Thousands of development organizations have gone online in the past five years, having realized the importance of the Internet for the exchange and distribution of information. With the rise in e-commerce activities over the Internet, and the subsequent decline in development aid over the past five years, development organizations may be able to tap into this new business modality to offset their operating costs. Exponential growth of internet population and utilization of its potentials in various sectors induce Bangladesh to be connected with information super highway, thus performing business and transactions over internet has become easier particularly for B2B sector. Although hype is existed among different stakeholders of various countries around the world in participating electronic communication and transactions, the trend, size and volume of transactions are varied. It is apparent that the developed countries like United States and Europe are presently the market leader of e-commerce. Exponentially increasing trend of internet population and usage of its various utilities formed a broader community, called e-community and tempted transforming its function to a brand new market arena from being operated as a medium of communication. The special advantages of e-commerce like, Opportunity to operations, easy global reach, lower cost of acquiring, serving and retaining customers, easy to build an extended enterprise, improve customer service and de-intermediation tempt the world business community to adopt e-commerce. The paper looks at the benefits of e-commerce that affect implementation to adopt different modes of e-commerce in view of establishing digital transactions and businesses enabling the countries business organizations to cope with the ongoing global challenges. Basing on an extensive survey investigating e-business opportunities through a structured research instrument the study will report Lower communication cost, Easy global reach, Increase customer base, Increase sales, enhance company image, Achieve future business potential are the major benefits of e-commerce adoption in Bangladesh.
Introduction
Rapid growth of world`s internet population and adoption of ICT in different sectors have reshaped the way of communication and demand utilizing its potentials to the development of trade and commerce. Speed, efficiency, effectiveness, energy and other uniqueness of the technology made it as the fastest adopted and diffused technology until the 21st century.
The explosion in the use of electronic commerce (e-commerce) by the business sector has been tremendous since its inception only a few years ago. From governments to multinational companies to one-person start-ups, e-commerce is increasingly viewed as a key business modality of the future. Ease of transaction, widening markets, and decreased overheads are factors that make e-commerce solutions more and more attractive, as evident with the growth of online sales.
The world trade organization and different round discussions on the trade related issues have opened up a new arena of global competition. Developing countries technological fitness is must in searching new market and making buyer-seller relationship to achieve the competitiveness in the global market. The World Wide Web (WWW) can be considered as the right way which provides the opportunity to overcome the barrier of time and place in building buyer-seller relationship. Thus, E-Commerce should be adopted as the effective media for marketing and selling of a product or services through the internet.
This paper contains a brief discussion on different aspects of E-Commerce through the internet: The Bangladesh Perspective which includes Internet activities, e-business and e-commerce concepts, types, payment systems, m-commerce, e-commerce in Bangladesh.
Background of the Study
This is the era of information and communication technology. The leading concern of electronic revolution in this 21st century is to establish and ensure a better, easy and comfortable way of management, communication and development with the use of information technology. E-commerce has become a buzzword of present information technology. It is the process of conducting all forms of business through computer network and digital communication. Increasing domestic and global competition, economic downturn, rapidly changing market trends, and volatile financial markets have all added to the pressure on organizations to come up with effective responses to survive and succeed. Furthermore, easing of international trade barriers, economic liberalization, globalization, and deregulation have led to several challenges for organizations in developing and newly industrializing economies like Bangladesh. E-commerce is widely used in performing B2B operations in different part of the world. Copping up the ongoing threats and opportunities Bangladesh’s business organization`s should comply with the advancement. E-commerce consists of all internet users of the world. The members of the community can interact with each other at any time without considering the distance gap. Time, place and national boundary do not make any obstacle to build and maintain the relationship. The internet has opened up a new horizon for commerce, namely electronic commerce (e-commerce). It entails the use of the internet in the marketing, identification, payment and delivery of goods and services. At present internet facilities are available in Bangladesh. Slowly, but steadily these facilities are holding a strong position in every aspects of our life. E-commerce is one of those sectors which need more attention if we want to be a part of global business. Bangladesh is far-far away to adapt the main stream of e-commerce application. Though government is shouting to take the challenges of e-commerce, but they do not take the right step, that is why e-commerce dose not make any real contribution in our socio-economic life. A question frequently strikes our mind: “Is the realities in the developing countries like Bangladesh, where access to modern technologies is very limited, meet the philosophy of e-commerce?” This paper aims at examining whether there is any gap between the philosophy of the e-commerce and the reality in the developing countries like Bangladesh and identifies the factors lies behind this gap. Then this paper suggests some measures to be taken to minimize the gap.
