The coronavirus pandemic has led to a rapid growth of e-commerce. According to the Kazakh Ministry of Trade and Integration, online sales increased in the country. Deputy Chairperson of the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs Nariman Abilshaikov said that it was during the quarantine period that the surge in online trade occurred. Medicines, household items and, of course, food products were the most in demand. Thus, the e-commerce market reached 435 billion tenge (US$1 billion) in the six months of 2020. By the end of the same year, the figure was already around 900 billion tenge (US$2.1 billion). This also stimulated the increase of the non-cash payments. According to the National Bank of Kazakhstan, they increased 2.5-fold. Plans for the next two years are no less ambitious: experts predict that by 2022, online sales will amount to 13 percent of the annual total retail sales.
“The pandemic has intervened in all areas of our work, both in foreign trade and in domestic processes. It once again and more vividly emphasized the need to accelerate the digital transformation of trade processes, given the importance of trade and export continuity. That is why last year we launched a number of projects, including on digitization in public service delivery and digital integration. Also, in accordance with the state-of-the-nation address of the Head of State, we are launching a ‘digital wallet’ in order the digital transformation proceed in a systematic way,” said Bakhyt Sultanov, Kazakh Minister of Trade and Integration.
