Over the last decades, the rise of e-commerce has transformed the way businesses operate and engage with customers everywhere across the world. Bangladesh is no different. Online shopping has become a part of our daily lives, with consumers increasingly favoring the convenience and accessibility offered by e-commerce platforms.
However, for many startups and micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Bangladesh, the barriers to entry for establishing an online presence can be daunting, from technological complexities to financial constraints.
Enter DeshiCommerce, a fast-growing startup that aims to democratize e-commerce, empowering businesses in Bangladesh and beyond with its user-friendly, affordable, and localized ecommerce website builder platform.
At its core, DeshiCommerce is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) e-commerce website builder solution designed to cater to the unique needs of local businesses in Bangladesh, bridging the gap of experience and ease between global e-commerce platforms such as Shopify and the nuanced requirements of the Bangladesh market.
By providing a comprehensive suite of tools and services, the company simplifies the process of creating, managing, and scaling an online store or e-commerce website, democratizing access to the vast opportunities of the digital world for all businesses.
DeshiCommerce is a fully-owned subsidiary of Dhaka-based software services company BluBird Interactive Ltd.
The seeds of DeshiCommerce were planted back in 2018 when its founders recognized a gap in the Bangladesh market for an affordable and user-friendly e-commerce website platform. As Ashique Hassan, one of the co-founders of Blubird and DeshiCommerce, explains, "We originally started working on DeshiCommerce in 2018. The age of our domain is six years."
There was a lot of demand for ecommerce web development services in those years. This was the early days of ecommerce in Bangladesh. While the digital infrastructure was not ready yet, a ton of ecommerce players were entering the market.
The DeshiCommerce team saw the challenges faced by local businesses trying to establish an online presence. Building and managing an ecommerce website was and is complex and expensive. "When you think about building a custom ecommerce site, it is quite expensive," says Ashique. "You would also need at least a small team to manage the website and the tech. We were getting a lot of requests to build ecommerce websites.”
Recognizing the need for a more accessible and cost-effective solution, the founders set out to create a software-as-a-service (SaaS) product tailored to the Bangladesh market. “After much thought, we decided to build a SaaS solution for e-commerce websites to address this challenge in the market,” Ashique recalls.
Within 3/4 months, the team created a platform. They named it DeshiCommerce and started marketing it. However, once customers began using the product, all kinds of issues started to emerge. Because of its rapid development, the platform had many limitations and flaws.
“When we tried to fix one problem, it created a new problem somewhere else or we couldn't execute the change requests our customers were making,” recalls Ashique. “We eventually realized our structure had problems and we wouldn't be able to move forward with the version. After much thought, we decided to discontinue the version and told our customers that they could either use it as it is or they could stop using it and get a refund and that we wouldn't provide support after a certain time.”
However, while BluBird discontinued that version of DeshiCommerce, it didn’t stop working on the solution. “In the meantime, we made a plan for a new version,” says Ashique. “We conducted extensive research and studied all kinds of platforms from Shopify to WordPress to BigCommerce to Woocommerce to our local e-commerce platform to Amazon.”
After months of extensive research and subsequent development, the company finally launched a new beta version in January 2024. This time, BluBird also created a separate business entity for this new business. Today, DeshiCommerce has over 120+ active users on the platform and is getting excellent responses.
DeshiCommerce is built around the principles of flexibility, customization, and ease of use.
From customizable storefronts that allow businesses to reflect their brand identity to effortless product management, shipping management, and payment management, the platform is designed to cater to businesses of all sizes, ranging from aspiring entrepreneurs to established enterprises.
One key feature of DeshiCommerce is the platform's scalability, catering to businesses of all sizes through its tiered pricing plans. The Starter plan, at just BDT 500 per month, offers an affordable entry point, including a custom domain, support for 50 products and 20 categories, as well as essential features like one-click shipping, email support, online tutorials, and on-page SEO optimization. This is an excellent option for aspiring entrepreneurs and small businesses who want to experiment and experience DeshiCommerce before committing.
As businesses grow, the Standard plan (BDT 2000/month) provides more robust capabilities, including customized website setup, support for 250 products, unlimited categories, email and phone support, premium themes, and a generous 2000 SMS credits per month.
For larger enterprises and rapidly scaling businesses, the Advanced plan (BDT 4000/month) offers an all-encompassing solution with unlimited products, categories, 10 user accounts, live chat support, and 5000 SMS credits monthly.
Across all plans, DeshiCommerce provides a range of valuable features, such as discount coupon management, abandoned cart recovery, free email invoicing, and the option to remove DeshiCommerce branding, ensuring a customized and professional online presence.
