Amendments to the Law on Electronic Commerce will be put before the Government of Serbia this week, followed by the new Law on Trade next week.
These two laws will contribute considerably to the development of electronic commerce, Tatjana Matic, the State Secretary at the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications, said at a press conference in the premises of the Serbian government.
“The amendments are required for a further improvement of electronic commerce in Serbia, which has great potential,” she pointed out and added that those two laws would change the framework and allow faster development of the e-commerce market.
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The volume of e-commerce in Serbia has been growing year-on-year. Last year, it amounted to USD 317 million, and this year it is expected to reach USD 354 million according to Matic, who added that the expected growth rate of e-commerce was 9.6% and that the value of e-commerce in 2023 could reach USD 510 million.
She added that the future efforts on developing the sector need to be focused on the fact that around 44.5% of internet users in Serbia have never made an online purchase.
“We need to help them and convince them that electronic commerce is quick and safe and that it saves time and resources,” Matic went on to say.
According to the results of the Electronic Commerce survey, which was carried out under the auspices of the “Strengthening of Electronic Commerce in the Republic of Serbia” project and which assisted by the Serbian Ministry of Trade and USAID, it was mostly young people that make online purchases, and when it comes to people who are apprehensive about this form of commerce, 43% still fear that a wrong product will be delivered to them.
Out of all companies in Serbia that are engaged in the sale of products and services, nearly three quarters have online sales. They cite the lack of education in both vendors and shoppers as the biggest obstacle to the further development of this sector.
(Krstarica, 11.06.2019)
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