E-Commerce

E-commerce Concept

E-commerce is a narrower part of e-business dealing with the purchase and sale of goods and services over the internet, including support activities such as marketing and customer support.

The ability to made transaction for personal or professional use over the internet is known as electronic commerce or e-commerce (Coursaris, et al., 2003).Chaffey (2007) defined e-commerce as “The exchange of information across electronic networks, at any stage in the supply chain, whether within an Organization, between businesses, between businesses and consumers or between the public and private sector, whether paid or unpaid.”

Types of E-Commerce

Adam (2003) categorized e-commerce in 4 categories which are

i) Business-to-Business (B2B)

Business-to-business e-commerce deals between the businesses or among the businesses. Most of B2B applications are used in the area of distribution management, inventory management, channel management, supplier management and payment management.

ii) Business to-Consumer(B2C)

Business-to-Consumer ecommerce is involved between the businesses and the consumers. Most of B2C e-commerce deals with purchasing of physical goods like books or any consumer product, information goods like software, e-book, games, song etc., and personal finance management like e-banking

iii) Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C)

Consumer-to-Consumer e-commerce deals between individual consumers. Online auction and peer-to-peer system for money or file exchange could be the examples of C2C e-commerce. Business-to-Government e-commerce is involved between the business organizations and the government.

iv) Business-to-Government (B2G)

B2G is generally used for licensing process, public purchasing and other government operations. Though this type of ecommerce is insignificant compare to other kind of e-commerce, but it could be a driving force for operating public sectors which is refer as e-governance.

Other e-commerce classifications can are

i) Government-to-Business

ii) Government-to- Government

iii) Government-to-Customer

iv) Customer-to-Business

v) Customer-to-Government and

vi) M-Commerce

Current Scenario of Supportive Infrastructure in Bangladesh

i) Bangladesh Key Indicators

– A South Asian country.

– Area only 143,000 sq km.

– Population 150 million.

– Annual per capita income US$ 295.

– One of the world’s lowest teledensity. With a combined density (0.46) of fixed and mobile, Bangladesh ranked 39th among the 40 countries of Asia Pacific region in 1999. It also has the lowest penetration in South Asia. Present teledensity is 0.74 (.6 mil fixed + .4 mil mobile)

ii) Telephone Density

In the backdrop of 8.51 teledensity of Asia-Pacific and 2.82 of South Asia, National Telecommunications Policy of 1998 set a short-term goal of increasing the teledensity to 1.00 by the year 2000 which could not be achieved.

iii) Academic Status of IT in Bangladesh

In the context of the world scenario of human resource strength, ours is relatively poor. At the university level all national public universities and in particular new universities have started producing computer science graduates through opening computer science departments. Steps have been taken to implement computer education in the secondary and higher secondary levels. Since the last three years vigorous efforts have been made to improve the quality of IT education and research. The massive and strong participation by young people and their urge to become computer literate and develop professional competence are the most encouraging observation. The following table shows the number of seats for IT related subjects in various universities in Bangladesh.

University	No.	Students per year
Public University	7	297
Private University	12	795
National University	1	600
BIT	4	240
Total		1932

Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) conducts short-duration professional efficiency enhancement training program in IT. BCC has started its standard IT training program in

Rajshahi division. Other divisional head quarters are to follow next year. The Bangladesh Institute of Communication and Information Technology (BICIT) has been included in the Annual Development Programme in 1999-2000 fiscal year. This institute will impart standard IT education; training, standardization and certification of IT related course curricula and products.

IT Teachers and Trainers		IT Professionals
B. A., B.Sc, B. Com	33%	B.A., B.Sc, B. Com	41%
M.A., M.Sc., M. Com	29%	B.Sc. Engineer	14%
B.Sc. Engineer	25%	M.A., M.Sc., M. Com.	13%
M. Sc. Engineer	8%	Diploma	13%
S.S.C/O Level	2%	M. Sc. Engineer	9%
Diploma	1.50%	MBA	5%

