Shah Alam Nur :
Online shopping is gaining momentum in the country as consumers are becoming more focused on it, thanks to latest information technology.
“In Bangladesh, online shopping is gaining momentum and we hope this market will find a strong position in world perspective also after the USA, China and India,” Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) President Shameem Ahsan told The New Nation on Saturday.
He said, this segment of trade will grow faster once all parts of the country come under 3G coverage and the mobile internet speed picks up.
According to a BASIS data, e-commerce is currently a Tk 300 crore industry. The data also showed 400 per cent growth of the industry in the last one and a half years.
Currently, 10,000 registered sellers and 100,000 different products are on BASIS’s website. There are 4.88 crore Internet users in Bangladesh.
The BASIS President said online shop offers an array of products, including clothing, footwear, mobile phones, computers, jewelleries, watches, electronics, books, and food and beverages. Mobile phones and electronics are clearly the most popular items.
Everyday 20,000 to 25,000 users visit the site, with 35 per cent of the e-Commerce traffic coming from Dhaka, followed by Chittagong at 29 per cent and Gazipur 15 per cent.
Stronger security protocols and easier transaction facilities provided by banks and trusted logistic companies are driving the online buyers to rely on such transactions.
A recent study conducted by Kaymu Bangladesh, a business management consulting firm, found that most middle-class and affluent consumers are enjoying an access to Internet shopping.
The study report said people between 25 and 34 years shop the most from the local e-Commerce sites, while the 35-44 and 18-24 age brackets take up the second and third places respectively.
Dhaka is the right place for growing e-Commerce because of traffic jam and some other issues, added the report.
Cash-on-delivery is the most commonly used payment method in Bangladesh, accounting for 95 per cent of e-commerce transactions. Only 1 per cent used credit cards, about 2 per cent bKash or other mobile transactions and 2 per cent banking channels.
The reason for the overwhelming preference for the cash-on-delivery method is that the country’s e-Commerce landscape is still in its very early stages, said AKM Fahim Mashroor, convener of BASIS e-Commerce Alliance. “All developing markets went through this phase.”
Even a couple of years ago, cash-on-delivery dominated India’s e-Commerce transactions, he said, adding its usage dropped to about 60 per cent recently.
However, Bangladesh is in a very good position as mobile banking systems are flourishing here, said Mashroor.
Mashroor is optimistic that within four to five years the country’s mobile banking system would develop more and account for a greater share of the online transactions.
Of the total e-Commerce activities carried out, he said, 83 per cent comprised males.
About 71 per cent of the online purchases are made from desktops while 26 per cent and 3 per cent from mobile phones and tablets respectively.
Online shopping is gaining momentum in the country as consumers are becoming more focused on it, thanks to latest information technology.
“In Bangladesh, online shopping is gaining momentum and we hope this market will find a strong position in world perspective also after the USA, China and India,” Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) President Shameem Ahsan told The New Nation on Saturday.
He said, this segment of trade will grow faster once all parts of the country come under 3G coverage and the mobile internet speed picks up.
According to a BASIS data, e-commerce is currently a Tk 300 crore industry. The data also showed 400 per cent growth of the industry in the last one and a half years.
Currently, 10,000 registered sellers and 100,000 different products are on BASIS’s website. There are 4.88 crore Internet users in Bangladesh.
The BASIS President said online shop offers an array of products, including clothing, footwear, mobile phones, computers, jewelleries, watches, electronics, books, and food and beverages. Mobile phones and electronics are clearly the most popular items.
Everyday 20,000 to 25,000 users visit the site, with 35 per cent of the e-Commerce traffic coming from Dhaka, followed by Chittagong at 29 per cent and Gazipur 15 per cent.
Stronger security protocols and easier transaction facilities provided by banks and trusted logistic companies are driving the online buyers to rely on such transactions.
A recent study conducted by Kaymu Bangladesh, a business management consulting firm, found that most middle-class and affluent consumers are enjoying an access to Internet shopping.
The study report said people between 25 and 34 years shop the most from the local e-Commerce sites, while the 35-44 and 18-24 age brackets take up the second and third places respectively.
Dhaka is the right place for growing e-Commerce because of traffic jam and some other issues, added the report.
Cash-on-delivery is the most commonly used payment method in Bangladesh, accounting for 95 per cent of e-commerce transactions. Only 1 per cent used credit cards, about 2 per cent bKash or other mobile transactions and 2 per cent banking channels.
The reason for the overwhelming preference for the cash-on-delivery method is that the country’s e-Commerce landscape is still in its very early stages, said AKM Fahim Mashroor, convener of BASIS e-Commerce Alliance. “All developing markets went through this phase.”
Even a couple of years ago, cash-on-delivery dominated India’s e-Commerce transactions, he said, adding its usage dropped to about 60 per cent recently.
However, Bangladesh is in a very good position as mobile banking systems are flourishing here, said Mashroor.
Mashroor is optimistic that within four to five years the country’s mobile banking system would develop more and account for a greater share of the online transactions.
Of the total e-Commerce activities carried out, he said, 83 per cent comprised males.
About 71 per cent of the online purchases are made from desktops while 26 per cent and 3 per cent from mobile phones and tablets respectively.
