Online business potential for Bangladesh

We take heart as we learn that people's habit of online shopping is gaining tempo in Bangladesh. Speakers at Dhaka e-Commerce Fair 2014, held recently, highlighted the achievements made in online business. The slogan of this year's fair was "Business at your click". According to business leaders, e-commerce has the potential of becoming one of the five leading sectors in Bangladesh over the next 10 years.
There are now about 350 Bangladeshi websites that offer their customers virtual platforms to buy consumer items; and around 2000 companies are advertising their products through Facebook, the most popular online social network. Online shopping on "Business to Consumer" (B2C) basis in Bangladesh, as reported, has yearly transactions worth Taka 200 crore (Tk 2 billion), which is growing at an astonishing pace of 30 per cent every month.
B2C e-commerce sales worldwide in 2013 were worth USD 1.23 trillion and may reach USD 1.50 trillion at the end of 2014. It may not be a surprise if B2C e-commerce sales in Bangladesh reach Taka 1000 crore (USD 125 million) by the end of this year.
Aarong, a successful enterprise of BRAC, which is dedicated to bringing about positive changes in the ethical and marketing cultures and is one of the few popular, smartly performing shopping outlets in Bangladesh, has also launched their e-commerce platform a few months back. Aarong has earned a solid goodwill, creating a strong niche in the retail market of Bangladesh. It is one of the few chain-shops in our country where people can safely place their trust in.
'Trust', the number one key to growth of a business, is a magnetic pull and the most fundamental principle that keeps a customer glued to a shop --- online or offline.  A slight drop in trust is suicidal for the shopper as well as the shopkeeper in both virtual and tangible businesses. Especially in e-commerce, trust is the most essential ingredient. Virtual shoppers have to believe what they see and read on a website and disclose their secret credit card particulars to purchase an item.
Despite being a banker, I myself did not believe in credit or debit cards for a number of years, as I had bitter experience about trustworthiness in our business culture. I did not trust an online seller even in the United States. But I had to pay a heavy price for my mistrust in electronic and online transactions as I had always to carry cash and undertake expensive travels to buy an item from a shop. My purchases could cost me much less if only I had faith in online shopping. Ironically, now I know how to handle my plastic cards and have realised how safe it is to shop online.
A company's website that sells online asks a customer to furnish his/her personal data like home address, credit/debit card information, etc. Offering goods at a cheaper price is not enough for a website to succeed in business. Unless the company has its website well encrypted and has established its reputation in their delivery services with a clear-cut "Return Policy" with 'money back guarantee' and "Privacy Policy", an intelligent customer may not proceed with buying from that site. A "Return Policy" outlines in simple language the terms and conditions and lets a buyer know within how many days he/she has to 'return' his purchased product. A "Privacy Policy" states a promise that a customer's private data are well protected and will not be misused.
A liberal "Return Policy" in the United States is one of the main factors that enhance a seller's reputation. I remember I once returned my shirt three times back to Macy's, a giant retailer in America. It was the same salesgirl who handled my 'returns', and every time I approached her she would greet me smilingly with the same salutation remark: "Yes honey, I know you didn't find the shirt as comfortable as you thought when you visited us last time."
Some customers in Bangladesh may feel panicky about shopping online, and they may not like the idea of using their expensive cell phones to contact the owner of a website. So providing a 'toll free' telephone number for customer enquiries makes good business sense.
The most important signboard of a seller's website is a "Certified Seal", like Trust Guard in America, which would recognise the website as "safe and secure" for customers. In Bangladesh, a reliable institution (which cannot be bribed) should be entrusted with the task of issuing such certification services. A law also needs to be passed by parliament mentioning the rewards, punishments, guidelines, procedures, and security and safety aspects of online business in order to instil into the online users a confidence in the new trends of virtual transactions.
There are many ways to win a customer on the part of a web-based company. On many an occasion Amazon, the largest internet store in the USA, over-delivered on their promises to me when I bought something from them online. On many instances, they delivered my goods two days before the expected delivery time. Some American companies gave me unexpected gifts. Many companies I bought things from would contact me at a later date to find out if I was still happy with the product that I had purchased from them.
In Bangladesh, where confidence in online buying directly from a seller may initially be in short supply, a web-based reputable intermediary, for instance Aarong, or any other trustworthy seller, may handle invoicing and payment between a buyer and a seller. The intermediary will make sure the buyer is not foisted with shoddy goods and the seller is not short-changed by the buyer. In case of an unavoidable mishap, the intermediary has to reimburse for any loss.