Language skill		Operating System skill
Java	11%	Unix	10%
C++	34%	Window 95/98	30%
Visual Basic	22%	Linux	28%
Other	11%	More than 1 OS	20%
More than Language	22%	other	12%

iv) IT Professionals in Bangladesh

Bangladesh Computer Council, the govt. body on IT, surveyed 1,836 IT organizations in 2000. This survey studied 9,154 persons in the industry. Their professional spread is as follows:

– Teacher 16.37%

– Database Management 13.92%

– System analyst 2.59%

– Database expert 4.64%

– Network Expert 4.64%

– Programmer 6.52%

– Hardware Engineer 5.23%

– DTP Operator 4.17%

– Data Entry Operator 44.72%

– Others 0.67%

v) Usage of Computer

Business	PC/ Employee	Internet user/ PC	LAN	WAN	WWW
Garments Industry (Woven)	0.168	0.51	22%	15%	31%
Garments Industry (Knitwear)	0.047	0.53	27%	18%	18%
Buying House	0.737	0.5	20%	10%	20%
Health	0.089	0.3	44%	6%	6%
Trading	0.04	0.83	10%	2%	8%
Real Estate	0.281	0.42	33%	0%	33%
Pharmaceuticals	0.047	0.09	100%	10%	30%
Courier	0.084	0.25	10%	10%	0%
Media	0.184	0.3	67%	0%	53%
Handicraft	0.059	0.79	11%	0%	22%

vi) IT resource distribution in Bangladesh

To determine the status of IT resources distribution in Bangladesh, 1836 IT organizations were studied in a recent survey. The activities were found to spread over varied dimensions, such as, office automation, desktop publishing, hardware software development and marketing, human resources development etc. The following are the findings:

vii) The Internet in Bangladesh

viii) The Financial Sector

Only 27 branches of the eight foreign banks are interconnected with their respective head offices. They are also satisfactorily computerized. This represents only 0.47% of the entire banking sector.

Some local banks have limited usage of LAN at the head quarters. None of them are capable of providing real time inter branch transaction. As such, the customers of 5,770 branches of the local banks are unable to operate their account with the other branches of the same bank. Interbank transaction is more cumbersome as the clearing-house of the central bank is not online. An inter-bank transaction may take even 2 weeks if the branches are in different cities.

ix) Banking on the Web

Though there are 28 banks in Bangladesh, mostly head quartered in Dhaka (7).(, Only a select few have web pages. Listed below are the names of the few that do have sites. However, most of these banks do not offer online or electronic service such as Direct Deposit. There are some ATM machines, though not nearly as concentrated as in the United States.

i. Arab Bangladesh Bank Ltd.

The first private bank of Bangladesh with a long-standing experience in domestic and international banking. Its 53 branches in all the major commercial centers of the country and 152 correspondents worldwide provide proficient banking services to its customers.

ii. Grameen Bank

This bank provides no on line transactions, but has the best web site of all the banks in Bangladesh .

iii. Standard Chartered Bank

Worldwide bank, with some services available for customers living in Bangladesh: Current Accounts, Overdrafts, Foreign Currency Term Deposits, Local Currency Cash Checks, Check Purchase, Drafts, Savings Accounts, Term Deposits, Telegraphic Transfers, Traveler’s Checks, and Personal Loans.

iv. ANZ Grindlays Bank Limited

Grindlays is the oldest bank in Bangladesh dating back to 1905 when one of its forebears, the National Bank of India, opened a branch in Chittagong. Today, there are 10 branches of ANZ Grindlays Bank and 4 cash offices in Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna and Narayanganj.

x) The Rural Scenario

Out of 460 rural Upazillas, about 300 are still running with manual (CB/Magneto) or Analog exchanges. Two companies were entrusted to build digital telephone exchange in Upazillas and they were provided with exclusive right to operate for 5 yrs. They could cover only 60.Grameen Phone has provided a very few numbers of telephones in some villages but with a great utility at least for two reasons:

1. Empowering the village women

2. Enabling some members of Grameen Bank to gather information on market price of the products, which they want to sell in Dhaka

Government has recently decided to install digital exchanges in all the Upazillas. Such work for 176 Upazilla is under progress and the rest will be covered in next 2 yrs. Govt. is going to implement another project – “One Village One Telephone” to provide 1 telephone to a convenient place at each of the 85,000 villages to connect the rural people.

