E-commerce purchases through cards bounced back in March as the total transaction value crossed Tk 900 crore for the first time since July last year, when a number of scams were unearthed in the sector.
Customers spent Tk 908 crore through cards on products and services availed from e-commerce sites in March, up by about 18 per cent from the month before and 6.31 per cent year-on-year, according to data from Bangladesh Bank.
Industry insiders said pre-ramadan sales, especially groceries, contributed to the growth in March.
Orders of Daraz, the top e-commerce platform in Bangladesh, grew by more than 40 per cent year-on-year that month.
“We witnessed growth in our fashion and grocery sales in March,” Tajdin Hassan, chief marketing officer of Daraz, told The Daily Star.
Campaigns on women-centric goods — fashion items and beauty products — early in March and grocery items later the same month contributed to Daraz’s growth in the period, according to Hassan.
Waseem Alim, chief executive officer of the biggest online grocery platform Chaldal, said the e-commerce sector is slowly recovering from the downturn triggered by the scams uncovered last year.
Syed Mohammad Kamal, country director of Mastercard, said customers started spending more in March as they were in a buying mood after the Covid-19 situation improved.
Industry people say that considering the better performance in March, the e-commerce sector…
