Showing posts with label E-commerce. Show all posts

Aug 18, 2024

Social Media Censorship: Short-Term Gain, The Peril Of Long-Term Damage

Short-Term Gains, Long-Term Consequences: While governments may achieve immediate control, they may face long-term backlash and damage to their reputation.

Option 1 (more formal): The economic fallout from this crisis can be divided into three levels: individual and organizational, sectoral, and economy-wide. The initial effects are most pronounced at the individual and organizational levels, with short-term consequences. However, the entire economy will experience medium to long-term impacts.

percussions at three levels: individual/organizational, sectoral, and macroeconomic. While the first two levels face immediate challenges, the overall economy is at risk for longer-term damage. A comprehensive loss assessment is crucial for effective response.

In today's digital era, it's undeniable that our daily lives are affected by the extensive influence of social media. While social media has its positive uses, scientists are starting to understand how excessive usage might negatively affect our mental health in the long run.

Experts and business leaders believe that the recent deadly protests, clashes, and violence have severely damaged Bangladesh’s image in the global community and the country’s key challenge now is to bring back the international community’s faith.

It was warned that a failure to rehabilitate Bangladesh's image could severely harm export-dependent industries, particularly the apparel sector. Such a decline would have far-reaching consequences, impacting the nation's overall economy and employment rates.

Bangladesh says it forgot to remove UN logos from vehicles as they contained unrest

It should be noted that Bangladesh is already suffering from a foreign exchange reserves crisis, and has secured $4.7 billion in support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The Future of f-commerce and Social Media in Bangladesh

F-commerce, or selling products through Facebook, is rapidly growing in Bangladesh. With over 80 million people following business pages and more than 3,000 local stores on the platform, it's a promising market. F-commerce is attractive to new businesses because it requires less startup capital and fewer hurdles compared to traditional brick-and-mortar stores.

The business-to-customer e-commerce market in Bangladesh is expected to grow by 17.61% on an annual basis, aimed at reaching Tk65,966 crore in 2022, according to recent market research.

"Not all the pages are by Facebook-only online sellers as Omni channel businesses also present there," said its executive director Jahangir Alam Shovon.

Conclusion:

As a nation, we learned the effects of an internet blackout consequences. This is a basic and fundamental right that has never ever used as a political WEAPON.

Feb 4, 2024

How unique e-commerce thrive FREEDOM beyond bricks-and-mortar

Beyond Bricks and Mortar: The Ultimate Guide to Thriving in the E-commerce Reality...

The physical store isn't dead, but the future is digital! Thrive in the e-commerce reality with our ultimate guide: unlock growth, beat competition, and build enduring customer relationships.

In case you may Unify online and in-person sales today. An omnichannel approach... based on your market reach and feasibility. Not based on whims and emotion. Those days are gone this is a data analytics-driven age and decision making should be on the basis...

E-Commerce Freedom:

Location independence: Sell to anyone, anywhere in the world, 24/7. No geographical limitations.

Schedule flexibility: Work according to your own schedule, not store hours.

Reduced overhead: No need for physical store rent, utilities, or staff (initially).

Scalability: Easily scale your business up or down depending on demand.

Experimentation: Test new products, strategies, and marketing tactics with minimal risk.

Data-driven decisions: Gain insights from customer data to optimize your business.

Personalized experiences: Tailor offerings and promotions to individual customers.

Automation: Automate tasks like order processing, marketing, and customer service.

Community building: Connect with customers on a global scale and foster strong relationships.

The Bricks & Clicks Revolution: Mastering the Omnichannel Experience

What is the difference between brick-and-mortar and click-and-mortar?

Brick and mortar refers to a business's physical location where they sell products in person.

Click and mortar refers to an omnichannel retail strategy where a business sells products both online and in person.

How does eCommerce affect brick-and-mortar?

Price competition: Online retailers often operate at lower costs than physical stores, enabling them to offer competitive pricing. This usually puts pressure on brick-and-mortar retailers to match these prices, often at the expense of their profit margins.

12 Steps to Move Your Brick & Mortar Store Online might be helpful to go through the link to know more in detail.

Want to move your brick-and-mortar store online or want to have an online store parallel to your offline business?

It takes strategic thinking and planning to foresee the possibilities, overcome the challenges, and capitalize on the opportunities. These 12 steps, we believe, will provide a practical guideline for you to move your brick-and-mortar store online.

But I would like to outline the very first step which is damn important and above all to consider first most precisely.

Step 01 – Define and Keep SMART Goals

The idea of setting goals is anything but new to the business owners. But SMART goals are somewhat different.

SMART is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound. SMART goals, based on these 5 requirements, are used widely in online commerce.

That’s because SMART goals are data-driven, and data is much easier to acquire in the digital sphere.

Simply stated, moving your goals online is the first step to moving your brick-and-mortar store online.

Let’s take a look at an example of a SMART goal:

S – Specific

Get detailed and specific with your goals. Don’t define goals like ‘sell more products’ or ‘increase average order value per customer, try these instead:

ell 25% more plain white T-shirts by the end of November.
Increase average order value per customer by 20% over Christmas.

