The e-commerce world has always been dominated by developed
countries such as USA, UK, China and Japan. According to research the top 5
countries, ranked by B2C e-commerce sales, in 2013 are: first is US which currently
boasts $384.80 billion sales, second is China with $181.62 billion sales, third
is UK with $141.53 billion sales, fourth is Japan with $140.35 billion sales
and Germany which has $53.00 billion sales. Now, this trend is changing as
developing countries have started adopting and implementing e-commerce business
models in their countries.
Pakistan is one developing country which has ventured into
the e-commerce market. With a total population of 180 million people, internet
users are increasing rapidly. Currently, there are 29.1 million internet users
in Pakistan, which comprises 15% of the total population. While, mobile
internet users in Pakistan are about 15 million. Also, with such a wide range
of currently undeveloped markets to compete in, the need for online stores will
only increase over the course of time. Also, when one compares the cost of
developing a brick-and-mortar store to the cost of setting up an online
business, one realizes it’s cost effective to set up an online business.
Furthermore, another promising feature of Pakistan is that
its demographic distribution is enviable when it comes to setting up online
businesses. 56% of Pakistan’s population lies between the age brackets of 15 – 54
years. These are the people who are most active internet users and hence, are a
major factor which contribute to growth of online purchases in Pakistan. It’s
not only Pakistani entrepreneurs that have started taking an interest in online
businesses. Foreign e-commerce giants have also realized the hidden potential
in these developing countries and that’s why German Multinational capitalist
has recently introduced e-commerce sites like Daraz.pk, Kaymu.pk, Foodpanda.pk and Zamudi.pk in
Pakistan.
To fully exploit the advantages of online shopping in Pakistan, many businesses
have chosen to adopt already existing and successful business models of eBay or
Amazon. The only problem with the business models is the payment systems being used
by these e-commerce giants. As, Pakistan is a country where there is a lot of
mistrust when it comes to online transactions, this makes its very hard to
encourage people to provide their credit card information etc. on online shopping
stores. To counter this problem recently, many online stores have introduced
services like cash on delivery, online bank transfers etc. Online businesses
have also started collaborating with Visa, Master, or PayPal so that they can
increase the level of trust people place in their ventures. Also one of the
several benefits of shopping online is that people can look for and compare
computer, desktops, laptops, and fashion and mobile phone prices in Pakistan
which enables them to buy quality products at lowest available prices online.
Overall, with the increasing popularity of online businesses
and increasing awareness of number of unexplored opportunities, e-commerce
revolution is just around the corner for Pakistan.
Online Shopping in Pakistan
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