Facebook’s Excessive Power in Dhaka’s eCommerce
Coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the growth of the ecommerce industry in Bangladesh. The sector was already on an upward trend even before the pandemic. The pandemic has come as a strong tailwind.
As lockdown and social distancing come into effect and people are forced to stay indoors, online order has become the mainstream way to buy foods and groceries. Amid the widespread fall in demand, the sector is enjoying healthy growth.
A number of online grocery businesses we spoke with in the past few weeks reported a sharp rise in orders from new users who never ordered on their platforms before. The internet usage has exploded and that people are looking up things online, using digital tools and services are some indisputable facts. And I’m positive that some of these behavioral changes will stick around and be lasting consumer trends in the coming days.
The data about Bangladesh ecommerce remains scarce. A recent report by the TBS puts Bangladesh ecommerce at a Tk700 crore monthly and more than Tk8000 crore annual market. Online data platform Statista puts the size of the ecommerce market in Bangladesh at $2077 million in 2020 and predicted the size will reach $3077 million in 2023.
Facebook and eCommerce in Bangladesh
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Ruhul Kader is a technology business and technology policy analyst based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He is also the co-founder and CEO of Future Startup and author of Rethinking Failure: A short guide to living an entrepreneurial life. He writes about internet business, strategy, technology, technology policy, and society. He can be reached at [email protected]
