Uzbekistan's ecommerce market hit $1.2 billion in 2024. That's 3.8% of the country's total retail sales. KPMG projects it'll reach $1.8–2.2 billion by 2027, with penetration climbing from under 4% to 9–11% of retail. COD is still the dominant payment method, Shopify store count is growing 113% year-over-year, and almost nobody is building for this market yet.

If you've been selling COD in South Asia, MENA, or Southeast Asia, you already know the playbook. Uzbekistan is different enough to trip you up if you copy-paste your existing Shopify setup — and similar enough that your operational experience transfers. This is the guide to getting in before the market gets crowded.

Why Uzbekistan Is Worth Your Attention Right Now

Thirty-six million people. 87.2% internet penetration (32.7 million users as of early 2025). And ecommerce penetration sitting at just 2–3%. That gap between internet access and online shopping adoption is where the opportunity lives.

The country just produced its first tech unicorn — Uzum, an ecommerce marketplace that hit a $2.3 billion valuation in March 2026. Uzum now reaches 20 million users (more than half the adult population), connects 17,000 sellers, and processes over 200,000 orders per day. When a local marketplace scales that fast, it means the infrastructure, consumer trust, and logistics networks are maturing in parallel.

International players are already circling. Wildberries, AliExpress, and Ozon all operate in Uzbekistan. But independent Shopify merchants? Almost nobody. The Shopify store count in Uzbekistan grew 113% year-over-year, but from a tiny base. That's a green field.

COD Is Still the Default (But the Shift Is Starting)

Cash on delivery remains the dominant payment method for Uzbek online shoppers. Card penetration is growing — Uzcard and HUMO are the two main domestic card networks — but most customers still prefer handing cash to the courier.

The difference from other COD markets: Uzbekistan's digital payment infrastructure is more developed than you'd expect. Click, the country's leading mobile payment system, has over 5 million users. Payme is another major player. These aren't future projections — they're active, widely used apps.

What this means for your store: you need COD as your primary payment method, but you should also integrate Click or Payme from day one. Offering both cash and mobile wallet payments isn't a nice-to-have here — it's how you capture the full market. Customers who've already switched to digital payments won't go back to COD, and customers who aren't ready for digital won't buy without a cash option.

The Cyrillic-First UX Problem Most Merchants Miss

Uzbekistan uses two scripts: Cyrillic and Latin. Officially, the country has been transitioning to Latin script since 1993. In practice, most of the population — especially anyone over 30 — still reads Cyrillic daily. Government websites often run both. Product search behavior skews Cyrillic on Google and Yandex.

If your Shopify store only has Latin-script product pages, you're invisible to a significant portion of your potential customers. Your order form, product descriptions, and checkout flow need Cyrillic options.

This isn't just a translation job. Uzbek written in Cyrillic and Uzbek written in Latin are the same language — but Google treats them as different search terms. You'll need to decide which script to target for SEO, and you may need to optimize for both. Most successful local ecommerce sites serve Cyrillic as the default with a Latin toggle.

Logistics: Tashkent Is Easy, Everywhere Else Is the Real Test

Tashkent, the capital, has 2.9 million people and relatively mature last-mile delivery. Same-day and next-day delivery are available through local courier services. Uzum's logistics network covers 25 cities, which gives you a sense of how far fulfillment infrastructure has spread.

Outside Tashkent and the major cities (Samarkand, Bukhara, Namangan), delivery times stretch to 3–7 days. Rural areas are harder — addresses can be inconsistent, and some regions rely on post office pickup rather than door-to-door delivery.

Your options for fulfillment:

Local 3PL partners: Companies like Uzum Tezkor handle warehousing and last-mile delivery. Partnering with a local fulfillment provider is the fastest way to get operational.
Cross-border shipping: If you're testing the market before committing to local inventory, ship from a nearby hub (Dubai or Istanbul are common). Expect 7–14 day delivery times and higher shipping costs.
Hybrid approach: Stock your best sellers locally, ship long-tail products cross-border. This is how most merchants enter without overcommitting on inventory.

New Regulations You Need to Know About

On December 26, 2024, the Uzbek government adopted Resolution No. 885 — new ecommerce regulations that took shape throughout 2025. Starting July 1, 2025, ecommerce operators must follow a notification-based regulatory framework covering consumer rights, personal data protection, and retail trade rules.

Key requirements that affect Shopify merchants:

Separate bank accounts: Ecommerce operators must use dedicated bank accounts for transactions. If you're processing payments through a local gateway, your payment partner handles this — but verify they're compliant.
Tax integration: Electronic trading platforms must integrate with the State Tax Committee's systems. This applies to marketplaces more than independent stores, but it signals the direction of regulation.
Only Uzbek legal entities qualify as ecommerce operators: If you're selling cross-border, you're not classified as an operator under this law. But if you establish a local entity, you'll need to comply fully.

The regulatory environment is formalizing fast. That's actually good news — it means the government is building frameworks that support ecommerce growth rather than restricting it.

What Sells in Uzbekistan (And What Doesn't)

Electronics and appliances dominate at 35% of online purchases. Fashion comes second at 19%. Home products, food, and health/beauty each account for 2–3%.

A few things to note about consumer behavior:

Price sensitivity is high. Average monthly wages are significantly lower than MENA or Southeast Asian markets. Your pricing strategy needs to reflect local purchasing power.
Trust in online purchases is still building. Product photos, reviews, and clear return policies matter more here than in mature ecommerce markets. Customers want to know exactly what they're getting before they commit to a COD order.
Mobile-first is non-negotiable. Most online shopping happens on smartphones. If your Shopify theme isn't fast on a mid-range Android device over a 4G connection, you'll lose the majority of your traffic.

How Do You Set Up a Shopify COD Store for Uzbekistan?

Here's the practical setup checklist:

Currency: Set up Uzbekistani som (UZS) as a selling currency. The current exchange rate hovers around 12,800 UZS to $1 USD. Shopify Markets handles multi-currency, but double-check that UZS displays correctly in your theme.
Language: Add Uzbek language support — ideally in Cyrillic script. Shopify's native translation tools work, but you'll want a native speaker reviewing your product pages.
Payment: Enable COD through your order form. For digital payments, explore Click or Payme integrations through Shopify-compatible payment apps.
Shipping: Set up shipping zones for Uzbekistan with realistic delivery estimates. Don't promise 2-day delivery outside Tashkent.
Phone verification: Fake COD orders are a problem in every emerging market. Uzbekistan is no exception. Add phone number verification to your order flow to filter out junk orders before they cost you a failed delivery.

For COD-specific setup — order forms, phone verification, and partial payments — EasySell handles all three with multi-language and multi-currency support built in, which matters when you're serving a Cyrillic-first market.

The Window Is Open, But It Won't Stay Open

Uzbekistan's ecommerce market is at the same stage that Vietnam, Nigeria, and Colombia were 3–4 years ago — small enough that early movers can build brand recognition before the market gets saturated, but large enough and growing fast enough that it's worth the operational investment.

Start with Tashkent. Stock 20–30 SKUs locally through a 3PL partner. Run your order form in Cyrillic with COD and Click payment options. Test for 90 days before expanding to secondary cities. The merchants who figure out Uzbekistan's unique combination of Cyrillic UX, mobile wallets, and cash on delivery will own a market that's about to triple in size.