Electronic commerce has completed the transition from visualization to an absolute economic reality. It has transformed the traditional process of business by adding new dimensions for increasing revenue and profit. Paper-based legislation is not considered to be providing the solutions to problems that arise in an electronic environment. The advancement in this sector has encouraged a corresponding rise in proposals for its regulation. E-commerce has brought fundamental changes in the business sector by providing net-enabled market for all manufacturing sectors.
With accelerating internet access and an overwhelming penetration of mobile phones around the globe, Asia is becoming increasingly attractive to e-commerce firms that are booming on the international level. Amazon, eBay and Expedia are the big guns that are enjoying their success in the international market but they are facing various challenges in Asia due to diverse culture, multiple languages and poor infrastructure.
Although being a late entrant in this sector, Pakistan is showing a positive response in the e-commerce business. E-commerce trends are expected to boom in the near future due to easy internet access. Its growth is increasing due to drastically changing the way business is done. It is estimated that in recent years almost $30 million is being spent on online purchases which depicts a highly positive picture of the future and size of e-commerce market in Pakistan. It is considered to be reaching over $600 million by 2017 due to unprecedented growth rates.
With the popularity of online marketing, the e-commerce business firms are facing a tough competition among each other. These e-commerce websites offer various packages at discounted rates to their customers which benefits large number of people. E-commerce in Pakistan is taking an innovative step as it is being applied to various sectors of the economy. Cash-On-Delivery (COD) payment methods account for almost 95% of online purchases in the country.
In Pakistan, through the introduction of e-commerce in the banking sector, customers can now gain access to their respective bank’s computer system and can control their daily financial transactions and can also pay their utility bills by staying at home.
Many websites are working for conducting auctions by people for their property from home, thus finding them good deals for buying or selling of their properties.
Nowadays E-shopping or electronic shopping is also becoming extremely popular in the country, you can choose a product from home and can make the payment after the product has been delivered at your door-step.
Marketing and advertising through e-commerce is an effective way of introducing a product to the customers internationally as well as locally. In our country many websites are operating currently for online businesses.
Even though e-commerce is an emerging market in our country, it is likely to face various challenges. Although many of these challenges are providing scope for innovation, thus driving the market forward. Pakistani market is fragmented with poor logistic infrastructure. Issue of mistrust prevails among the customers regarding the security and privacy of their personal information like credit cards, phone numbers and home addresses etc. Also, people lack confidence with the newly emerging companies in the online market which needs to be taken into account by the government authorities.
Logistics play major role in establishing and sustaining e-commerce in an emerging market. Therefore, Pakistani government needs to invest heavily in logistic and infrastructure. Government should pay more attention to the emergence of reliable web-based companies with its support in order to dispel the fear of mistrust among customers.
In the past few years, the use of internet has significantly increased but still the per hour cost of internet in Pakistan along with problems of low speed hampers the growth of e-commerce business. We need low cost, high speed and reliable internet connections in order to help improve the e-commerce sector. For e-commerce to flourish in the country, these barriers need to be removed at first.
There is a lot of scope of e-commerce in Pakistan, but there is dire need to increase computer literacy and internet penetration in our country. Despite of all the issues, research findings have shown that due to time, money and other resource savings, online stores are becoming most favored options for shopping among customers. Pakistan has the capability to move efficiently into the era of electronic trade and it can make good use of this opportunity with better planning and execution and we can reach the true e-commerce potential and can compete with other big players of the region.