E-commerce Practice in Bangladesh

E-commerce in Bangladesh actually stated in the year of 1999 based in USA with some non-resident Bangladeshis. This people opened some Bangladeshi sites focused on providing local news and some transactional things like sending gift items to Bangladesh. www.munshigi. com is the first ever Bangladeshi e-commerce web site.

List of different e-commerce-type web sites:

i) www.chorka.com

ii) www.hutbazar.com

iii) www.cellbazar.com

iv) www.muktabazaar.com

v) www.bikroy.com

vi) www.banglacommerce.com

vii) www.bdjobs.com

viii) www.premium.com

ix) www.shoppingcard.com

x) www.Ecommercebank.org

xi) www.kroybikroy.com

xii) www.kholabazar.com

xiii) www.bestway.com

xiv) www.sonalibangla.com

xv) www.e-bangla.com

xvi) www.bajna.com

xvii) www.bangladeshinfo.com

xviii) www.bdbazar.com

xix) www.bdquery.com

xx) www.quickezine.com

xxi) www.Webbangladesh.com

xxii) www.deshigift.com

xxiii) www.bangla2000.com

xxiv) www.banglabaskets.com

Historical Background of E-commerce Organizations

a) Bdjobs.com

BdJobs.com Ltd. is the first and leading career management site in the country. Eight young business and IT professional backed by strong command over e-business and in-depth understanding of the needs of job seekers and employers in the country’s context started this venture on July 2000.

Right after its launching, the site has been able to attract the Internet users in the country. The site regularly updates Job Information (on average more than 1800 valid job news are placed at any point of time at the site), provides facility to the job seekers for posting resume and online application. Till now, more than 5500+ employers in the country have recruited more than 150,000 professionals at different levels for their organizations through Bdjobs.com service.

b) HutBazar.com

Hutbazar.com, a sister concern of Right IT Corporation, pioneered online comparison shopping and today is one of the fastest growing shopping destinations for a comprehensive set of products from thousands of trusted stores from across the Web. With a singular focus on shopping, Hutbazar.com offers shoppers easy-to-use search tools, engaging content and time saving navigation.

Hut Bazaar currently employees more than 1700 people around the world. Their employees work in corporate offices, fulfillment centers, customer service centers and software development centers across Bangladesh and many parts of Asia.

c) Cellbazar.com

Cellbazaar is probably the safest and most convenient choice for selling and buying all across Bangladesh. Cellbazaar launched in 2006 as an innovative SMS service and its ecommerce website has been in operation since 2007. The service allows anyone in Bangladesh to buy and sell in his or her region conveniently in a very simple manner without registration and complicated procedures.

It is completely free to post an ad on Cellbazaar. Use of the Service beyond the scope of authorized access approved to you by Cellbazaar immediately terminates said permission or license. In order to collect, cumulative, aggregate, copy, duplicate, display, demonstrate or make derivative use of the website or any Content made available via this website for other purposes (including commercial purposes) not stated herein, customers must first acquire a license or permission from Cellbazaar.

d) Chorka.com

Chorka.com is the first ever online shopping mall – an online platform facilitating Bangladeshi brands and distributors to unwrap their outlets on the web and bring their products world wide, except OFAC* listed countries. Customers can purchase products using credit or debit cards (Both International and local). Local Bangladeshi customers can opt for “Cash on Deliver” and “Account Deposit” besides credit card purchases. Customers have the opportunity to select their preferred delivery method and track the delivery online. Please visit our payment section for more information.

Chorka.com is devoted for the best shopping experience through competitive price, convenience, and timely delivery. For your security we use “Comodo SSL” which ensures transaction security during your shopping at chorka.com. All transactions are verified by DBBL Nexus Gateway or “Google Checkout”. Product quality is ensured by respective vendors.
* Office of Foreign Assets Control. A US regulatory Agency that is responsible for monitoring funds held or transferred to illegal entities. The OFAC list is a list of companies/individuals that should be prevented from sending/receiving funds.

e) Aamra Networks Limited

Aamra networks limited (formerly Global Online Services Limited) over the last decade has consistently provided its customers with state-of-the-art IT communication solutions. Our clients have been able to rely on our ability to provide stable and consistent connectivity solutions. Using the state of the art backbone and infrastructure, we have ensured that our clients have had minimal worry when it comes to dependability of their IT Communication. That in turn has ensured us an enviable list of blue-chip customers. When Internet and related value added services are critical input to business, Corporate Bangladesh has but only one obvious choice-Aamra.

