Didarul Alam Nabeela: What prospects of e-commerce in Bangladesh motivated you to start the business?
Didarul: In Bangladesh there is a massive Internet user base of above 4.2 crore, which is growing every year with a double-digit growth potential. We targeted this huge market. These people are capable of spending 700 to 800 taka with a disposable income of average 25,000 to 30,000 taka. So they are our customers because they had the knowledge of Internet and the money to spend. There are a lot of opportunities in the market because currently the market is operating on only from 6 to 7 million. Most of the e-commerce sites depend on Google and Facebook to acquire customers. If you sort Facebook users aging from 20 to 65 years of age group, there is 70 to 75 lakh audience. Top e-retail businesses are generating a sale of over 2-3 lakh every day just by using this target group. Sooner or later the market will go big with the Internet penetration and access to high speed Internet.
Nabeela: What are the advantages of tailoring a career in e-commerce and how have you used the name Esho?
Didarul : I gave much thought on the name. I chose the name 'Esho' because it invites to come, it's a name which is familiar to almost all the people from the day they are familiar with Bangla, our mother language. I started the business, and we are doing very well now. We look forward to connecting all the small businesses around the country and give them a platform to reach the end consumers.
Although the prospect of e-commerce has not yet settled in on us, it still holds vast potential. As soon as people address the advantages and convenience of shopping or trading online, we believe the industry would boom. There is a huge potential market untapped and we would use that to our full advantage. Currently, to sustain and raise 'Esho' to the next level, we are initially playing with the necessary products like lifestyle products, electronics, etc, so that we can get 6% to 7% customers among the 4.2 crore. When we extend our operation, I can connect the villagers with the Dhaka consumers and even the handicrafts makers to the foreign customers.
Nabeela: What are the challenges you faced to start this business?
Didarul: Trust, reliability and confidence --these three are the biggest barriers in this business and its true for customers, merchants and also for the ecommerce business owners. In any startup business, fund is always the main problem. And also, the people around Bangladesh are not that much aware in using the Internet for shopping or they are not confident in doing this. That is a barrier we must overcome. On top of this problem, there are not many merchants who are well aware of the Internet transaction, inventory management, customer satisfaction and everything which results lack of dependence on merchant based ecommerce models. It actually made the supply chain of ecommerce more complicated and vulnerable. During this era of social media awareness, things are very sensitive. If a single customer face any problem in transaction, there would be a bad review and the people may not buy from us. We have our own photographers. They get the photos and edit them before uploading so that the consumer gets the actual picture of the products. There is no confusion like they buy a certain product and it does not match with the picture. Basically, we are correcting ourselves, after which we shall move on to the development of the merchants.
Nabeela: In respect to Bangladesh and its prevalent culture, where does this industry lag?
Didarul: The people in our country feel more comfortable in going to the physical-market by themselves. In the international market 60% is the retailer and 40% is the online markets. In our country, there is only 3% to 4% online market with a scope of 37% growth, which in money is a multi billion taka market with unlimited growth potential. So, this barrier could gradually be transferred into opportunity.
Nabeela: So where do you think the prospect or opportunity of a shifting industry lies within this country?
Didarul: When people go to the conventional markets, they see a product which is also available online. But, if the price is 20% to 30% less, people will then come online. They will find a good price to shop online. A recent research in India shows that the people over there are going to the retail market just for the trial and after that they buy it from online. Hopefully, this is also going to happen in Bangladesh. We will grow to the 40-45% marketing literally because it is a country of uncertainties. The people may not have any other option without ordering through online. The usual traffic jam of Bangladesh will also lead people to opt for online shopping due to our comfort-seeking nature. That is why we are trying to bring in the trust and the reliability factor within 'esho.com' by providing good products, right products in the right price which is lower by 20% or 30% compared to that available at conventional market. The market would then naturally grow upto 40% if we can maintain the pace with the finance and everything. Furthermore, the government has taken initiatives to raise the average speed to 1 mbps. If it happens, we can reach many people.
Nabeela: What are the distinct features of Esho.com?
Didarul: Our name offers a good insight to our qualities. We have our own warehouse and production. We even have our own brand named 'EshoInstyle'. It has its own post production team, own designers and everything are managed within the business. They are not dependent on external parties, because they want to give a better experience to the customers.
Our purchasing process is also as simple as it gets. We offer cash-on-delivery and a return option if customers are not satisfied with the ordered product. We also give out 50% discounts for products that have been in our inventory for more than 6 months. BKash and credit card users get a 10% discount. Customers can also avail promo-code offers.
Nabeela: What would be your future vision for Esho.com?
Didarul: After 10 years, I want to see 'esho.com' is creating a major impact on the economy by connecting different levels of people throughout the market. I would say, "Ja kichu proyojon, esho.com". It goes for both the ends. The customer will fulfill their needs and we will do business through this platform.
The author is a 4th year BBA student at IBA, University of Dhaka, [email protected]
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