The number of internet users in Bangladesh is rapidly increasing, as is the number of smartphone users.
F-commerce refers to Facebook commerce in a shortened form.
Facebook has a global user base of 2.85 billion active users.
That accounts for around one-third of the total population of the world.
A majority of them are regular users who log in at least twice per week.
A growing user base has prompted the platform to serve as a business space which soon expanded to small and medium-sized businesses.
Facebook's popularity in the country has led to big companies doing f-commerce, which is the latest version of online business, as a subsidiary.
Bangladesh has approximately 46 million active Facebook users.
As a result of the high user base, small businesses have been encouraged to use the platform as a marketplace.
In Bangladesh, there are approximately 2,000 dedicated e-commerce platforms and over 300,000 f-commerce pages.
The business entities are carrying out businesses in the country reaching a market size of around Tk1,000 crore.
Women own 70% of Facebook-based businesses opened since the pandemic began and there has been an increase of more than 65% in Instagram businesses owned by women, according to Meta published on the occasion of International Women's Day - 2022.
F-commerce has become popular in Bangladesh in recent times.
People browse their favorite page and select the desired product and give the page owner a text with a delivery address and phone number, so that they can send the product directly to the doorsteps of the customer.
Either the customer can pay via mobile financial services (MFS), bank transfer or even cash on delivery depending upon the convenience.
MFS is also getting benefits from this sector along with this many parcel delivery services have started their service to support this industry.
They all are growing together and contributing towards the economy.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, this industry got a boost and people became habituated to buying stuff from Facebook.
Many interpreters came up from this business and grew very well and they have become popular nowadays.
According to a study conducted by Halima Haque, an assistant professor at Jahangirnagar University, on "Women's Empowerment through F-Commerce during the Covid-19 Pandemic", women entrepreneurs on Facebook had seen increased complexities dealing with the supply chain including deliveries and obtaining raw materials.
Hence, with many positive facts, there are some negatives as well.
Every Facebook Business page has to spend a good number of Dollars to boost up the post to reach the customers.
Doing this there is an impact on the Bangladeshi taka which is converted into the dollar and has to transfer to another country. This has an impact on reserves too.
Alongside this, many f-commerce entrepreneurs do not know how to boost or promote their businesses so, they incur losses.
These problems can be easily overcome by training them.
The government can take initiative to support small entrepreneurs to grow together.
By doing this there is a high possibility to export from our country and earn foreign remittance too.
The author is pursuing his MBA from the Department of Marketing at the Faculty of Business Studies (FBS) of Jahangirnagar University
