E-commerce in Bangladesh: Where do we stand?

E-commerce has left its footprint in every part of the world. The Asia Pacific region is a major part of it. The B2C (business-to-consumer) e-commerce sales in the Asia-Pacific region grew more than 33 per cent to $ 332.46 billion in 2012. This year the region will see an increase in sales by more than 30 per cent to over $ 433 billion-or more than one-third of all global B2C e-commerce sales. The rapid growth in the Asia-Pacific sales is a result of several factors. Three Asia-Pacific markets, namely China, India and Indonesia, will see a faster growth in B2C e-commerce sales than all other markets worldwide this year while Japan will continue to take a large share of global sales.

China, unsurprisingly, is the primary driver of growth in the region. The country will surpass Japan as the world's second-largest B2C e-commerce market this year, accounting for an estimated 14 per cent of global sales, as its sales reach $181.62 billion, up by 65 per cent from $110.04 billion in 2012. The US will remain the single country with the largest share of worldwide B2C e-commerce spending, at 29.6 per cent in 2013-down from 31.5 per cent in 2012 despite relatively a stronger growth. This will continue throughout the forecast period, though China is closing the gap fast. In 2016, China will grab 22.6 per cent of the worldwide market against 26.5 per cent in the US. China also boasts the highest number of people, who buy goods online in the world-nearly 220 million in 2012, according to eMarketer. This is resulting from increasing internet penetration, a burgeoning middle class with growing trust in online shopping, government-driven campaigns to promote consumerism and improved infrastructure, product selection and services offered by online sellers and retailers.
According to eMarketer's latest forecasts, the worldwide B2C e-commerce sales will increase by 20.1 per cent this year to reach $ 1.500 trillion. Growth will come primarily from the rapidly expanding online and mobile user bases in emerging markets, increases in m-commerce sales, advancing shipping and payment options, and the push into new international markets by major brands.

In 2014, for the first time, consumers in the Asia-Pacific region spent more on e-commerce purchases than those in North America, making it the largest regional e-commerce market in the world. This year alone, B2C e-commerce sales are expected to reach $ 525.2 billion in the region, compared with $ 482.6 billion in North America.
E-commerce improves the efficiency and effectiveness of any agency. The main advantage of e-commerce is the online access that can save a lot of time and money usually spent for going outside for shopping. However, going online does not guarantee the total success and it totally depends on performance and ability of an organisation.
Bangladesh is one of the largest markets in the world in terms of population, but the people are not educated that much or ready for the online market yet. The period from 1971 to 1990 was the darkest one for Bangladesh in the area of e-commerce business. People never even imagined e-commerce in the absence of availability of technology. In the 90s when computers started reaching our homes, we only started working on computers for doing assignments given at schools, colleges and universities. It was being used in the private sector for some specific purposes and few government institutions began using it. Now in the present age e-commerce provides the greatest opportunity for a person. One can pay the bill online or purchase anything or even start an online business to sell something from his home or office. He or she does not need to rent an office or space to sell products. One can easily start selling products on one's own website or use any other site.

There are some challenges facing the e-commerce sector in Bangladesh. The major constraints are:
Here are some good initiatives which helped overcome these constraints:
In Bangladesh the e-commerce revolution started in 2010, when the Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited launched their payment gateway to serve e-commerce businesses by offering the option of payment online. SSLCOMMERZ was one of the very first merchant payment gateways, which provided the service for the Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited from the beginning. Later on, BRAC Bank joined it and has been playing a significant role in boosting this market.
Along with banks, merchants are also the key role players in this market. Merchants are selling their products or services to the customers. With the blessings of e-commerce, customers don't need to visit any outlet physically for purchasing any product. They just check the products on different websites, select it, make an online order, complete payment and receive the goods or services within a specific period of time. Today in Bangladesh, there are many companies, business entities and entrepreneurs doing business online. You can purchase an airlines ticket staying at home, you do not need to go to your retailer to top-up your phone, to banks for paying bills for your wimax connection. You can just visit the websites of airlines, Telco, Qubee, Banglalion, I-connect and Idea Networks that help their customers pay online. Besides, you can purchase movie tickets, different discounted products and hot deals from different sites. The much-known e-commerce stores doing fantastic business for a couple of years in Bangladesh are: akhoni.com, ajkerdeal.com, iferi.com, ushop.com.bd, akmatro.com, bdhaat.com, esufiana.com, oo.com.bd, etc. People can easily buy different products at a special rate from any of these sites. If you want to purchase any diamond jewelry for your special one, then just click into the online shop diamondworld.com and purchase your product. One can buy movie tickets, grocery items and even bus tickets online.
In the e-commerce ecosystem, the role of the payment processor is very important. Payment processors ensure the connectivity with different banks with multiple options for their merchants. So, merchants can get connected to all types of payment channels at a single place. In Bangladesh, SSLCOMMERZ (www.sslcommerz.com.bd), the leading merchant payment gateway provider, is providing the support to more than 350 merchants. SSLCOMMERZ has been working in this area since 2010 and till now they have the highest number of merchants in their gateway. SSLCOMMERZ is offering very attractive packages so that new businesses can start e-commerce business with the lowest possible investment.
To start one's online business, everybody must have a website. We generally buy or hire a store, decorate it and collect different items to attract the customers. A website is like that showcasing products to the customers. A website remains open round the clock for any customer.
One thing to be noted is that success of e-commerce does not depend on access and connectivity alone. Information technology also depends on the fortitude of an entrepreneur taking the advantage of e-commerce. Proper awareness building programmes for the people including the business community are required to demonstrate the value of e-commerce to them.
Alibaba is one of the greatest examples of how e-commerce can be revolutionised in the world. Alibaba Group Holding Limited is a Chinese e-commerce company that provides consumer-to-consumer, business-to-consumer and business-to-business sales services via web portals. It also provides electronic payment services, a shopping search engine and data-centric cloud computing service. In 1999 Jack Ma founded the website Alibaba.com, a business-to-business portal to connect Chinese manufacturers with overseas buyers. In 2012 two of Alibaba's portals handled sales worth Yuan 1.1 trillion ($170 billion). The company primarily operates in the People's Republic of China (PRC), and at the closing time of its initial public offering (IPO) on September 19, 2014 Alibaba's market value was estimated at US$ 231 billion.
An e-commerce site is now one of the major approaches implemented for increasing sales for a retail and/or service organisation in the developed world. This approach of business is appreciated and accepted by the customers because of its several convenience factors. E-commerce is a virtual store for product or service delivery, which remains open round the year. In Bangladesh we are already 10 years behind the developed nations due to our conservative approach to a business venture. E-commerce can be one of the key drivers for our own economic growth, if we want to cope with the progress other developing countries made.

The writer is General Manager, SSL Wireless.
 ashish@sslwireless.com