E-commerce involves buying and selling of products and services by businesses and consumers through an electronic medium. Broadly, e-commerce is classified into four categories: business to business or B2B (Cisco), business to consumer or B2C (Amazon), consumer to consumer or C2C (eBay) and Business-to-Government (B2G). Business-to-business e-commerce involves agreements between the businesses and businesses. Distribution management, inventory management, channel management, supplier management and payment management are some of the areas in which B2B applications are widely used. In Bangladesh, bgmea.com.bd, bizbangladesh.com are examples of B2B platforms. B2C commerce involves e-commerce between businesses and the consumers. This form of e-commerce involves the purchase of books or any form of consumer goods. It also includes purchase of software, e-books, games, songs as well as e-banking. ajkerdeal.com, bdbazar.com, daraz.com, bajna.com are some examples of B2C. Advantages of B2C platforms to companies are reduced operating costs, bigger outreach, globalisation, customer convenience and knowledge management. Consumer-to-consumer e-commerce involves transactions between individual consumers. For instance, online auction, peer-to-peer system for money or file exchange can be classified as forms of C2C e-commerce. In Bangladesh bikroy.com, clickbd.com are examples of C2C platforms. B2G is usually used for licensing process, public purchasing and other government operations. B2G e-commerce is rather insignificant when compared to the other three forms. However, B2G can be one of the driving forces for running the public sector known as e-governance.
A wide range of technologies is used in e-commerce that includes electronic data interchange (EDI), electronic mail (e-mail), electronic funds transfer (EFT). In case of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) there needs to be an agreement between trading partners. EDI is a standard method for exchanging business data. E-mail and fax are also forms of EDI. In Bangladesh small, medium and big enterprises have taken up e-business platforms. When compared to developed countries, developing countries have a higher potential for improving the business structure and raise productivity by using e-commerce as a medium. M-Commerce (Mobile Commerce) and F-Commerce (Facebook Commerce) are very popular in today's e-business world. Over the years, the number of online transactions has been on the rise. According to BTRC officials the number of internet subscribers in Bangladesh had crossed 80 million in 2017. At present there are approximately 2,000 e-commerce sites and 50,000 Facebook-based outlets delivering almost 30,000 products a day. Currently, 80 per cent of the online sales are taking place in Dhaka, Chattogram and Gazipur.
Online transactions in Bangladesh have been increasing over the years. Improvements in standard of living coupled with advancement in livelihood, shopping behaviour has experienced a significant shift. In Bangladesh the e-commerce industry set sail in the late 90s but was unable to expand immediately. Gradually, over the years, banking, logistics communications and payment methods have improved creating opportunities for the e-business sector to develop. A number of sectors including the banking sector are now using the internet payment system. As consumers can avail credit, debit card services and digital wallet, the cash-on-delivery system is now more accessible.
Over the last few years, internet connections have improved and the number of people who have access to the web has increased thus making way for e-commerce business to flourish. In 2016, $50 million was invested in the e-commerce sector in Bangladesh. Out of which $10 million was from Foreign Direct Investment. In 2017, the B2C e-commerce business market measure equalled USD 110-115 million (around BDT 9.0 billion) compared to BDT 1335.71 billion made by the retail market. The outreach of the e-commerce business market exceeded Tk 17.0 billion in 2017 from Tk 4.0 billion in 2016, as revealed from the findings by e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB). The market measure for e-commerce is expected to equal Tk 70 billion by 2021.
In Bangladesh retail e-commerce is growing at 72 per cent a month. At present, more than 35,000 individuals and above 25,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are part of this sector. Till 2018, the number of e-commerce business sites and e-commerce pages equalled 2,500 and 150,000 respectively. It was estimated that the number of deliveries per day added up to about 15,000 to 20,000 at the retail level.
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