Statement of the Research Problem
This report is a partial task for the completion of B.B.A program. This report is mainly for searching the answers of the following questions:
i) What are the growth and use patterns of e-commerce?
ii) How are various departmental operations like Web developing, E-commerce Networking?
iii) What are some e-commerce lessons, challenges and solution for developing countries?
iv) What are the opportunities and threats for implementing e-commerce.
v) What are the requirements for the amendment of the related legislations facilitating e-
Literature Review
An expansion of the literature and an analysis of various kinds of text books, articles, journal and common related website in the field of customer service in e-commerce are reviewed in this study. Principles and techniques are used to introduce a general knowledge regarding to electronic transaction and its benefit and advantages of the customer service strategy. Adding the point, a critical analysis on theories that explains queries about how the customer service can provide that service is one of the main stream of business for sustain and enhance the business that maintaining the previous customer and gaining potential customers.
Buffam (2012) depicted that companies that build the better e-business solutions will outperform their competitors. Companies that build the very best e-business solutions will transform themselves into zero-latency enterprises. Companies that choose not to embrace e-business, or do so ineffectively, will underperform or be driven out of business.
Turban et al. (2012) argued that following points of managerial issues are very important: Focus of Electronic commerce management; Sales promotion; Purchase process reengineering; Just-in –Time delivery; new electronic intermediary business; Provision of solutions; Business ethics.
Hoq, Kamal and Chowdhury (2012) argued that a key reason why ecommerce, especially the business-to-business segment, is growing so quickly is its significant impact on costs associated with inventories, sales execution, procurement, intangibles like banking, and distribution costs.
Uddin and Islam (2012) observed that the multifarious projections of ICT in human life plead a wining case for institutional integration of ICT related components in rural support programs taken by Governments and NGOs. Chaffey (2006) dealt with strategy and applications of E-Business and E-Commerce in a logical but robust manner. He stressed that e-business and e-commerce is very important for management implications as such a bridge to link leading edge research and professional practice is required.
From the aforesaid literature review, it is evident that on line banking can act as a complementary towards e-business. With the help of e-business the country can create opportunities as this will help both producers and customers. But these theoretical observations may not be feasible in this country. As such the study seeks to evaluate whether the country has proper infrastructure for doing e-business? What are the statuses of e-business in our country? Does on line transaction really works as a complementary to e-business in Bangladesh? Aforesaid questions arises which the study intends to examine
This report is important for further researchers in their research. I’m pretty sure that this report will add value to the existing research. This report is prepared in a structured way and it is full of important information.
Research Objectives
The aim of the research is to investigate the challenges of implementation of e-commerce in Bangladesh.
General objective:
To get experience in e-commerce practice, this will give us an opportunity to understand the electronic transaction system and its limitations as well as the way to overcome them.
Specified Objective:
The specific objectives of my whole study are as follows:
- To fulfill the requirement of my B.B.A in JagannathUniversity.
- To examine infrastructural situation of the country to prosper electronic commerce system in Bangladesh;
- To learn various departmental operations like Web developing, E-commerce
Networking.
- To present my observation and suggestions about E-commerce in Bangladesh.
- To make myself more confidant and active in future to handle my job.
- To provide some recommendations so that e-commerce can bring fruitful results in the country.
Limitations of the study
Maximum effort was given to make the study a successful one, but it suffers from some limitation those were apparently unavoidably. The major ones were:
- Shortage of time period: The major limitation faced to carry out this project was mainly time constraints. It hindered the course of vast area and time for preparing a report within the mentioned period is really difficult.
- Secrecy of Management: The authority of the organisations did not disclose much information for keeping the organization confidential. So, some data could not been collected for confidentiality or secrecy of management.
- Busy working environment: The officials had some times been unable to provide information because of their huge routine work. So, we could not gather vast knowledge about the critical issues. It is really difficult to gather data from the place where people do not know me for a long time.
- Lack of information: In the website, information of e-commerce practice in several companies were limited.
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 ar
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 .(, 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
ii) www.hutbazar.com
iii) www.cellbazar.com
vii) www.bdjobs.com
viii) www.premium.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
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.
Management System
i) Software
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 Activitie
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
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.
