Snapshot of E-commerce in Nepal!

(Pictures are extracted from individual websites)

Social media is not only a platform for communication or entertainment but also for a “Marketplace”. In today’s world if you don’t have a website, Facebook, TikTok, or an Instagram account for your business then you are lacking behind everyone. It has made business more shareable and expanded the horizon of business reach to common people. It has helped “E-commerce” to flourish in different parts of the world including Nepal. Nepal with a predicted revenue of USD 1,012.6 million by 2023, is the 87th largest market for e-commerce. (https://ecommercedb.com/markets/np/all) 

(The above chart extracted from Statista Market Insights shows the revenue generated by e-commerce in Nepal from 2017-2022 and projects the trend for 2023-2027. )

E-commerce in layman's terms is buying and selling goods online through websites or different social media platforms. It has stimulated the economy in terms of productivity, innovation, and cost. It provides users with a user-friendly interface that enhances their shopping experience and gains trust. Moreover, it has promoted the use of online banking widely. Apps like “E-sewa”, “Khalti”, and Connect Ips are widely in use for payment for online businesses and various other transactions. E-commerce has helped to build trust between customers and online banking. Discount offers offered by these businesses while using the designated banking apps for payment compels customers to use the apps. This creates a platform for new apps to establish a place for themselves in this growing economy. 

The wave of E-commerce emerged in Nepal in the early 2000s through thamel.com along with hamrobazar in 2005. Since then there have been many e-commerce platforms such as Foodmandu, sastodeal, dealayo, socheko,meroshopping, and many more. One such leading e-commerce platform in Nepal is Daraz. Daraz first entered Nepal in 2016. It has marked its presence in 4 developing economies of the world: Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. According to Daraz's official website, 42% of transactions are done digitally in Nepal (https://daraz.com/markets/nepal/ ). Its marketplace provides a total of 30 million shoppers with access to over 35 million products on a monthly basis. It has been contributing well to the economy of Nepal. According to ( https://ecommercedb.com/markets/np/all ) the Nepali retail market has an online share of 3.6% which is expected to rise by an average of 6.2% to 4.6% by 2027.

But this E-commerce has drawn the attention of many retail businesses in Nepal. Retail companies believe that business that operates fully on social media sells product at a very low cost given the fact that they don’t have to pay rent for a store and that they can deceive taxes. However, some businesses are found to be registered in local municipality offices. Retail businesses argue that online businesses have brought a drastic drop in their trade and now have no business like before. Also some business practice e-commerce without their e-commerce platform. The absence of regulations for product authenticity has discredited online businesses. The cases of scamming people with fake, low-quality, and undesirable products are no new news. The lack of digital literacy of Nepali customers towards E-commerce has also brought a concern about security as the cases of credit card fraud and identity theft are rising. 

However, the lack of regulation for these E-commerce businesses is the prime concern. With regard to this recently an E-commerce bill was brought in the parliament of Nepal. If you have any concerns about the bill and if you want your opinions to be heard by the E-commerce Bill 2080 join the live meeting of parliamentarian Sumana Shrestha on July 28, 2023. E-commerce is the rising boon for economic growth but it has some cons along with it. To amend these existing problems with E-commerce it is important that the bill covers it all. This is the time to join the discussion. Don’t miss the dates. 

The link to the bill : (https://sumanashrestha.com.np/parliament/bills/2023-07/bidhyutiya-byapar/ )   Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/p/Cu4W2EhPyeI/?img_index=1