The company is one of the 11 concerns of Aamra companies. The group has diversified investment in ICT, Textile, and Lifestyle sectors in Bangladesh. Starting in 1985 the group presently has over 500 employees.

Vision and Mission Statement

		*Vision Statement*	*Mission Statement*

1	Bdjobs.com	The vision of the company is to try bringing Internet technology in the mainstream business and economic life of the society	Their web-site aims to explore maximum benefits of the Internet.
2	Hutbazar.com	To be the fastest growing shopping destinations for a comprehensive set of products	Provide easy-to-use search tools, engaging content and time saving navigation.

3	CellBazar.com	To be the safest and most convenient choice for selling and buying all across Bangladesh	To facilitate buying and selling in customers region conveniently in a very simple manner

4	Chorka.com	To be an online platform facilitating Bangladeshi brands and distributors to unwrap their outlets on the web and bring their products world wide	Provide the best shopping experience through competitive price, convenience, and timely delivery

4	Aamra Networks Limited	“Excellence and innovation…unlimited … through the power of WE”	“To empower our customers, employees, partners and communities by providing the finest products, services and practices.”

Goals, Objectives, Targets, Commitments and Strategies

a) bdjobs.com

Their web-site aims to explore maximum benefits of the Internet. They believe their service will help the job seekers manage their career more efficiently. This site will also help employers solve many of the problems associated with traditional recruiting methods and allow them to save time and money.

b) HutBazar.com

Employees in their offices contribute in a variety of functions and jobs. They make decisions as a company, and as individuals, based on their core values.

i) Customer Obsession:

They start with the customer and work backwards.

ii) Innovation:

Hut Bazar believes that if you don’t listen to your customers you will fail. But if you only listen to your customers you will also fail.

iii) Bias for Action:

They live in a time of unheralded revolution and insurmountable opportunity–provided they make every minute count.

iv) Ownership:

Ownership matters when you’re building a great company. Owners think long-term, plead passionately for their projects and ideas, and are empowered to respectfully challenge decisions.

v) High Hiring Bar:

When making a hiring decision they ask themselves: “Will I admire this person? Will I learn from this person? Is this person a superstar?”

c) Cellbazar.com

Given data, information, message, file, picture, image, video, sounds, specifications, details of the products and services (referred to as content) grant cellbazar a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, sub licensable right to exercise any and all copyright, service mark.

i) Account

If customers access this website, they are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of their account and password and for restricting access to their computer or electronic device, and they agree to accept responsibility for all activities that occur under their account or password.

ii) External links and Third Party Content:

External links may be provided for customers convenience, but they are beyond the

control of Cellbazaar and no representation is made as to their content. Use or reliance on any external links and the content thereon provided is at customers own risk.

iii) Access to the Service provided by Cellbazar:

Cellbazaar grants customers a limited, revocable, nonexclusive license to access the Service for your own personal use. This license excludes the followings:

(a) access to the Service limited to the users; or
(b) any collection, aggregation, copying, duplication, display or derivative use of the content nor any use of data.

d) Chorka.com

Chorka.com LLC and Chorka.com Limited is strongly committed to protecting the privacy of its customers and has taken all necessary and reasonable measures to protect the confidentiality of the customer information and its transmission through the world wide web and it shall not be held liable for disclosure of the confidential information when in accordance with this Disclaimer, Privacy Policy or in Terms & Conditions, if any, with the Customers.

