Thursday 20 August 2015

Influence of Payment System on Internet Shopping in Bangladesh


Well functioning payment system means safe and secure Internet shopping experiences. Therefore, it is mandatory to know existing payment system in the country and push improvements if needed to boost financial growth of the country. Let’s know the payment system in Bangladesh and find out how it adds value in life of an average Bangladeshi.

Recent financial surveys, financial reports for government plus non-government agencies, and suggestions from e-commerce experts are indicating that payment system is vital element for e-commerce conversions for the targeted audience residing anywhere across the globe.

Payment Method: Success Key of Conversion
If you want to catch the target audience in a region or country, you need to respect the online payment preferences of the online shoppers who are residing in that particular region or culture. At psychological point of view, the audience of particular region or culture generally put trust on selected payment methods.
For instance, Japanese people are cash-oriented and prefer Konbini payment system where cash is collected at convenience stores located in nearby areas. In China, Alipay is enjoying same status as PayPal in American region and UnionPay as Chinese credit card gradually picking up speed. In case of Brazilian audience, your e-commerce store should have Boleto Bancario payment method integrated.

Prevailing Payment Methods in Bangladesh
The same is true for Bangladeshis because they highly rely on the Payza Bangladesh like payment gateway services against PayPal and other similar international players. The true reasons behind such popularity are new online payment system call SimplySend and e-wallet.

SimplySend
Legally the payment system in Bangladesh is under Payment System Department (PSD) of Bangladesh since 2012 and it has given green signal for the formation of National Payment Switch Bangladesh (NPSB) platform by involving majority of banks operated in Bangladesh.

This has facilitated banks to issue or allow various credit/debit card payments using multiple routes including ATM for cash and online payment through cards with the least service charges against the hefty charges of international credit cards. Moreover, this platform has eased the online payment by omitting merchant payment gateways in between the process.

E-wallet
The next big thing Payza has gifted to the Internet shoppers and other electronic currency or payment method users is e-wallet. E-wallet is working based on Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. It allows innovative modes of payment in many unique use-cases. This way Payza has offered the most suitable and economical payment system for Bangladeshis by respecting their culture and laws of lands beautifully.

In Early Days
In earlier days, internet shopping in Bangladesh was mostly thriving on simple ads and Facebook like social media platforms where no secure and safe payment methods were available on the web. Tendency of Bangladeshis were pay-on-delivery or other traditional methods of payment due to underprivileged society where trust factor was a sensitive issues. Gradually, Payza Bangladesh has made payment safe, secure, rapid, and cheaper against other available payment systems in the Bangladesh.

Wednesday 12 August 2015

E-Payment System and Internet Shopping in Bangladesh

Influence of electronic payment system over the Internet shopping in Bangladesh is profound and need revisits of policies as well as strategies employed. Therefore, some live debate on this is must and discussion on the pros and cons of e-payment system may bring fruitful solutions with the pace of time.

In traditional banking system, we had everything on paper so we used to rely heavily on the human resources to accomplish tasks of entries, clearing, deposits, document transfer, etc. on time and with accuracy. Fortunately, digitalization and use of Internet as well as intranet network had changed that dismal scenario rapidly in the western developed countries before decades.

Towards Digital Bangladesh
However, in Bangladesh like backward economy, these all and sudden changes were not possible so Bangladeshis have to wait for long to enjoy such advance privileges in comparison to their western counterparts. Fortunately, government of Bangladesh has initiated many vital moves in this direction and given an agenda to make economy and other sectors digital through “Digital Bangladesh” slogan.

Many forward thinkers and people with futuristic visions including entrepreneurs residing within country or in foreign lands have created highly conductive environment and made useful efforts to boost the process of digitalization through invading Internet and telecommunication network or facilities in early days. Later on mobiles became buzzword and sudden proliferation of mobile users taken place.

E-Payment Scenario
Along with other infrastructural facilities in the country, financial system also had taken many vital initiations. Among them banking sector and payment gateways were leaders to revolutionize the scenario of e-commerce by-and-large. Today, majority of money transactions are taking place through electronic cards or Internet across the country. Therefore, it is vital to understand the electronic payment system in Bangladesh before doing any business in the country or investing money.