Methodology
The study undertook exploratory and empirical research approaches. The purpose of the study refers to perform qualitative and quantitative statistical analysis using both primary and secondary data.
i) Study Setting
The paper first attempted to address the e-business adoption behavior. Thus the study first, determined benefits of e-commerce adoption then investigates which of them are perceived strongly by the E-Business and finally looks challenges and opportunities of successful e-commerce implementation.
ii) Research Design
The research revealed that business organizations in different types and Natures have different states of intention to adopt electronic means in managing their day to day operations as well as searching customers and performing transactions. It depend on many factors, organizations skills in handling the digital technology, nature of business and compatibility of the technology with the ongoing activities and existing values.
iii) Population and Sampling Plan
The study investigated perceptions of different business organizations from different location of Dhaka Division in Bangladesh. Using judgment sampling technique the study included a number of organizations from different locations with different nature, business character, size and profitability.
iv) Sources of Data
Both primary and secondary sources were used for the research purpose. The secondary data sources were-journal, books, internet etc. Primary data was collected through household survey by using appropriate research instrument.
Primary Source: Primary data have been collected from few executives of the E-commerce organizations. I asked them some questions by visiting a branch & through mobile phone. Observation method has also been used.
Secondary Source: Beside primary data, necessary secondary data have been collected from the websites, textbooks on e-commerce practice. I also used data from several e-based companies’ annual report.
v) Data Collection Procedures
Primary data are collected by administering a survey with direct interview approach. A structured questionnaire was used to get customers opinion on different issues. The questionnaire is be divided into two parts; first part contains some structured questions and the second part includes questions for understanding respondent’s demographic variables and future intention.
vi) Data Analysis
Data purification and analysis were carried out through SOWT analysis and CBA.
Results and Discussion
Basically the research was of descriptive in nature. Qualitative data are analyzed critically using judgment. Several statistical and analytical methods and tools were used for analyzing the gathered data from the survey. Pie chart and bar diagram have been used to show the analysis of data. The package used in the study was: Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel
This paper highlights various constraints to commerce and trade in general and ecommerce in particular. Many of these constraints are endemic across the business sector and demands major reforms through strong political commitment and an ability to implement policy changes.
SWOT Analysis
To find out the viability of a particular product we must perform a SWOT Analysis of the product. This will analyze the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats of the particular product. For analyzing the performance of e-commerce in Bangladesh, the following SWOT Analysis is considered.
Strengths
- E-commerce is new in our market. Only a few organizations are now offering internet services in solving transaction problems. Most of the companies are offering only accounting information online. Actual payment and delivery procedure is not possible in all the organizations that are offering internet services. So this product will enjoy the benefit of a first mover.
- It is cheap both for the companies and the customers. The companies will be able to lower down the overhead costs and make more profit out of it. E-commerce will require less manual workers. Again the customers will be able to save time as well as money for their transaction needs.
- E-commerce is convenient as the service is available all the time at just a click away.
Weaknesses
- Security breakdown: The system will have a problem with the identification of the individual who is initiating the transaction. In Bangladesh, the identification of an individual is not yet supported digitally. So there will be a problem in moving to the Internet era for business purposes just now. First we will have to develop a digital database of the users of the internet business services.
- Transaction can be cancelled only via internet. The internet infrastructure of our country is not that much supportive to provide all time access to the web. So there will be a problem in executing the service with its full functionality.
Opportunities
- Non- branch business is becoming popular in our country. Many e-based companies are now trying to offer non-branch business facilities. A person can withdraw or deposit money in any branch of the organization he has a membership with them. So moving to internet business will allow the companies to offer non-branch business facilities.
- The internet services are becoming very common to us. So a service offered through the internet will be widely accepted in the near future.
Threats
- People have concern about security and privacy. They like to feel their money with their hand. They actually don’t believe in virtual money transfer.
- In the field of IT new technology is coming every day. The one which is very popular today might get obsolete tomorrow. So to have a competitive edge over the competitors the banks must always update their services.
- The movement towards online business might marginalized the customers who do not have internet access or who are not technologically sound.
Despite the presence of online Internet service in Bangladesh, its scope is largely underutilized. The reasons include high service charges, lack of awareness, poor telecommunication systems, government policy, low buying power of potential clients, and lack of institutional support.
Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA)
The main benefit of internet business is the amount of time (thus money) it saves. Although Internet business is restricted to managing accounts and making on-line transactions, it cuts out much of the need to personally visit the bank. Using Internet business will also increase the efficiency of paying money as it can reduce the need for writing and sending cheques (which can take up to 5 days to clear). Payments can be created via internet to pay such money, which is also an efficient way of paying the companies. On-line businesses are able to offer their customers lower cost rates than traditional offerings due to their reduced overheads. If the popularity of Internet business takes off as predicted the companies may also be capable of offering their Internet business customers higher interest rates (due to reduced overheads or as and incentive). Though Internet business will require a higher initial investment, the operating expenses will be much lower. Again customers will be satisfied through fast, accurate, easy-to-use, comprehensive delivery of the services. So e-business will be much more beneficial to companies as well as customers.
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