Chorka.com LLC and Chorka.com Limited undertakes not to disclose the information

provided by the Customers to any person, unless such action is necessary to:

Conform to legal requirements or comply with legal process;
Bangladesh Government and/or Bangladesh Bank requirements;
- Protect and defend Chorka.com LLC and Chorka.com Limited’s or its Affiliates’ rights, interests or property;

e) Aamra Networks Limited

Aamra Networks Limited (ANL) integrates all elements of a system – new and existing – into a single solution that addresses strategic growth, outstanding service, and community involvement. Performance is their passion

The motivation that drives them in all business area emerges delivering higher performance products and services to their customers. Combining technological, economic and personal aspects of performance make the difference at aamra. Creating value with the power of ‘We’, Aamra recognizes the power that partnership and cooperation have in achieving any goal.

They believe that by harnessing the strength of togetherness with all of their stakeholders, they will be able to surmount any obstacle in their path and scale new height.

Products and Services

a) bdjobs.com

i) Online Job Posting/Announcement

The announced/posted job vacancies will be displayed (for max. 30 days) in a particular job category (chosen by the employer at the time of job posting) at www.bdjobs.com

This will allow Job Seekers to apply online for the given job vacancy at bdjobs.com’s site.
Employers will be able to receive job applications through internet.

ii) Hot Job Announcement

Home page link for your job announcement
Here organization logo and the list of jobs are placed with links with a customized job detail page. Maximum display time at home page

Customized Job Detail Page
The Job Detail Page (linked with home page) can contain requirements, job responsibilities, a brief company profile, organization logo.

Add-on Support (Optional for Employer)

Prospective candidates will be located from the Bdjobs.com online CV Bank (hosting 5,50,000 CVs.) and notified them about the vacancy through e-mail.
Panel of recruitment expert of Bdjobs.com will shortlist a pool of CVs from online.

iii) Executive Search Service

The recruitment related tasks (job announcement, application receiving, candidate short-

listing and contact, interview, etc) makes the recruitment and selection process very lengthy for organizations with a small HR Department.

Let Bdjobs.com take the responsibility of doing the tiresome recruitment tasks on behalf of you. We can locate for you the best talents in the market. With the largest active network across the job market (more than 5,50,000 Cvs hosted online).

iv) Online CV Bank Access

Online CV Bank Access gives customers instant direct access to the largest database of professionals in Bangladesh.

You can directly contact the prospective candidates who meet your job requirements.
Search for the right candidates by Professional group, Age group, years of experience.

v) Resume on Demand in 48 hours

As a part of this service, Bdjobs.com recruitment experts will sort and short-list a pool of CV’s from Bdjobs.com Online CV Bank (hosting 5,50,000 CVs) on the basis of specific job recruitments specified by client company.

b) HutBazar.com

Hut Bazaar is the country’s leader in e-commerce. Since Hut Bazaar started in 2004, they have significantly expanded their product offerings, international sites, and worldwide network of fulfillment and customer service centers. Today, Hut Bazaar offers everything from books and electronics to tennis rackets and diamond jewelry.

Buy more, pay less at hutbazar. Hutbazar is the best place to buy products in competitive price in just seconds to send to Bangladesh. Shop the latest in women, men, baby, kids, home, groceries, sports, toys, electronics, health and more.

c) Cellbazar.com

It is easy to get sellers ad approved at Cellbazaar.com, they only ask customers to be honest, real and polite

i) Marketing: It is only allowed to advertise items for sale, rentals, jobs and services.

ii) Company ad: Company classified ads on Cellbazaar.com are for companies. Cellbazaar.com reserves the right to decide whether an ad resembles a company ad.

iii) Services: Services offered or wanted must follow applicable law and regulations of Bangladesh for each given profession.

iv) Vehicle or property ad: vehicle or property in a single ad, except if they are to be exchanged

v) Goods and forgeries: It includes branded products, CD/VCR/DVD, computer/game-console software.

d) Chorka.com

Chorka.com is an online shopping platform, a venue enabling the users to buy any product listed on Chorka.com at the price indicated on the terms and conditions indicated therein at any time from any place.

Chorka.com is the best place to buy products in competitive price in just seconds to send to Bangladesh. Shop the latest in women, men, baby, kids, home, groceries items (vegetables, fish, meat, cakes, sweets etc.) sports, toys, electronics, health and more.

e) Aamra Networks Limited

Aamra Networks Limited (ANL) employs more than 150 employees with diverse skill sets and expertise. Through years of experience ANL is able to accurately assess constantly changing customer requirements, offering the most extensive and affordable IT services available.

