The FINANCIAL — Turnover of the state web portal eauction.ge has amounted to GEL 120,108,834.41 during the first nine months of 2014, up from GEL 98.3 million from the prior-year period. The most expensive auction lot purchased in 2014 was a plot of non-agricultural land with a building, worth GEL 3,510,000. The website’s lower price is one of the main advantages by which it manages to compete with private online shopping websites.
“The current year has brought a 22% increase of turnover. The increase is related to the increase of property range and the number of users. The services of the web portal eauction.ge are becoming more popular among legal and individual entities. They have been able to sell desirable items via online auction since 2012. The growth of customers’ confidence has also been an important contributor to this year’s results. All the processes on the website are completely transparent and flexible. It creates maximum comfort for its users and is completely customer-oriented,” Shota Gelantia, Head of the Marketing Department at the Service Agency at the Ministry of Finance of Georgia, told The FINANCIAL.
Eauction.ge added a new subcategory – Dismantling – in 2014. According to Gelantia, the new categories are added due to customers’ interests and specific circumstances. Currently there are 20 categories and 104 subcategories on the website.
Founded in 2010, eauction.ge was the first online auction portal in the entire Caucasus region. The website currently includes both private and public sector transactions. For two years, state-owned immovable / movable property sales have been carried out electronically via eauction.ge. In addition, the site was created by the service agency of the Ministry of Finance and the analytical department of the Ministry of Finance which guarantees the safety and security of its system. In Gelantia’s words, users of eauction.ge are protected from illegal transactions, bureaucratic procedures and payment-related difficulties.
In 2010 the turnover of the portal was GEL 908,586; in 2011 – GEL 222,002,032; in 2012 – GEL 224,422,343; and, in 2013 – GEL 163,841,755.
From May 2014, the Legal Entity Service Agency of the Ministry of Finance started realization of food products supplied by the Legal Entity Scientific-Research Center of the Ministry of Agriculture. For now, the number of fruits sold amounted to 62,885 kilograms, worth GEL 52,836; grapes measured 56,576 kilograms, worth GEL 58,306. There was 8,689 kilograms of vegetables purchased via eauction.ge, amounting to GEL 3,111.1. The amount of wheat sold via the online portal was 384,500 kilograms, worth GEL 173,025.
“Individual entrepreneurs, small and medium traders, shopping facilities, distribution companies and manufacturing companies were involved in the realization processes of agro products,” said Gelantia.
According to the statistics of the bestselling categories in 2014, the most popular include: land (13.4%), transport (12.8%), rent (12.2%), buildings (8.4%) and other (21.8%).
Currently there are 49,394 registered users on eauction.ge. Out of this number 2,226 are non-residents. The number of daily visitors varies from 7,500 to 8,000.
In Gelantia’s words, the website has been maintaining users’ daily interest. “This is illustrated by their stably growing number,” he added.
Overall 140 lots were purchased by non-residents during the current year. The sum totalled GEL 2,569,947.1.
“The number of lots purchased by non-residents has dropped by 38% in 2014, in comparison with the same data of 2013. Meanwhile the sum has shown only a 1% decrease,” said Gelantia.
“The top categories for foreigners during 2014 comprised: land and building, electrical equipment, transport facilities and rent,” Gelantia told The FINANCIAL.
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