Payments and e-commerce in Turkmenistan

The most popular e-commerce categories in Turkmenistan are clothing and electronics [1]. The online market has been dominated by Chinese companies, at least so far [1]. But just 31% of the population has Internet access and only 23% has a smartphone. These places serious limitations on any e-commerce strategy. The key to successful market entry is to find promotions and strategies that will reach the relatively small number of connected users.

Under half of the country’s population has a bank account. Although the number of non-cash and digital transactions is rising, Turkmenistan is still dominated by cash [2]. Supporting alternative payment methods, particularly but not exclusively those based on cash, is important to any e-commerce strategy for the country.

1. https://www.export.gov/apex/article2?id=Turkmenistan-ECommerce
2. https://business.com.tm/post/6815/turkmenistan-sees-rise-in-noncash-transactions