ASTANA – International online merchant service provider Fondy Global has entered the Kazakh market. The local partner company bought its franchise at the end of last month.
CEO of Fondy Global Andrey Voronin
“We received several requests for cooperation from Kazakhstan. In addition, we very positively assess the dynamics of the growth of the e-commerce market in the short and medium term. Thus, relying on these factors at the beginning of this year, we decided to start working with one of the partners with whom we already had joint projects. The peculiarity of our business model in Kazakhstan is that we usually cooperate in such formats as an affiliate programme or white label, but in this case we decided to try the franchise model,” said Fondy Global CEO Andrey Voronin, reported Kapital.kz.
According to company representatives, the Kazakh e-commerce market is the most promising in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The average check in 2016 compared to 2015 increased 31 percent, while in Russia and Ukraine the growth was only 6 percent and in Belarus it decreased 5 percent.
“The active growth of the e-commerce market in Kazakhstan entails the emergence of needs in both new technological and financial solutions. First of all, the advantages of Fondy are high technology and reliability of payment technologies. In 2016, our customers on average grew 1.5-2 times faster than their country’s market thanks to the active use of our know-how and this tells us that we are on the right track. Fondy will also provide assistance to online entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan in the integration into the international markets of Europe and Asia,” said Voronin.
Fondy has offices in the Czech Republic, Latvia, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.
The local e-commerce market is expected to grow rapidly, said Voronin.
“In Kazakhstan, only 11-12 percent of users make purchases online, despite the significant amount of card issuance and a wide range of other payment methods, such as electronic wallets and transfers. Also, the share of e-commerce in the retail structure is only about 1 percent, while, for example, in Germany it is about 12 percent and in the United Kingdom it is 15 percent. Therefore, we expect an active growth of the audience of Internet buyers in Kazakhstan in the coming years. I think that your e-commerce market can grow four-five times from the current in the next three-five years,” he added.
The financial technology industry has been developing dynamically in Kazakhstan over the last two-three years.
“We plan to actively involve the players of the fintech market, including those who previously worked only in offline mode,” said Voronin.
Fondy Global is working for the third year in the CIS market.
“Within this business model, the partner is responsible for registering a legal entity and buying a domain name, negotiating with banks for further contracting for the organisation of processing, ensuring organisational work (attracting customers, signing contracts, opening accounts) and marketing. In their turn, our experts provide a technical platform, integrate with banks, set up financial processes in the backoffice for settlements with customers and support clients,” said Fondy Global CIO Maxim Kozenko.
