Iran Is One Of The Few Electricity Suppliers In The World.

At present, Iran It is one of the few "electric places" in the world. The development of Iran's electricity providers is facing many obstacles, such as slow network speed, conservative religious people are opposed to further opening up the Internet to young people, and the government puts restrictions on Issuing website operation licenses.

Despite tremendous obstacles to development, Iran's e-commerce market still has enormous potential for development. Iran's population structure is very young, and its education level is high. 35 years old young people account for 70%. They are keen to surf the Internet. Electronic Commerce A large audience. Iran network infrastructure continues to improve, the network speed will further improve. Driven by many favorable factors, e-commerce in Iran will go forward step by step in the next few years.

According to recent reports, in 2007, when Hamid and Saeed set up online retail website Digikala, they only had $20 thousand, set up an office in an apartment in Tehran, and recruited several technicians to start a business trip.

Digikala has a low starting point but has grown rapidly, and now controls 85% of Iran's online retail market. The company currently has a market capitalization of about $100 million, and Hamid brothers has a 49% stake, and the other 51% stake is owned by Sarava Vc firm.

Hamid said in an interview at the headquarters of the 10 storey building in Tehran: "no matter which regime comes to power, whether or not international sanctions continue, the demand for e-commerce in Iran will continue to grow, and its momentum will be very fast. For example, the average annual growth rate of Digikala is as high as 200%.

Iran is one of the few places in the world where e-commerce is virgin. According to unofficial data, e-commerce accounts for 0.7% of GDP in Iran, far less than Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and other neighbouring countries. However, Iran's e-commerce market has enormous potential.

Iran's population structure is very young, 70% of young people under 35 years old, and young people are familiar with the Internet, but also like the Internet. Iran has the highest penetration rate of Internet and mobile phone in the Middle East countries, 55% and 126% respectively. In addition, Iran has built up an efficient credit card system in recent years, making people more and more trust in online payment.

A young entrepreneur in Iran, who does not want to be named, said: "young people in Iran are like a tsunami. They are fascinated by the Internet and are interested in using smart phones."

However, despite these advantages, the obstacles to the development of e-commerce in Iran are still very large. International sanctions mean that entrepreneurs in the field of e-commerce in Iran can not get permission to use legitimate e-commerce software. They can not use PayPal and other international payment systems. Foreign financing is almost zero, and there is no way to advertise on platforms such as Facebook and Google.

Religious leaders in power worry that western "decadence" will spread rapidly in Iran after opening up Internet to young people. At the same time, Iran's network speed is very slow. Some well-known international websites such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter can not be opened in Iran.

The government of Iran has imposed restrictions on the licensing of online retailers. There are so few domestic venture capital institutions and incubators that it can not provide support for new e-business companies.

Iran e-commerce companies also face cultural challenges: they must guide investors in education so that they do not have strong expectations for quick return on investment. Iran consumers are accustomed to checking goods repeatedly before shopping, and also like to bargain. These are not conducive to the rapid development of e-commerce.

The Rouhani administration, which pursued the middle line, tried to untie the Internet censorship system, but was opposed by the hard line elements of the judiciary, the revolutionary guards and the parliament.

However, Iran has made some progress in recent years. The Ministry of telecommunications recently issued 3G and 4G licences to Iran's two largest mobile operators, Hamrahe Aval and Irancell MTN. Some service providers are also allowed to increase the bandwidth to 10 megabits per second. Investors expect that this progress will promote the development of e-commerce. Consumers can conveniently watch videos and browse photos of products after the Internet speed is guaranteed.

Despite many obstacles, 15000 online retail websites have sprung up in Iran. However, as the government procrastinating tardiness, only 1/3 of the websites have obtained official operation licences. The top leaders of these websites include Takhfifan, Takhfifane, Sam and Sheypoor. Their business models are similar to those of Amazon, Groupon and eBay in the United States, while Sheypoor provides classified advertising services.

Iran's domestic support for the development of e-commerce has also gradually formed. For example, Avatech, a venture capital firm set up earlier this year, provides training services, seed funds and office space for new e-business companies. Next spring, Avatech will hold an investment note entitled "Demo Day", presenting 10 new e-commerce companies to potential investors.

　　 Luxury goods Amir Cyrus Razzaghi, co-founder of Persian Luxury, the online retail platform: "young entrepreneurs in Iran have many creative entrepreneurial ideas, but they lack the necessary seed capital support."

At present, the only foreign investment organization in the field of e-commerce in Tehran is Middle East Holding Internet (MEIH) company. It is a joint venture between Rocket Internet of Germany and MTN Telecom of South Africa, and operates in the name of "Romak" in Tehran. The company has launched shopping website Bamilo and online marketplace Mozando, and has also run food shopping website Bodofood.

Romak will become the main competitor of Iran's local e-commerce platform Digikala. However, Hamid is full of confidence in this competition pattern, calling his website the leading position. In the near future, more local and foreign competitors will enter this field. In order to gain greater market share, Digikala will sacrifice part of its profits.

"From now on, we will pursue the expansion strategy, and even if we fail to make profits, we will continue to adhere to this strategy. You know, Amazon did that. We must take risks in the electricity supplier market. " Hamid said.