Challenges on the Road
Yes, things are not always gloomy, as they seem because there are multiple challenges on the road of progress, which people of Bangladesh and other stakeholders of economy have to face, such as:

  • Increased rate of cyber crime in this social and educational backward country
  • Money laundering like activities due to strict money regulations and rules of land
  • Perception of people are not always positive due to backwardness and lack of awareness
  • Initial high cost for access because e-card payment as well as Internet payment systems need investment in infrastructure for government as well as financial system and in hardware for end-users.
  • Confidence and security of transaction is big issue due to increasing threats from the hackers as well as malicious elements in Internet shopping payment as well as thieves for e-card payments
  • Lack of knowledge and skills is a big problem in Bangladesh in using e-payment system where illiterate population is bigger in mid-age and elder people population categories
  • Attitude to a new product vary in this small country where new generation is ready to adopt new things easily while older one is still grapples
  • To minimize the cash based transaction is a big goal because the lower strata of society occupies a big portion and threats of thieves, robbers, and other non-social elements are bigger in comparison to its neighboring countries like India. Therefore, spreading e-payment tempo in rural areas of Bangladesh is positive move.

Solutions and Implementations
No doubt, government and banks have taken numerous steps to beat the aforementioned challenges, but initiative by Payza Bangladesh has enhanced advancement procedure of e-payment system noteworthy for Internet shoppers and others. Through various schemes like SimplySendBD and Payza e-wallet, this payment gateway providing group has revolutionized the entire scenario of Internet shopping experiences.

Moreover, Payza has boosted the morals of e-commerce providers in Bangladesh and for Bangladesh at admirable levels. The most important thing Payza has done is that it has given highly cheaper yet quality alternative for e-transactions and e-payment to an underprivileged country like Bangladesh.

If you have any questions or comments, we invite you to share them with us by leaving a comment below or joining us on our Payza Facebook and Payza Twitter pages.  

Wednesday 5 August 2015

Daily Deals Sites Setting New Trends of Internet Shopping in Bangladesh

After prolonged deprivations, Internet shopping has become cloying word for Bangladeshi people. People are exhibiting much interest towards e-commerce and they are from both sides, buyers and entrepreneurs. Mature online buyers demanding robust experiences while scrappy and enthusiastic entrepreneurs are offering newer trends. Recent proliferation of the daily deals sites are indicating increasing craze for Bangladeshi Groupon so let’s check what is actually going on.

It is true that Bangladesh was suffering from social, economic, and educational back lags in past, but recent easing of international trade barriers, economic liberalization, globalization, and deregulation have altogether changed the scenario. Right efforts of governments, entrepreneurs, and people by-and-large have made changed perceptions and habits of average Bangladeshis to do buying and selling in recent past.

Conductive Environment for Internet Shopping in Bangladesh
Today an average Bangladeshi has easy Internet access through mobile devices and computers at some extent. Increasing numbers of smartphone users and declining in Internet charges are boosting overall web surfing. Craze of social media have taught people to use e-commerce websites smartly and forced them to be transparent. Mature web users who do frequent Internet shopping in Bangladesh know how to do comparative shopping and how to leverage ultimate benefits of e-commerce in this small, but rapidly growing country.

After recognizing these trends, many residential and non-residential Bangladeshi entrepreneurs have established online marketplaces and daily deals websites just like Groupon doing in their western counterpart countries of the world. They sniffed the interests and habits of Bangladeshi affluent and middle class people and unveiled daily deals websites made up of the latest e-commerce development technologies.

Daily Deals Scenario for Internet Shoppers in Bangladesh
For instance, Akhoni.com is one of the leading B2C daily deals websites harboring innumerable products on their websites. Besides these, they offer high discounts over many products and services on behalf of many local businesses by following daily deals model of Groupon. You can find mouth watering daily deals offers from the restaurants, tourism industries, health industries, fashion and beauty niches, etc. on their website regularly.

Internet shoppers in Bangladesh are now smart and united in small to big groups. They quickly share the information on the social networking sites like Facebook with peers. Sometime they plan to visit the places, which offer daily deals such as restaurants, beauty parlors, etc. in a group and enjoy cheapest services just like doing parties.

Akhoni online shopping website and other similar daily deals websites are not offering just fashion or day-to-day used commodities, but they also offer costly jewelry and electronic gadgets for affluent class people who avoid sweating in traffic rush and wasting their time burning fuels for shop-to-shop visits. Unlike past, recent improvements in online payment methods and Payza like Bangladeshi players have made e-transactions quite easy and safe for Internet shopping fans in Bangladesh. No doubt, trust building is the key of success in e-commerce in Bangladesh.

Smart Daily Deals Players
Another major player in daily deals sites is BdDeals, which has more than 20 million users in its database and running SMS, E-mail, and PPC campaigns for their daily deals business participants. No doubt, in this daily deals race, only quality conscious and economical sound parties can withstand for longer so daily deals websites check the background of the business and evaluate them in their own way before granting permissions to place their deals on their websites.