As the conventional business has been hard hit by the coronavirus crisis, there is a general trend in shifting to online business or e-commerce by traders who consider public health safety a priority.
Such shift is gradually attracting many young entrepreneurs to open new business opportunities and hence expand the economy to its new height.
Despite continued business by conventional traders, many businessmen are now offering products based on taking orders online or on phone to assure maintaining hygiene to their customers.
The latest such example of e-commerce businesses is the introduction of a digital platform where customers can opt to buy all kinds of sacrificial animals as well as slaughtering and delivery services.
Such online business assures following all public health safety rules as per the government directives on Eid-ul-Azha amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis.
It is learnt that an estimated 2000 such e-commerce-based traders have emerged in last couple of months alone to offer convenient purchasing and delivery services. In fact, some popular social media have also emerged as online trading platform.
In the meantime, some 200 parcel dispatch companies (courier) are also engaged in product delivery services. Many new online entrepreneurs are said to be using such courier services as the companies do not have experienced and reliable product delivery systems.
Well known economist Dr Nazneen Ahmed, Senior Research Fellow at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) told Bangladesh Post that the economy has been shrinking.
She said that employment opportunities are low in the country. Many people are losing their jobs. In this situation e-commerce is expanding. The government can provide free training to those who are interested in such online business.
She continued, “In this case, the department of youth development can be used so that it reaches rural settings. At the same time, the government should consider making soft bank loans available for the growth of such business, many of which are home-based.”
“There is a huge potential in the agro processing sector in our country. We can focus more on this sector to overcome the current crisis,” she said.
“Many are now leaving the city and going to their villages due to lack of employment. They need training and financial support so that they can do different types of works, may be centering agriculture,” Dr Nazneen said.
In the last few months, apart from the daily necessity commodities, the demand for health safety materials, such as; face masks and shield, hand gloves, hand sanitizers and house-hold disinfection solutions and sprays has tremendously increased.
Many customers who tend to avoid being in public places like, the common market places and groceries markets show interest in buying products through online companies due to coronavirus. As a result, e-commerce is booming. Online sales have now increased by 50 to 60 percent compared to the usual time.
A huge number of people have been employed in this sector, sources said. The e-commerce market in Bangladesh has exceeded $ 1.5 billion.
According to the German research institute Statistar, Bangladesh is now in the 46th position in the world e-commerce market.
According to the latest data from Statistar, the e-commerce market in Bangladesh in 2019 stood at $1,648 million, which will increase to 2,077 million this year. And in 2023, the market size will be $3,077 million.