As a complete service solutions company, they address all aspects of a product/project development lifecycle, ranging from preliminary analysis and design to programming, hardware and software specification, project implementation, and training. Their team members have extensive experience in the Financial Industry, Manufacturing, and Internet based application services.

iii) Bandwidth

Internet

WAN

Video Surveillance

Office Suite

iv) Value Added Service

Video Conferencing

Collocation Service

Call Centre Service

Business Email & Hosting Solution

i) Software

Management System

Global SMTP

Network Monitoring Solution

Hosted Anti-Spam Firewall

Online Survey Solution

Virtual Office

Hosted CRM Solution

ii) Infrastructure

Data Connectivity

MPLS

IT Infrastructure Management

IPLC & IPVPN

NPLC

Principal Activities

a) bdjobs.com

Online job announcement at Bdjobs.com can reach across more than 5, 00,000 job seekers. The number is far higher than the reach of a single insertion of job announcement at any of the widely circulated national dailies. It is at least 10 times less costly than newspaper job advertisement. More than 5500+ organizations in the country regularly announce job vacancies at Bdjobs.com

Vacancy announcement for ones organization is featured at the Hot Jobs section at Bdjobs.com home page/front page.

Bdjobs.com offers the best professional Executive Search service in the market. They define candidate profile according to their need. They advertise at bdjobs.com & Receive applications. They search from Online CV Bank & contact candidates. They short-list from the prospective candidates. They take interview & written test. They select best 3-10 candidates for final selection.

b) HutBazar.com

HutBazar.com makes order process very easy. Anybody can order in only 4 steps.

Step 1. Be a registered member. If you are already a registered member then just

login.

Step 2. Choose your desired products and add to your basket.

Step 3. Provide your delivery date, time, location, and Gift Message.

Step 4. Pay in secure site (Paypal.com). It is 100% safe for your Credit Card and

Bank Account.

NB: After payment, you will get an Order Confirmation Email, and after the delivery of your products to your recipient, you will also get another Delivery Confirmation Email.

Their privacy policy covers how they use customer’s personal information. They take customer’s privacy seriously and will take all measures to protect customer’s personal information.

c) Cellbazar.com

Cellbazaar is a WEB /WAP/SMS/IVR based platform that intends to assist the Visitors, Customers, Purchaser, Sellers and Users (collectively referred to as “Users” “You” “Your”) committing business introducing among them. This Cellbazaar website and the same WAP is operated by Grameenphone IT Ltd. (GPIT) and the ownership of this website and/or WAP may belong to any other third party (hereinafter referred to as “Cellbazaar” “Service” “we” “our” or “Website”).

When seller/buyer gives data, information, message, file, picture, image, video, sounds, specifications, details of the products and services (referred to as content), you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, sub licensable right to exercise any and all copyright, service mark, trademark, publicity, and database rights you have in the content, in any media known now or in the future.

d) Chorka.com

The Site is a channel of communication whereby the Users can reach a larger base to buy and sell items or services. Chorka.com is only providing a platform for communication and it is agreed that the contract for sale of any of the products or services shall be a strictly bipartite contract between the Seller and the Buyer. At no time shall any right, title or interest over the items vest with Chorka.com nor shall Chorka.com have any obligations or liabilities in respect of such contract.. All items are offered only for a restricted time and only for the available supply/till stock lasts.

Chorka.com accepts no liability for any errors or omissions, whether on behalf of itself or third parties.
Chorka.com is not responsible and shall not be responsible for any non-performance or breach of any contract entered into between Users.

e) Aamra Networks Limited

Aamra networks limited is an ISO Certified Corporate IT Solution Provider. At Aamra networks limited they have implemented a quality management system to ensure that, our customers are served with professional standards. They are committed to continually improving the effectiveness of their quality management system and services to attain maximum customer satisfaction. To attain their objectives the management is determined to ensure the following:

Maintaining 99% service uptime

Ensuring at least 10% yearly revenue growth

Converting at least 50% of the paper work to digital version

Quality Policy & Objectives are established and reviewed by the chairman for its continuous suitability. Performance data of our services are analyzed through their branded software ServeU.

