A total of Tk81.8 crore of consumer money has been refunded by 12 rogue e-commerce platforms to date, according to data from the Commerce Ministry following its intervention.
The platforms are Qcoom, Alesha Mart, Dalal Plus, Boom Boom, Anonder Bazaar, Tholey.com, Dhakamak.com, Shreshth.com, Alifworld, Bangladesh deal, Sophectic, and 99-global.
Following the scandals of several rogue e-commerce platforms such as Evaly, e-orange, Dhamaka Shopping, Sirajganj Shop, Dalal plus, and several others, government authorities started to take initiatives to protect the sector and its consumers.
The government introduced an escrow system last year, as well as the digital business identification (DBID) system earlier this year, to bring more discipline to the country's e-commerce sector and regain consumer trust.
However, several hundred crores worth of consumer money had been stuck with payment gateways since July 2021, after the government stipulated that the platforms would get payments only after customers confirmed having received their products.
According to the latest Bangladesh Bank report, the amount of customers' funds stuck with the 25 e-commerce platforms has been reported to be around Tk500 crore, much higher than the previous estimate of Tk214 crore.
Earlier, the Commerce Ministry began taking steps to refund consumers’ money and even declared to take a harder stance against the platforms from April to safeguard consumer trust in the sector.
Talking to Dhaka Tribune, vice president of e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB) Shahabuddin pointed out that despite offline markets opening up, people have become habituated to shopping online and will continue to do so as trust in the sector has slowly returned following the intervention of the government and its structured policies.
On top of that, the month of Ramadan and traffic congestion will also push people towards online shopping, the top brass of e-CAB stated.
Registered members of the association have already reported a good amount of online sales which is expected to rise even more by the end of the month as people celebrate two festivities within the span of four weeks, the e-CAB vice president added.
Currently, 1,693 active e-commerce companies are members of e-CAB.
Additionally, at least 250,000 Facebook-based business pages or F-commerce platforms operate their businesses online.
According to the association, online sales have increased by 40% since the start of Ramadan, with it increasing each week. Businesses in the sector are receiving an aggregate of 50,000-60,000 orders per day.
The e-commerce market is worth roughly around Tk22,000 crore and is expected to reach Tk30,000 crore by the year-end according to industry insiders.