Qualitative study on causes of informality in e-commerce and solution proposals

Trade is an important subject for both countries and companies. With the rapid development of technology, commercial activities have also been changing. It is an undeniable fact that companies that can transfer their business to the digital environment today are in a more advantageous position than others. Despite the advantages it provides, one of the problems of being new in our country, the ecommerce sector, where we could have spent more time during the pandemic, is its informal character. The main purpose of this research is to examine the causes and consequences of informality in the e-commerce sector and what should be done to eliminate it. In this study, qualitative research method was used and opinions of experts in the sectors were obtained by in-depth interviews. As a result of the interviews, it was seen that the most important problems in e-commerce are the deficiencies in the payment infrastructure, high commission rates and lack of supervision. It has been understood that the biggest impact of informality is on taxation and the state has suffered serious losses in this regard, at the same time damaging the trust in the sector and creating an unfair competition environment. It is concluded that the state should determine a good tax policy with the tightening of inspections, service providers should provide training on e-commerce and informality and raise awareness, and consumers should inform the relevant authorities when they witness a situation that causes informality and disclose those who caused this situation by using social media platforms.