E-commerce in Bangladesh

E-commerce

Internet access

The number of internet users in Bangladesh has been growing steadily, and the penetration rate is currently at 18.3%. In 2017, there were 80,483 million internet users in the country, but with a population of 163 million that number is still low. According to Freedom House, the internet in Bangladesh is 'Partly Free', given that there are occasional mobile service restrictions imposed by the government during times of possible unrest, and some news websites are blocked in the country. The main obstacle to using the Internet in Bangladesh is the infrastructure. Given that telephone connections are more concentrated in urban areas, the internet is still an urban privilege in the country (particularly in and around Dhaka). Outside those areas, mobile operators are providing substantial services using 3G or WiMax, and more than 90% of users access the internet via mobile phone providers. The price of bandwidth has significantly dropped over the last decade, but users say the cost of private internet service is still high. Google is by far the most popular search engine in the country. As of July 2018, the leading search engines in Bangladesh ranked by market share were Google (96.15%), Yahoo! (2.47%), Bing (1.18%), DuckDuckGo (0.06%), Baidu (0.05%) and MSN (0.02%).

E-commerce market

The e-commerce market in Bangladesh has been growing at a tremendous rate. However, the segment currently accounts for a small contribution to the country's economy, as the Internet penetration rate is still quite low. Still, e-commerce has a big potential in the country. In 2017, e-commerce generated almost US$ 120 million in sales. Over 80% of e-commerce traffic in Bangladesh comes from three major regions: Dhaka, which accounts for 35% of total traffic, closely followed by Chittagong at 29%, and Gazipur with 15% of total e-commerce activity each year. Online customers in Bangladesh are primarily interested in purchasing electronics and mobile phones, and they tend to prefer low-cost items. There is a number of local e-commerce platforms in the market, and foreign ones have started investing in Bangladesh. In large urban areas, B2C websites have become extremely popular, as evidenced by the growth of online food delivery sites like HungryNaki and FoodPanda. Cross-border e-commerce is still largely unexplored, particularly due to the fact that online payment remains limited, and cash transactions are still the predominant payment method. According to the e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh, more than 90% of e-commerce users prefer the cash-on-delivery payment model. Cash-on-delivery constitutes 95% of all the payments that take place, followed by bank/wire transfer (2%), bKash/Ukash (2%), and credit cards (1%). In recent years, smartphones have accounted for a big portion of the market, making them a target for most businesses. Most online shoppers in Bangladesh are between 25 and 34 years and most of them (83%) are male, indicating a big gender divide. Some of the most popular e-commerce websites in the country include daraz.com.bd, ajkerdeal.com, agdoom.com, chaldal.com, and rokomari.com.