The Key Drivers Of E-Commerce In Pakistan

Key drivers of e-commerce are:

Third-party logistics

Logistics plays a pivotal role in the creation of visibility in the e-commerce supply chain and determines the overall satisfaction of the customers, efficiency and service delivery. Unfortunately, logistics are very complex and very exhaustive. It also requires lots of expertise and a complex network of several small systems.

Explosion in the mobile internet penetration

The adoption of the latest mobile technologies is playing a big role in the growth of e-commerce. The need for ease when doing shopping on the go led to the growth of mobile shopping.

Growth in mobile online shopping has grown tenfold since 2014. In fact, the global smartphone sales are growing each day against the fall in the unit prices. This has made the smartphones affordable even to the low-income populations of the world. According to HootSuite, by April 2017, the mobile internet penetration had grown by 66 percent bringing the number of unique mobile internet users to 4. 960 billion against a world population of 7. 497 billion.

Increased range of payments for under banked shoppers

Unlike the first world, there is a huge population in the second and third world that are under banked. In a country like Brazil about a third of the adult population does not maintain a bank account. The number is higher in many countries across Africa.

Large online payments platforms such as PayPal and Pioneer have expanded across the world. However, there is still a gap as the services are not available across all the countries. This gap is filled by local online payment processing platforms and mobile phone money transfer platforms such as Mpesa in Kenya. China has stand-alone street terminals for use in making purchases.

Increased political willingness and promotion of online trade

While the first world has been upbeat about online trade, there has been some bit of resistance and controls in the most emerging market with governments keen at keeping the online trade under their control. In addition, there have been several logistical challenges as often unnecessary inspection and clearance procedures have been put at the point of entry into these markets.

However, by 2016, most governments in second and third-world countries have realized the benefits that come with increased border trade thereby allowing and even promoting it. We have witnessed lowering of customs, clearance procedures and other lengthy procedures that increased the delivery time in many emerging markets.

Growth of Big Data

It has often been said that quality service comes from good analysis of customer needs and delivering customer experience in your solutions. This cannot be far from the truth when it comes to e-commerce. The delivery of quality solutions lies in analyzing the target market and delivering solutions that exceed customer expectations. The challenge has always been that the customer is not physically present and there is little chance to have a one-on-one with the customers.

Fortunately, the problem has been solved by the use of big data and AI. These tools have been a lot useful in subscription online retail marketing where customers subscribe to items to be delivered at given intervals. AI helps track the customer behavior online and lets the business determine the needs, tastes and preferences of the customer.