Constrains of E-commerce implementation in Bangladesh

Bangladesh’s Public power sector is inadequate. Overloading and lack of maintenance cause frequent outages and necessary planned blackouts. How can a country like this be able to provide E-commerce, when the main component, “e,” is never there. The Country’s telecommunications services are inadequate. 60% of the lines are analog, and the quality of the service is poor; there is a 30% connectivity rate. The followings are the obstacles in e-commerce implementation:

i) Bangladesh’s Public power sector is inadequate. Overloading and lack of maintenance cause frequent outages and necessary planned blackouts. How can a country like this be able to provide E-commerce, when the main component, “e,” is never there!

ii) The Country’s telecommunications services are inadequate. 60% of the lines are analog, and the quality of the service is poor; there is a 30% connectivity rate.

iii) Lack of e-commerce sites in their countries that offer affordable and appropriate services, especially those with a “development-friendly” image;

iv) Difficulty of obtaining merchant accounts with e-commerce service providers, even where these exist;

v) Lack of appropriate commercial know-how and technical skills to go about setting up e-commerce activities;

vi) Absence of a peer group to share experiences and develop strategies and solutions for their special brand of e-commerce, since this is such a new activity.

vii) The Internet and e-commerce is a global phenomenon, so therefore it behooves the region to adopt international standards.

viii) Lack of appropriate trainers to teach the E-commerce Knowledge.

ix) Lack of Government’s rules and regulation.

x) Bangladeshi’s Policy for e-commerce is not adequate for good result

xi) Enterprise managers lack of initiatives and leadership in taking advantages of e-commerce

xii) Lack of sufficient Infrastructure

xiii) Lack of general awareness about e-commerce

xiv) Lack of awareness at government level of e-commerce issues

Overcome of E-commerce implementation in Bangladesh

Our Bangladeshi students should be more aware about Information Technology and they should take proper decision to build their career. It will be only possible when there will be political commitment with better IT infrastructure, internal network, country domain and above all a high speed fiber optic link to the Information Superhighway. The presence of the following pre-conditions is inevitable successful e-commerce implementation:

Human Resource Development

i) IT training

IT training, including computer literacy rate, in Bangladesh is relatively Poor due to insufficient facilities in both the private and public sector. IT training needs to be substantially encouraged in the nation through formal and informal means.

ii) Establish IT University

An institute of higher learning, solely dedicated to the IT Discipline needs to be established offering graduate and postgraduate degree programs in IT related areas.

iii) Harmonize standards for training institutes

As a result of expanded interest in the IT field, numerous institutes have been established by the private sector. To ensure standard and quality of IT education steps need to be taken to monitor, evaluate and certify the training being imparted by these institutes.

iv) Larger access to computers/internet through cyber cafes

Accessibility to Internet, and computers in general, is not available for to a majority of the population. This is particularly true for people not living in major cities such as Dhaka and Chittagong. Government and Private initiatives need to be realized and encouraged to establish cyber cafes and similar environments to provide wider access to the computers and Internet.

Financial System

i) Computerization

Financial systems, which are currently highly hardcopy-based, should be encouraged to become a “paperless” environment through wide scale computerization.

ii) Electronic L/C

Electronic Letters of Credits (L/Cs) should be accepted as legal documents.

iii) Problems of telecommunication line

The financial sector is highly dependent on the quantity and quality of lines of communication. Special attention needs to be given to resolve the telecommunication needs of the financial sector.

iv) Domestic clearing

Domestic clearing of financial instruments needs to be encouraged and substantially improved.

v) Foreign exchange credit cards

The control of foreign exchange should be liberalized gradually, starting with the FC inflows, and issuance of Internationally honored credit cards should be allowed. Maximum limits on credit cards should be further liberalized, but can also be reviewed to preclude flight of capital.

vi) Venture funds

Formation of venture funds, as well as non-collateral based loans to support the IT sector should be encouraged.

vii) International gateway

An international gateway to support the financial sector should be established.

viii)Foreign exchange limits/export definitions to be revised for export sales through E-commerce

Accessibility of the private sector to the foreign exchange earned through exports should be reviewed and liberalized. Definition of “exports” needs to be broadened to include exports through non-traditional means, such as e-commerce, for them to utilize the benefits granted to exporting companies (as in EPZs).

