Trade in the world is changing, large trading companies in the USA have stopped their activities along with the development of online trade, RA Economy Minister Vahan Kerobyan said in a conversation with journalists, referring to traders’ complaints that their business has stopped because of Wildberries and will soon stop operating.
To the question of how it happens that goods from EAEU countries come to us 6-7 times cheaper, but traders report that they do not have that opportunity, Kerobyan said. “Last year, we created the conditions for everyone to be on an equal tax field. That is, when Wildberries imports goods or the consumer buys goods from Wildberries, the VAT liability is already transferred to Armenia VAT for sales. What small and medium enterprises do not pay. In other words, it can be said that Wildberries is in an unequal competitive situation, in a bad sense, compared to local small and medium enterprises. Naturally, there is a different price offer, we have been discussing for decades, the big supermarkets sell the product cheaper than the small stores buy these products.
The minister said that they are now conducting a study to understand whether there is a distortion of competition or not. “But at the same time, I can suggest to our partners to apply to the Competition Protection Commission and try to solve their problems there.