ALMATY, JUNE 26 2017 (The Bulletin) — Chocolife.me, the Kazakh discount voucher company modelled on the US’ Groupon, has bought its rival BeSmart for an undisclosed amount, its CEO, Ramil Mukhoryapov, told The Bulletin in an interview.

In the interview, Mr Mukhoryapov gave an upbeat assessment of the discount market in Kazakhstan, saying that the economic downturn of the past three years had, in some ways, driven growth.

“We feel that the additional trigger was the devaluation. People became a bit poorer and they had more stimulus to save (money through discount vouchers),” he said.

In 2015, the Kazakh tenge lost around 50% of its value. Central Asia and the South Caucasus have been dealing with a sudden drop in the value of oil and gas from 2014 which knocked revenues and triggered a recession in Russia, the region’s economic driver.

Mr Mukhoryapov said, though, that although the collapse of the tenge had hit the US dollar valuation of Chocolife.me, the market had been growing by 25% to 30% a year.

Chocolife.me, and BeSmart, vouchers typically offer discounts on family days out at water parks and funfairs, as well as dental polishing services and manicures.

Combined, the two brands will have a near 100% share of the discount voucher market in Kazakhstan, Mr Mukhoryapov said. He declined to say how much the market was currently worth or how much Chocolife.me, set up in 2011, had paid for BeSmart but he did emphase the role that the business played in the Kazakh economy.

“The market of collective purchases is a very small part of the advertisement market. If we look, what we do is we help advertise, promote (services),” he said.

For analysts, deals in the Kazakh retail market suggest that consumer confidence in Kazakhstan may, just, be beginning to improve.

ENDS

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(News report from Issue No. 335, published on July 3 2017)