Ecommerce is a very vast area with diversified needs, DeshiCommerce also offers white label and custom ecommerce development services like connecting ERPs or other third-party software that many businesses use.
One of DeshiCommerce's unique value propositions lies in its deep understanding of the local market and its commitment to addressing the specific challenges faced by Bangladeshi businesses.
As Ashique explains, "While global platforms like Shopify are good options, they don't always cater to the nuances of the local market. We've built DeshiCommerce from the ground up with Bangladeshi businesses in mind. Deshicommerce’s focus is solving local challenges, affordability, and reliable customer support in local language which is very much needed for entrepreneurs in a country like Bangladesh”
This localization effort is evident in DeshiCommerce's extensive integration with local logistics, payment, and other relevant service providers. "We have integrated OTP, so you don't have to worry about fake orders. We have integration with logistics players. We currently have integration with RedX and Pathao, and we are in the process of building similar integration with other courier services," says Ashique. "So you don't have to worry about logistics. You can manage shipping in one click."
For payments, DeshiCommerce provides bKash connectivity as of now. If you have a DeshiCommerce website and a bKash Merchant Account, you can connect your bKash Merchant wallet with your DeshiCommerce website with just a few clicks. DeshiCommerce is also trying to connect with different banks to provide more payment options for its clients.
Moreover, to make the payments transparent, DeshiCommerce doesn’t receive any payment on behalf of its clients. The platform just provides the gateway to accept payment. The clients always receive the payments in their own accounts
Commitment to exceptional customer support is something that DeshiCommerce says separates the company from others. "Our customer service, on top of everything, is readily available if customers face any challenge," says Kazi Shahin.
At the core of DeshiCommerce's mission lies a deep commitment to empowering entrepreneurs and making e-commerce accessible to all. As Kazi Shahin explains, "Our ultimate target is to contribute to our society through DeshiCommerce. We are making entrepreneurship inexpensive. You can start an ecommerce website with just BDT 500. This makes e-commerce business radically accessible to a large number of people. The purpose is to enable customers to start an ecommerce business just with their phone, with whatever skill or product they have."
By offering an affordable and user-friendly platform, DeshiCommerce aims to lower the barriers to entry for aspiring entrepreneurs. "If someone has a mobile phone and wants to sell something online using e-commerce, we want to serve him/her to do that," says Kazi.
The platform's focus on accessibility extends beyond cost, with an emphasis on ease of use and minimal technical requirements. As Kazi Shahin explains, "If you have a product, we can help you to sell it in the market. Once you receive an order, we have the entire order processing automated. You and the customer get notifications after receiving and placing an order. Logistics integration makes shipping automated. Payment integration makes payment simpler."
By offering seamless integration with local service providers and streamlining the e-commerce process, DeshiCommerce simplifies e-commerce for businesses, enabling them to focus on their core operations such as product development, marketing, and customer acquisition. It makes ecommerce possible for any and every business without the need for extensive technical expertise or costly operational overhead.
When it comes to the value proposition, the DeshiCommerce team emphasizes the platform's cost-effectiveness and the comprehensive suite of features it offers.
As Kazi Shahin explains, "If you consider the basic cost of running a website, DeshiCommerce is an easily inexpensive option and perfectly makes sense. If you run a website, you will need hosting, and any hosting service will cost you no less than BDT 1000, no matter what your website is. Then, to run your website, you will need at least one or two premium plugins if you want to run something at the standard of what we provide at DeshiCommerce."
He also points to the fact that for running any tech operation, be it a website or an app, you will need regular tech support. Either you have to hire someone to manage the tech and take service from a tech firm. Both options come with significant costs.
Ashique Hassan adds, "With DeshiCommerce, there is no deployment time. Your site is ready within 5-10 minutes, and you can start selling to your customers. Number two is that the local integrations that you get on DeshiCommerce, you can't find anywhere else, and in any other instances, it will cost you time and money. The technology and support you get, you wouldn't get anywhere at this cost."
One common concern with SaaS platforms is the potential limitation on customization options. However, DeshiCommerce aims to strike a balance by offering customization as a separate service. "At DeshiCommerce, we provide customization as a separate service," says Kazi. "If you need deep customization to your DeshiCommerce website, we help you to execute it for a fee."
Additionally, the team at DeshiCommerce has plans to open its core API in the coming days, allowing developers to build plugins and tools for the platform. If the company eventually is able to do that, it will create an expanding world of opportunities for DeshiCommerce and its customers.
