Armenian farm produce marketplace GoShuka moves into Lori after Syunik, adding 20% to the farmer’s price with delivery
GoShuka, an Armenian online platform through which farmers in the regions sell produce to buyers in Yerevan, is expanding from Syunik, the southern region bordering Iran, to Lori, with Tavush planned next. Farmers set their own prices, and the platform adds 20%, which covers packaging, transport, storage and home delivery. Victor Mikhailov, founder and director of GoShuka, said this in an interview with BusinessDaily.
“Our goal now is (and this is how we explain it to farmers) that you sit in your village and open a shop in Yerevan online and sell,” Mikhailov noted. “The price is set by the farmer. We help with packaging and logistics if needed,” he added. According to Mikhailov, an order placed in the first half of the day leaves the region the next morning and is at the platform’s Yerevan warehouse by 3 pm, so delivery to the warehouse takes one to two days at most. The same evening, the platform handles the so-called “last mile” delivery to the buyer’s home.
Asked how much a product costs in Syunik and how much in Yerevan, Mikhailov replied: “Plus 20%.” “Within that we cover packaging, transport from Syunik to Yerevan, storage, and the last mile is included too, all the way to the home, in eco-bags,” he explained. Under this scheme, a product priced by the farmer at AMD 1,000 (about $2.8) would cost a Yerevan buyer AMD 1,200 (about $3.3). This is a calculation based on the stated terms, not an actual receipt; the share of logistics costs within the 20% was not specified. There is no minimum order: according to Mikhailov, a buyer can order 1 kg of beans from Goris.
Mikhailov said 550 people have registered on the platform, of whom about 80 are active farmers, all of them so far from Syunik. The platform has been operating in the region for two months, while the initiative itself has existed for about three years. Farmers have listed 140 products, and the number is growing “because they sell, they like it, they increase and expand their products for sale,” he stressed. The platform does not yet cover the Ararat Valley around Yerevan. “We started from far away, from the border regions: Syunik, Lori, and then we very much want Tavush, because the goal is to help, to solve the farmer’s problems, not to sell a lot of goods,” Mikhailov continued. Lori borders Georgia and Tavush borders Azerbaijan; both are in the north of the country.
Products go through a double intake check: they are inspected in the region and again in Yerevan, including by weight. Mikhailov also reported that the platform has signed a memorandum with the Armenian National Agrarian University, under which laboratory tests are planned, including “blind” tests where no one knows which product is being checked. The platform also intends to help farmers test their produce themselves and upload the results to show buyers its quality. Laboratory testing has not yet started.