M – Measurable

Make sure you can measure the progress of your goals. Don’t define goals like ‘increase good reviews’, attempt this instead:

Get an increase of 15% more 4 and 5-star reviews by the end of the year.
Get a 4-star overall review rating on Trustpilot.

A – Achievable

Be realistic with your goals, especially when you’re just starting up online. Don’t have goals like ‘bring in the same amount of revenue that I had offline’, try this instead:

Aim for 60% of offline revenue by the end of the year. Then 80% by the end of the next year and begin taking in more revenue in 2 years.

R – Relevant

Prioritize the right goals for your step into e-commerce. Don’t keep goals like ‘increase inventory range by 50%’, try these instead:

Aim for 2000 page views a month.
Sell my first 10 products.
Get my first product review on-site.

T – Time-bound

Always set a deadline for your goals. Don’t set goals like ‘increase traffic to the blog’, try this instead:

Increase blog traffic by 15% by the end of this month, then by 20% by the end of April.

When it comes to setting SMART goals, data is your best friend. Garner as much data about your store’s online performance as possible; it’s going to let you know exactly what to aim for and exactly how you’recom[pleted doing.

I am doing a consultancy on e-commerce in my city from 25 Dec 2024 and submitted a short 16-page report. Which is confidential and can't share the document here due to privacy issues. The primary proposal is yet to be accepted and implemented. They are stuck up with Brick and Morter.

They have been running a Beautiful Super Shop of 13500 SFT on a floor space of their own. For 6 years they haven't earned any profit yet. My intermediary prosal Omnichannel is both Online and offline for trial. In these regards, I have completed surveys and compiled the opinions.

On this basis, I have suggested and submitted 4 phases of direct marketing steps in writing for approval to the CEO from 27, and 31 Jan to 1 Feb 2024... maybe how and cry... my failure to make them best understand the reality of the time... need .surjical operation only way out to save the baby... before sine die ...

Decision in time is the most important factor in Business. Our decision might cause failure to achieve the goal due to wrong perception, emotional decision, inadequate data, and analysis. Whatever- we may ratify based on feedback on time...and learn from the mistakes. The sooner the Better... time and tide wait for none...

The Human Touch in the Digital Age: Building Meaningful Connections with Online Customers.

Social media marketing or online electronic media is a great tool for SMEs in Bangladesh to drive business success making it easy and inexpensive...

Bangladesh is mobile and Facebook-friendly huge users. People are heading to social media and are used to it. Nowadays around 172 M mobile connections and 90 M unique mobile subscribers exist and over 25% are active mobile internet users. The country’s per capita growth was 45% in the past 5 years. Bangladesh is ahead of all Shows Spectator Index on per capita GDP growth… (2020 data)

The eCommerce Association of Bangladesh (e-Cab), the trade body for eCommerce in Bangladesh, estimates there are 700 eCommerce sites and around 8,000 eCommerce pages on Facebook. Facebook remains a popular method for advertising and selling products, to the point that many businesses forgo creating websites. This is inexpensive and easy to reach out to customers. Ten billion taka in transactions takes place on eCommerce sites per year according to a 2017 e-Cab report.

IN BANGLADESH, RETAIL E-COMMERCE IS GROWING AT 72 PERCENT A MONTH.

At present, more than 35,000 individuals and over 25,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are part of this sector.

The conclusion goes in favor of E-Commerce:

The physical store isn't dead, but the future is digital! Thrive in the e-commerce reality with our ultimate guide: unlock growth, beat competition, and build enduring customer relationships to grip and grab the market share...

One of the most recent news on National Daily- the Daily Star 4 February 2024 edition...breaking news in favor of E-commerce and against physical stores as a whole...

Shwapno’s loss spirals to Tk 1,600cr in 15 years as finance cost gets heavier

E-Commerce Freedom, flexibility, Reduced overhead, Easy Scalability,

Experimentation: Test new products, strategies, and marketing tactics with minimal risk.

Data-driven decisions: Gain insights from customer data to optimize your business.

Personalized experiences: Tailor offerings and promotions to individual customers.

Automation: Automate tasks like order processing, marketing, and customer service.

Community building: Loyalty and retention worthy ongoing relationship buildings

Jan 31, 2024

How social media marketing is important for small business in Bangladesh

Social media marketing or online electronic media is a great tool for SMEs in Bangladesh to drive business success make it easy and inexpensive...

People are heading to social media and used to. Now a day around 172 M mobile connections and 90 M unique mobile subscribers exists and over 25% are active mobile internet users. The country’s per capita growth was 45% in the past 5 years. Bangladesh ahead of all Shows Spectator Index on per capita GDP growth…

The eCommerce Association of Bangladesh (e-Cab), the trade body for eCommerce in Bangladesh, estimates there are 700 eCommerce sites and around 8,000 eCommerce pages on Facebook. Facebook remains a popular method for advertising and selling products, to a point that many businesses forgo creating websites. This is inexpensive and easy to reach out to customers. Ten billion taka in transactions takes place on eCommerce sites per year according to a 2017 e-Cab report.

In Bangladesh, retail e-commerce is growing at 72 percent a month.

At present, more than 35,000 individuals and above 25,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are part of this sector.

