Is e-com the next biggest thing in B'desh?

Developing countries like Bangladesh are considered to exploit e-commerce channel as a mega sector in near future. Like other emerging market, e-commerce is also growing exponentially in our country. The growth rate is supposed to surpass the developed nation within few years because of the country’s attractive demography e.g. 60% population are below 25 years, middle class ~20% (India has 24% of its population), people’s increased purchasing power and increased technological use.

E-com can be classified into 4 categories are- B2B (Business to Business e.g. bgmea.com.bd), B2C (Business to Consumer e.g. chaldal.com, shajgoj.com), C2C (Consumer to Consumer e.g. bikroy.com), B2G (Business to Government is mainly for licensing process, and many other govt. operations e.g. a2i.gov.bd). My field of introspection in this article is B2B.

During COVID-19 pandemic, e-com B2B segment played a pivotal role as people had huge fear of infection. Henceforth, everyone got to think that e-com is going to be the next biggest thing. However, this channel till date is mostly untapped and at exterior end of our mind.

To have sustainable growth in this channel both e-com company and parent company has to work hand in hand with two choices are- 

1.    Choice of sustainable supply chain and operation: To have sustainable supply chain and operation, e-com company should focus on FEWER/ FOCUSED/ FASTER as a strategy of first step. Everyone should have blend of third-party logistics and internal fulfillment thus service to consumer need not face any trouble.

Besides, to have strong focus on supply chain fulfillment, certainly it is required 2 bets to deliver are- Maintaining FR (Fill Rate- Order vs Delivery), OTIF rate (On-Time In-Full order vs delivery). OTIF means a product is asked to be delivered in a given timeline, and whether it is delivered in full qty within the given timeline or not. Hence, such check points help to understand how service to consumer can be improved, whether more push is required from parent company or e-com company.

2.    Choice of Customer Experience: This is the most important choice to serve in three bets are- Must have, Better Experience, Delight. 

·     Must Have- Updated Product availability and visibility basis e-com site nature for instances, Pickaboo is well known for gadgets. Besides, there should have proper communication in home page, landing page, and call-to-action. Homepage is the first page of the site where e-com should update customer about what new and what is exciting! Landing page is the category section where e-com should also apprise customer about exciting news. Lastly, call-to-action is required if e-com/ parent company wants customer to know any special benefit while purchasing an item from checkout box. It could be any relevant offer on what customer might be interested.

·     Better Experience: E-com site has to have a distinctive identity to pop up on customer’s mind thus customers churn out to be loyal consumer. Hence, e-com might introduce customer call center, can do engaging surveys that help both e-com and parent company, can engage customer through exciting campaign, can deliver all products in a package that is exclusively designed with a nice thank you note, site can upload tutorials of product usage e.g. how to embrace new technology/ how to use make up basis e-com nature.

·     Customer Delight: To get customer loyalty is the hardest task, and none can guarantee any strategy must help to achieve that. However, both e-com and parent company should always try new things to delight customer and to convert them to consumer. In this regard, companies can plan PR kit/ free sample with deliveries or any new idea that would really ensure customer delight.

Above all, availability and visibility are the key success factors for parent company and customer satisfaction is the key success factor for e-com company. Therefore, both companies should have blend of pull and push strategies to deliver humongous growth in near future through these 2 choices. Hence, the question remains to you- is e-com really the next biggest thing in Bangladesh?