THE REALITY OF UNREAL MONEY

The works of science fiction by old and eminent writers predicted many different things developing in our world and featured what seemed improbable forecasts for the future. But something like the Internet and the possibilities it offers were never imagined, even in the most fantastical science fiction. Our world is slowly but surely becoming a digital, virtual world. This virtual imagery is enveloping our lives increasingly profoundly, starting with informal intercommunication. The sphere of business is no exception to this either. Sometimes the most unexpected forms of it suddenly appear on the Net.

The reality of business on the Net 

Theoretically everything that happens on the Internet can be divided into two categories. These are the so-called "real Internet products", the offers of real off-line services and goods via web resources. This includes Internet banking, virtual shopping and company sites offering real services. The second category is "the virtual Internet product". This is the realisation of virtual services and goods such as web searches, email, news sites, sites offering music and films.

On the whole, Internet business is most well developed in countries with high levels of income and access to the world-wide web. Moreover, in the wealthiest countries like the USA and those of Western Europe it is precisely "the real web products" which are more highly developed. On the other hand, in Azerbaijan, Russia and countries of the former Soviet Union it is virtual products such as films, serials, music and books which are most in demand, that is things that can be accessed free of charge, with payment only required for the services of the Internet provider. Possibly the difficult period that followed the Soviet era, in which people were not allowed to purchase things "which were not hands-on", is to blame for this

You feel better about your own content…

Many businessmen, the authors of Internet projects complain about the lack of original content, i.e. actual content. In Azerbaijan it is mainly sites offering free films and music that get the most hits, i.e. initially using someone else's content, which can be found on foreign sites. At the same time, Internet users may be attracted more to internal, native, innovative content.

"Internet business in Azerbaijan abides by its own rules, so foreign companies need time to adapt to the mentality of our clients," says Farhad Rzayev, the director of one of Baku's creative agencies. "Local project creators largely draw on adaptations of already well-known and successful foreign ideas. It frequently happens that businessmen do get an idea for something original, something that we can work on, but they simply do not want to take the risk." Rzaev recounts that his company came up with the idea of inventing its own versions of popular games with an Azeri flavour. But none of the possible sponsors and contractors was interested in this idea, since they found it too risky and were afraid that it would not justify the outlays. But there are projects that have been considered in other countries, similar to Internet sales of T-shirts with original pictures and captions," he says.

Another important factor influencing the volume of Internet business in Azerbaijan is, Rzayev believes, the low level of on-line payment. "People here are not used to using Internet banking, and this is precisely what forms the basis of Internet business, so that a person can buy anything that takes his or her fancy without getting up from the computer," the businessman asserts. There are moreover quite a few positive developments, which have also made an impact for Rzayev. First and foremost, this is the market for mobile apps, which is linked with the emergence of 3G [third generation] technology in Azerbaijan more than two years ago, which has made the apps market accessible to iPhones and Androids. Now many companies are busy creating apps. This market is developing, but businesses are afraid to experiment. Frequently they take ready-made projects and adapt them for their own use," the businessman says.

In general, the development of Internet business in the completely new field of phone apps is an obvious target, since numerous companies involved in developing them have sprung up. A determining factor here may be the fact that it is easy for the purchaser to pay on-line.

Internet business in Azerbaijan does not cost a lot, but it is not very profitable either. The leading firms here are those that entered the market first, but it takes quite a while to recover the outlays on this cheap business. Now the expenditure on a profitable site or web-oriented project is quite considerable. It is precisely in this case that the problem of the lack of innovative native sites crops up. Businessmen regard the setting up of a site with innovatory ideas to be risky. And therefore, instead of buying and selling on the Internet like other countries, in Azerbaijan the Net is only used for communication, reading the news and obtaining free music and films.

The president of Azerbaijan's Internet forum, Osman Gunduz says that the Azeris are very conservative when it comes to investing in business projects: "The local businessmen want to get profits straight away. So, instead of investing in Internet business, which needs time to build up, they opt for immediate returns." While today the most successful companies are those implement their projects solely on the Internet. If you take a look at the wealthiest people in the world today, you find among them the owners of major companies like Google, Facebook, Twitter and others, our collocutor states.

Business turns to social networks

Social networks are known to have expanded enormously over the last few years. Many of us spend more time on them than surfing the net. According to the forecasts of the Spruce Media company, 2013 promises to be a good one for Facebook and for advertisers. It states in the report that most of the brands are planning to boost their expenditure on the social networking sites in 2013. The report on Facebook's finances quite clearly shows that in the first quarter of 2013, its profits went up by 38 per cent from $1.06bn to $1.46bn, even though this social networking site lowered the charges for promotions featured on it. 

Vugar Safarov, the director of one of Baku's advertising agencies specialising in promotions on social networking sites, says that "companies get to a point when they realise that advertising on social networking sites is cheaper and more productive than on individual sites, and even better than on television. The audience on social networking sites consists of young, 18-24 year olds. They are prepared to become engaged with brands, and it is precisely through these social networking sites that   world-wide brands grab their attention." Today there is no need to pay hundreds and even thousands of manats to set up and promote an Internet site for your company. You can simply set up a group for free on the social networking site and sell goods and services through this site. 

Indisputably convenient

But, although Azeris are rather conservative when it comes to Internet business, this has been taking off of late, especially in buying and selling. And even modern housewives, who used to crowd into the supermarkets yesterday, enthusiastically use their keyboard to access the goods and services they need today. Progress does, as they say, have its advantages. The same is true of the owners of businesses, for having your own virtual space on the Net means that you don't need to pay for actual premises. On the whole, the staff of such virtual companies can be dotted around the city, interacting on the Net. This helps the company to lower its hefty expenditure on renting office space and on the cost of its contents.