Telecommunications

i) International broadband under Ministry of Post & Telecommunication

Ministry Of Post and Telecommunication controls the entire outside plant (OSP) or cabling network, which is exclusively copper-based. Bandwidth limitation remains a chronic ailment to the customer and steps need to taken to increase accessibility to wider international bandwidth.

ii) Privatize Telecommunication and Telegraph

Steps need to be taken to privatize BTTB. Private sector should be encouraged to provide basic telephony nationwide.

iii) Independent Regulatory Authority for telecommunication

Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) should be allowed to operate independent of government influence and control.

iv) Open telecommunication market to new investment

Allow the private sector, national and international, to invest in the telecommunications sector.

v) Resell restrictions to be lifted on Grameen Fiber Optic for data transmission

The provision of obtaining permission from MOPT prior to leasing the capacity from Grameen Phone’s optical fiber network should be abolished, particularly when the usage is for the transmission of data.

vi) Legalize Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP)

VOIP enables bypassing expensive traditional telephony and helps the user utilizes the full benefits of Internet connectivity.

Conclusion

Significance

Despite being a poor country, selected segments of the Bangladeshi business community has embraced technology with reasonable success. The Facsimile in the 1980‟s and mobile telephones in the 1990‟s popularized modern technology in the mass market. Personal computers and the Internet are also emerging as day-to-day business tools. These positive indicators are favoring the prospects of e-commerce in Bangladesh.

The focus of this paper was on the current state of the regulatory environment in the financial and technological sectors of Bangladesh. Necessary reforms in order to introduce e-commerce have also been suggested. Lack of awareness among the policymakers has been identified as the major deterrent to introducing e-commerce. Conventional understanding of payment mechanisms raises false alarms against the flight of capital if e-commerce is implemented.

Synergy between telecommunications and information technology has the proven capability of monitoring and administering the real-time transactions. Therefore, liberalizing the telecom and IT sectors as well as reforming the country’s financial and commercial procedures is the preconditions of successfully implementing ecommerce in Bangladesh.

Limitations

Although the study will address numerous benefits, explores the state of perceptions of different business organizational categories, it is still unanswered that which of the benefits significantly affect, and in what extent, the intention of the adoption of e-commerce, may be considered as the limitation of the study.

Recommendations

The followings are some of the recommendations that will ensure the smooth functioning as well as the wide spread use of e-commerce in Bangladesh

 Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) should be established independent of the government control.

 Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and private international gateway for voice and data should be allowed.

 The number of pre-shipment agents (PSI) should be increased. The size of fines and penalties on PSIs should be increased for breach of rules and regulations.

 Posting of government documents and publications including budgetary information on the Web should be instructed.

 Contracts and other alternates to Letter-of-Credit (L/C) should be allowed as legal methods for international transactions.

 Foreign exchange controls on travel and for business should be relaxed.

 BTTB‟s monopoly in the nationwide long distance services should be ended.

 The control of foreign exchange should be liberalized gradually, and issuance of International Credit Cards should be allowed.

 Government officials are to be oriented on the benefits of e-commerce. For instance short course can be offered at training centers such as the Public Administration Training Center (PATC).

 Business associations and organizations should be made aware of the benefits of e-commerce. BGMEA can play a significant role in this.

 Greater competition among the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) should be promoted and new ISPs should be encouraged to come into business.

 Revise and update ageing laws on trademark, copyrights and evidence.

 Court procedures should be simplified and expedited. Administrative and institutional constraints in settling disputes should be removed

References

Books:

i) Keneth C. Laudon and Carol Guercio Traver, E-commerce: Business Technology, Society, Edition 2010

ii) Reynolds, Matthe, Beginning E-Commerce, Edition 2018

iii) Chaffey, E-business and E-commerce Management: Strategy, Edition 2010

Reports/Articles:

i) Adam, Z. R. (2012). E-commerce and E-business, e-Asian task force and UNDP– APDIP 2012

ii) Ministry of science and Technology: People’s republic of Bangladesh Annual Report 2012