Scalability is another key advantage DeshiCommerce provides, ensuring that businesses can grow their online operations seamlessly as their ambitions and customer base expand. As Ashique notes, "Whether you're a startup or an enterprise, DeshiCommerce grows with your business. Scale your online operations seamlessly as your business expands."
Bangladesh, with its rapidly growing economy and a population of over 160 million, presents a significant opportunity for digital commerce. The country's burgeoning middle class, coupled with increasing internet and smartphone penetration, has created a fertile ground for the adoption of online shopping.
However, the lack of accessible and user-friendly e-commerce solutions has hindered the adoption of online sales for many local businesses. Traditional e-commerce platforms and custom solution options often come with steep learning curves, high costs, and other technical and resource burdens, making them ill-suited for the unique challenges faced by many Bangladeshi businesses.
DeshiCommerce aims to bridge this gap. By offering an affordable, localized, and user-friendly solution, DeshiCommerce aims to empower MSMEs and all kinds of businesses, enabling them to tap into the rapidly growing e-commerce market and reach new customer segments.
However, DeshiCommerce's ambition extends beyond being just a platform; the company aspires to be a driving force behind the growth and success of businesses in digital commerce. To achieve this, the startup is focused on three key pillars: innovation, reliability, and collaboration.
Through continuous innovation and a commitment to staying ahead of industry trends, DeshiCommerce aims to evolve its platform, anticipating and meeting the ever-changing needs of businesses. This includes incorporating emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence to provide businesses with a competitive edge.
For instance, DeshiCommerce is now working to introduce an AI feature that will help automate writing product descriptions on the platform. The team is also trying to build an AI product recommendation engine to be used by the DeshiCommerce clients.
Reliability is incredibly important for any digital commerce player. With a robust infrastructure and a dedicated team of experts, DeshiCommerce strives to deliver a seamless and secure online shopping experience for both merchants and their customers.
Finally, DeshiCommerce recognizes the importance of collaboration with its clients, industry stakeholders, and the broader entrepreneurial ecosystem. The company says it plans to expand its integration and work with industry stakeholders to make the platform suitable for ever more types of businesses.
While DeshiCommerce's focus on democratizing e-commerce in emerging markets sets it apart from global players like Shopify and WooCommerce, the startup is not without competition. In Bangladesh and the broader South Asian region, several local and international e-commerce platforms have emerged, each vying for a slice of the rapidly growing market. The custom development services also pose a competitive challenge for the company.
The company will have to prove its worth to customers to build an enduring market position.
DeshiCommerce is betting on its deep understanding of the local market dynamics, cultural nuances, and the specific challenges faced by Bangladeshi businesses. By tailoring its platform and support services to the needs of local businesses, DeshiCommerce aims to build a sense of trust and familiarity that can be challenging for other players to replicate.
Moreover, DeshiCommerce's commitment to affordability and accessibility positions it as a compelling choice for MSMEs, many of whom may find the costs and complexities associated with global e-commerce platforms prohibitive.
Since its beta launch in January 2024, DeshiCommerce has garnered positive feedback from the market, with over 120 customers already on board. "We are getting over 20 queries every day," says Ashique. "We still have some limitations on the platform. If we could solve these limitations, I think we will see hockey stick growth in no time."
The team is actively working on expanding the platform's capabilities, with plans to introduce AI-powered features and enable service selling in addition to product selling. "We want to use AI intensively on our platform, and we are working on it," says Ashique.
Moreover, DeshiCommerce aims to cater to a wide range of businesses, from startups to small and medium enterprises. "We are also taking feedback from small businesses and businesses of different types such as small and medium enterprises to incorporate features for all kinds of businesses so that the platform works for a wide range of businesses," explains Kazi Shahin.
Looking ahead, DeshiCommerce has ambitious plans to expand beyond the Bangladesh market, with aspirations to enter other markets in Asia, Europe, and eventually, the United States. "Initially, we want to serve the Bangladesh market, and then eventually expand into other markets in Asia and then to Europe and the US. That's our vision in the long term," says Ashique.
In the fast-evolving e-commerce landscape of Bangladesh, DeshiCommerce stands out as a homegrown solution that promises to empower local entrepreneurs and make online selling via a website accessible to all.
By addressing the unique challenges of the local market, and offering an affordable and user-friendly platform, DeshiCommerce is well-positioned to become the Shopify of Bangladesh and perhaps of the global south.
As the company continues to evolve and expand its offerings, we will be eagerly following its journey and its impact on the Bangladeshi e-commerce ecosystem.
