KARA SILVER co-founder: government should intervene to stop process of ruining most creative class - small and mid-scale entrepreneurship
13.04.2020,
12:50
The interview of Gayane Avetisyan, co-founder and director of KARA SILVER salon, with ARKA and Novosti-Armenia news agencies as part of the special project #SaveBusiness.
YEREVAN, April 13. /ARKA/. The interview of Gayane Avetisyan, co-founder and director of KARA SILVER salon, with ARKA and Novosti-Armenia news agencies as part of the special project #SaveBusiness.
- How has your activity changed since the outbreak of coronavirus?
G. Avetisyan - Our KARA SILVER salon is closed because we are not included in the list of enterprises whose activities are permitted. A jewelry workshop was also closed. However, we selectively continue to work in the online sales mode, which allows us to at least hold out for some time, before the full-scale activity of all sectors of the economy begins. After all, jewelry is not a product of first necessity, and therefore, as a luxury segment, they can quit the consumer list for an indefinite time.
- Do you have a delivery service, and what are mostly ordered?
G. Avetisyan - In these difficult days of the pandemic, the part of the office responsible for sales continues to work in full, but already at home, to take online orders. The Facebook page of KARA SILVER SALON now serves as an online store. Here you can see the assortment of products, contact the page administrator who organizes delivery to the addresses at the required time. Before the epidemic, we delivered much less frequently. But the situation dictates its own conditions, and therefore we had to rush to transform the usual methods of work. Our new website with an online store is already being prepared, since the old one is long outdated.
We have developed an electronic gift card that can be bougt online and presented to anyone you wish without leaving your own home. Our customers are mainly women who order gifts for themselves and each other.
- And what "anticoronavirus" actions did you launch?
G. Avetisyan - We launched a campaign called “KARAntin” on social networks and are carrying out online sales at cost price with free home delivery of jewelry, which many of our fans have long dreamed of, but still could not get them. The campaign, along with delivery to different remote ends of the city, of course, cannot cover all the losses we sustain.
However, we believe that in difficult quarantine times, our women have the right to please themselves, so as not to lose heart and to hope for the best, and we receive moral dividends, which in the future can bring quite tangible profits, as well as return our investment. In other words, we pass on our optimism to our customers. The offer is valid only within Yerevan’s territory, and as soon as the post offices resume operating it will apply also in provinces. The campaign is being run in full accordance with the required hygiene standards, in strict accordance with the recommendations of the commandant in the state of emergency.
I also believe that in order to overcome the crisis, our entrepreneurs, as a sign of goodwill, should temporarily make prices a bit more attractive than usual in order to maintain their loyal customer.
- Do you count on state assistance? What specific events do you think could support the business in this situation?
G. Avetisyan - It so happened that in the entire history of our business, and we have been on the market for 11 years, we never counted on anyone, including the government, always paved the way for ourselves and for the others following us. I believe that the function of the government in peacetime is not to help, but to not interfere in businesses, and thanks to that, the middle class is beginning to take shape in the country.
But in the current situation, the state simply needs to intervene to stop the process of ruining its most daring and creative class - small and mid-scale entrepreneurship. Tax vacations would be a great help to domestic business, would give a respite and the opportunity to recover to everyone who was stricken badly by force majeure circumstances.
- How would you assess the situation in the Armenian business sector? Is there a preliminary calculation of the damage the coronavirus has caused to the area?
G. Avetisyan - As I have already said, small businesses, services, tourism, HORECA, production of consumer goods not of prime necessity, including our activities, will suffer the most. But we are not going to give up, but rather continue to look for new ways to overcome the force majeure circumstances on our own and further business development. -0-
- How has your activity changed since the outbreak of coronavirus?
G. Avetisyan - Our KARA SILVER salon is closed because we are not included in the list of enterprises whose activities are permitted. A jewelry workshop was also closed. However, we selectively continue to work in the online sales mode, which allows us to at least hold out for some time, before the full-scale activity of all sectors of the economy begins. After all, jewelry is not a product of first necessity, and therefore, as a luxury segment, they can quit the consumer list for an indefinite time.
G. Avetisyan - In these difficult days of the pandemic, the part of the office responsible for sales continues to work in full, but already at home, to take online orders. The Facebook page of KARA SILVER SALON now serves as an online store. Here you can see the assortment of products, contact the page administrator who organizes delivery to the addresses at the required time. Before the epidemic, we delivered much less frequently. But the situation dictates its own conditions, and therefore we had to rush to transform the usual methods of work. Our new website with an online store is already being prepared, since the old one is long outdated.
We have developed an electronic gift card that can be bougt online and presented to anyone you wish without leaving your own home. Our customers are mainly women who order gifts for themselves and each other.
- And what "anticoronavirus" actions did you launch?
G. Avetisyan - We launched a campaign called “KARAntin” on social networks and are carrying out online sales at cost price with free home delivery of jewelry, which many of our fans have long dreamed of, but still could not get them. The campaign, along with delivery to different remote ends of the city, of course, cannot cover all the losses we sustain.
I also believe that in order to overcome the crisis, our entrepreneurs, as a sign of goodwill, should temporarily make prices a bit more attractive than usual in order to maintain their loyal customer.
- Do you count on state assistance? What specific events do you think could support the business in this situation?
G. Avetisyan - It so happened that in the entire history of our business, and we have been on the market for 11 years, we never counted on anyone, including the government, always paved the way for ourselves and for the others following us. I believe that the function of the government in peacetime is not to help, but to not interfere in businesses, and thanks to that, the middle class is beginning to take shape in the country.
- How would you assess the situation in the Armenian business sector? Is there a preliminary calculation of the damage the coronavirus has caused to the area?
G. Avetisyan - As I have already said, small businesses, services, tourism, HORECA, production of consumer goods not of prime necessity, including our activities, will suffer the most. But we are not going to give up, but rather continue to look for new ways to overcome the force majeure circumstances on our own and further business development. -0-
