Internet has turned into a new economic branch and has developed so much that it has changed the whole concept of doing business in the world. Today, there are many companies that are developing their businesses through means of Internet. Studies show that small and average businesses are more involved in electronic trade than large businesses. It is obvious that Armenia could not fall behind from the rest of the world.
The “NATK” INC introduced “Electronic Dram” on March 10th of 2004. “Electronic Dram”, also known as EDram, helps people shop online and it is the only electronic shop in Armenia. This system makes all products and services accessible to the consumer through the computer. In our country, electronic trade can be divided into three markets: inner, foreign market for Armenians living in Armenia and vice versa. According to programming director of the “NATK company Armen Kocharyan, nearly 30 organizations cooperate with the company and pay a fee to EDram as stated in the signed contract. In addition, the prices of products and services sold on EDram are lower.
How does EDram help businessmen? Armen Kocharyan brought up examples of some internet service providers. The providers used to sell their internet cards through some companies and obviously paid some percentages from the money received. And it would not be suitable to sell cards from only one office. EDram gives companies the opportunity to relieve themselves from making extra expenditures and sell their products via the Internet. Based on international experience, electronic trade can become a means of developing tourism. For example, the foreigner who wishes to pay a visit to Armenia can book the hotel room and pay beforehand via the internet. The hotel, in its turn, may give discounts to the traveler. If it wasn’t for EDram, the hotel would have to keep paying a percentage rate to the tourist agency. So, we can say that electronic trade helps small and average business development. In other words, it manages business.
By getting 5,000, 10,000, 20,000 and 50,000 nominal value EDram prepaid cards from “HyePost”, customers can have access to different types of products and services (food, flowers, medicine, clothes, internet cards, etc.), place bets at bookmaker companies and make all communal expenditures. Visa and MasterCard cooperate with EDram; the system has an exchange rate center which allows the local to exchange his prepaid amount in order to get access to foreign services. According to A. Kocharyan, EDram implements licensed projects, has certificates for transferring information and has a security mechanism for the system. One of the many advantages of the system is that there are officials at EDram’s stores that work 24 hours a day because the amount on the check is not erased until the customer gets his product(s).
However, the electronic system in Armenia today can be considered as two-fold. EDram does not have anything to do with the banking system. The bank, in its turn, uses the ArCa cards as “electronic money”. But these cards do not allow for the products to reach the customer. In other words, this system is not completely developed in Armenia; the money “comes”, but there is no response from the other side in contrast to other countries.
Electronic trade faces one major problem in the world, especially Armenia: security. Can we really trust this system? The problem of securing non-prepaid cards remains unsolved in all countries. For example, approximately 50 million dollars was “gone” from the system last year. Some countries use plastic cards that have chips installed in them which, of course are more expensive, but reduce the number of stolen cards. Armenia still has magnetic cards. In some countries electronic trade is done in different ways. For example, in the U.S. if the amount of the customer’s order is large, EDram is responsible for checking to make sure if the card is the customer’s. Only after that will it be possible to transfer the products home.
There is another problem facing EDram and that is publicity. This major technological advance is new to many and publicity for this is based on many difficulties.