Commerce department at Cartu Bank.
TBC Bank has already added alia.ge, cart.ge, smartco.ge and serv.ge to its e-commerce service list. Soon, it will be joined by flowers.ge and Goodwill.
Bank of Georgia is testing its system through Hamaki, Apple authorized dealer web-page.
“Clients will have the opportunity to make payments via Visa and MasterCard. TBC Bank will guarantee the safe and quick transfer of money through accounts,” Zgudadze said.
According to Zgudadze, TBC Bank has purchased software from Tieto, which is a leading IT service company in Northern Europe providing IT and product engineering services.
Card Suite by Tieto enables a bank, financial institution or third party processor to control and profit from every single part of the payment card business – issuing, acquiring, switching and clearing, POI management, fraud and dispute management, and u-commerce, as well as to optimize business processes and deal with business opportunities as they arise. Card Suite’s flexibility allows companies to extend traditional payment services and become part of a payment service hub.
“JSC Cartu Bank has been the pioneer and is the leader in e-commerce service in Georgia. For the last three years progress has been evident. People are getting used to it, and already have a sense of trust. Today Cartu Bank has about 200 companies and most of them are operating successfully. Compared to previous years the growth in the number of companies interested in this product is up 200%,” said Natalia Khizanishvili, former e-Commerce Manager at Cartu Bank approximately a month ago before moving to Bank of Georgia to the position of e-Commerce Manager.
“e-commerce has become an essential part of today’s life. Government structures have already started using it, as well as utility payments being available via the internet. Georgians are ready for this service as we are seeing increased transactions from Georgia in foreign countries,” said Zgudadze.
Georgian hypermarket Goodwill and the chain of restaurants m|group will fully launch online purchasing and delivery of their products by the end this year. Both companies say the new service will boost their sales as it’s already a long-standing practice in other countries. Moreover Elit-Electronics, which is managed by TBC Bank, is trying out its online shop.
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