Muhammad Saleem

Like other big cities, Faisalabad is also witnessing an excellent growth in e-commerce. Thousands of people sell their products online including shoes, jewellery, garments, bags, home decorations, beddings, clothing, cosmetics, and gadgets. According to International Trade Administration of the US Department of Commerce, Pakistan's e-commerce revenue stood at $4.2 billion in 2021. It mentions that as many as 49.2 million people use Facebook and scores of companies use different social media platforms for promotion of their services and products. By the end of Feb 2022, the number of 3G and 4G users in Pakistan was 111.38 million. Online shopping is gaining popularity in big cities where people avoid visiting markets daily due to traffic rush and high fuel prices. A fast-paced delivery system is instrumental for the growth of e-commerce business as people want quick and timely delivery of their orders. Ahsan Ali, who has been selling garments online for a couple of years, said online businesses were contributing a lot to Pakistan’s economy. He said garments and clothes sellers from Faisalabad were ahead of their counterparts in other districts. Mohsin Ali, another seller of women garments, said economic slowdown had undermined his online business, but of late, it was gaining momentum. He said private shipping companies earned handsome amounts due to e-commerce.

However, he added that government organisations like Pakistan Post could immensely cash in on the growth of digital trade if they would digitise their systems. He said Pakistan Post had outreach in far-off areas of the country, where private companies don’t have access as they mostly operated in the big cities. However, Pakistan Post was still practicing the decades-old method of manual entry of every parcel, which was not possible for the online sellers, who have to attach a receipt with their parcels. An official of the Pakistan Post said they were trying their level best to tap the potential of e-commerce. He said the Pakistan Post had an infrastructure covering each and every corner of the country. He said Pakistan Post couldn’t sustain without adopting digitalisation. Naeem Ahmed, who is working for a private shipping company, said the volume of e-commerce business could be increased to an exceptional level by improving the infrastructure. He said currently the private companies were operating in major cities only due to better road infrastructure. He said without resolving the infrastructural issues, the country could not promote the online selling business. “Smooth and fast delivery of essential items will ease the life of people and generate revenues for the national kitty,” Ahmed claimed. However, he said rising fuel prices were making deliveries costly, leading to a dip in e-commerce business.

Credit: INP-WealthPk