Vendor to consumer sales services are nowadays provided by many reputable internet companies like eBay. EBay does not sell anything itself; they only offer auction-style sales on an efficient online platform in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services. EBay guarantees execution of an agreement once reached between a buyer and a seller.
Today, a young entrepreneur with some basic education and a knack for business is very fortunate compared to those of us who had not much of access either to capital or to information. Today's new entrepreneurs have ample opportunities to avail of in order to start a business from scratch.
Entrepreneurship is a glorious outlet for young people of Bangladesh to chart their own destinies.
An ambitious entrepreneur has to keep himself abreast of new business developments around the world. Learning about anything about any business on the part of an apprentice entrepreneur with an access to internet is now just a click away from his desk. What he has to do is start a venture on a small scale to test the waters before asking for capital from his friends or from a bank. A combination of his ten per cent inspiration and ninety per cent perspiration may help him climb from the lowest level of his fortunes to the zenith of his dreams.
If you are young and your goal is to start a small online business, just focus on what is important. Don't get too caught up with daydreaming. Be creative. Just float your simple website and invite people to visit your site. Ask for their email addresses and follow up with them.
If, for instance, you don't have capital to invest in a business, you can sell your knowledge online. If you are good, say, at mathematics or literature or any other subjects, be an online tutor. Offer free tuition for the first seven days for the prospective students to test your ability. To your surprise, you may find yourself to be a popular teacher in no time. A lot of people in Pakistan and India are earning by teaching "Quran Reading" to American Muslims through Skype. Some Bangladeshi teachers of mathematics are very popular in the US. Why don't you try your luck in selling your knowledge?
If you can mobilise a little bit of capital, you may try to sell online new and refurbished electronic gadgets and furniture that you can carry to the buyers by your own transport without incurring extra cost on third party transportation.
In America, a new online business on renting clothes and apparels, especially of ladies, is emerging. What you need to do is just launder those used clothes before renting the same to a new renter. People who have the penchant to wear new dresses every other occasion may find your website attractive as your rented dresses would save them money and space in their closets.
Choose your area and mode of online business you find to be the best and suitable to your ability and your location without getting carried away by somebody else's advice.
The history is replete with rag-to-riches stories. The inspiring story of Dhirubhai Ambani --- a petrol pump attendant who ultimately became a multi-billionaire --- still inspires new entrepreneurs and gives them hope.
However, those who are eager to prosper in any entrepreneurship, especially in online business, must read the story of Jack Ma, a scrawny 50-year old Chinese man, about 5 feet tall. He was rejected by KFC, city police and other employers in his hometown of Hangzhou in east China. He flunked mathematics; failed the national college entrance exams twice.
But he adored English. At age 12, Jack Ma would wake up at 5 in the morning to walk or bicycle to Hangzhou's main hotel so he could practise his English with foreign tourists. He did this for nine years and acted as a free tour guide to many, and befriended several foreigners.
He somehow graduated in 1988 and taught English at a local college for five years, earning USD 15 (Taka one thousand at that time) a month.
In 1999, Jack Ma started an internet-based business --- just like the ones some enthusiastic Bangladeshi entrepreneurs have now been doing through their websites. Jack Ma pooled USD 60,000 from his friends and relatives and founded his company named "Alibaba" to sell goods one another through websites from his one-room apartment. Outlandish ideas of doing business through internet earned him the nickname "Crazy Jack Ma".
Fifteen years later, on 18th of September 2014, Jack Ma was declared China's wealthiest man as Alibaba completed a record $25 billion IPO, the world's biggest, by selling shares on the New York Stock Exchange. Priced at $68 apiece, Alibaba opened at $92.70 shortly before noon, climbing to $99.70 before closing at $93.89. More than 100 million shares were traded within 20 minutes and over 271.6 million shares exchanged hands by the day's end.
Transactions in 2013 over Alibaba's websites totalled nearly USD 250 billion, compared with USD 116 billion for Amazon, the American giant in the same line of business.
Most of the people in their childhood around the world have enjoyed reading the story "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves", and were thrilled at the mysterious words "Open sesame" that Ali Baba, the central character of the story, used to command the door of a treasure trove to open.
Jack Ma now seems poised to open the door of fortunes to millions of Alibaba's shareholders.

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