LOCAL shoppers in the COVID-19 are now online. As a result, e-commerce is booming around the globe. Shopping online is on the rise. Transactions are also increasing manifold. It is known that online sales have increased by 70 to 80 percent compared to the regular time. Millions of people have been employed in this sector. Business is expanding rapidly.

As a result, the e-commerce market in Bangladesh has exceeded one and a half billion US dollars, according to the German-based research institute Statista, expected to reach at two billion dollars this year and three billion dollars by 2023.

Social Media

There were 45.00 million social media users in Bangladesh in January 2021. The number of social media users in Bangladesh increased by 9.0 million (+25%) between 2020 and 2021. The number of social media users in Bangladesh was equivalent to 27.2% of the total population in January 2021.

Face book as a Social media is popular and widely used in Bangladesh.

As per the status of almost 90%, this is a golden opportunity for SMEs to take the advantage of Social Media Marketing.

Reasons why is a strong presence in social media important for brands?

1. This is easy to reach- because users are heading and online

2. This is cost-effective and inexpensive and easy to connect live over messenger, WhatsApp

3. Personalized and interactive CMS CRM is easy…

4. Social media pages take palace on the website. So, no need to maintain a website and webmaster

5. Can easily Improved brand awareness

6. Get more traffic to your website

7. Increase engagement with your customers

8. Improved your brand loyalty

9. Know about your competitors

10. Increase Your Overall ROI

11. Build Relationships With Your Target Customers

12. Retarget your customers

13. Importance of Content in Social Media Marketing

14. Real-Time Customer Service

15. Greater Exposure by targeting users

Online marketing allows small business owners to encourage their followers, clients, prospects to take action likely by visiting the website, going through products, rating the service quality, providing user feedback, and many more which is marketable. Then both the next buyers and normal audience can see what previous buyers or consumers say about your company. In no time, you can get good brand value and go ahead.

16. Better ROI

ROI or Return of Investment is surely one of the main concerns for startup owners. Only by utilizing a digital marketing strategy, you can keep tracing and precisely measure from where your leads and web visitors are coming and taking action.

17. Brand Advertisement

You see, digital marketing is offering every opportunity so that you can get the maximum output within the shortest possible time.

18. Easy to Measure

You can get day-by-day reports of your website visitors, purchase reports by using Google analytics. Along with that, you can measure how many people have seen, liked, shared, and commented on your post on Facebook, Twitter, and Linked In, etc.

19. Refinement of Business Strategy

Probably, that’s one of the most significant advantages of digital marketing. Truly any leads or anything you’d get from an online marketing journey is only a fraction of the cost of typical marketing

20. Attract Mobile Customers

The number of people tend to do shopping through mobile phone is at an increasing rate.

21. Increases Trust & Credibility

Nothing remains hidden online. So when you’re providing quality products along with satisfactory service, your customers are bound to have faith in your organization. They will gossip about your product in their circle and eventually, you’ll get benefited from applying a profound digital marketing strategy.

22. Targeting More Leads/Acquiring More Leads

The activity or campaign you run on the internet, allows you to get leads and attract more potential clients. Above all, that is one of the main benefits of digital marketing. You promote your business through online; people will be pledged to become a customer.

Requirement:

Users are more learned and SMART about their choices in this connected world. To handle the users or buyers personas it will require professionals to serve these buyers personas and personalized interactions online. To handle Fan base loyal customers trained and HELPING hands in demand. There are so many institutes already been set up? But their activities are of a spam nature to make money only other than professionalisms to grow. Every day experiencing thousands of ads on Facebook regarding training etc. 12 classes…. HOW? This is not that easy to become a social media marketer in 12 classes. Impossible made possible…. HOW?

Limitations:

Any object on the earth bearing its own shadow! Also, Social Media or E-Commence going through miscreants and masterminding cause overshadowed:

11.48% of customers were victims of online shopping scams in 2020. The number was previously 7.44% in 2019.
Very recent 2021 Eorange controversy, Evaly Chair, and MD sued for fraud, harassment PLUs more cases overshadowed this booming social media and e-commerce marketing in a doubt. Due to gambling nature and greediness to be a quick richer both in the company and buyers level fueled the FIRE.

Otherwise, all is well. Emerging markets having always some miscreants takes the chance to get undue advantages. Besides these, other limitations are:

Another limitation is that the market is still in the primitive stage. Lack of agencies, institute professionals, and govt. rules and regulations hinder the outcome. We have to overcome all such limitations which are usual in any new market situation.
The SMEs entrepreneurs don’t have to know how about the unique propositions and capabilities of social media marketing how to use. They don’t have a professional setup. In marketing, it will take time to create executives, manager
Digital marketing as a career in Bangladesh and its salary and is another hindrance to the slow growth of social media. DIGITAL MARKETING: A two thousand crore taka market!
The present compensation offering and structure don’t comply with the world job market.

Mobile eCommerce

Utility bill payment and remittance transfers via mobile phone were introduced in Bangladesh in 2006 and 2010 respectively through the country’s leading mobile operators and banks, and have become very popular. The government also authorized mobile operators to sell railway and bus tickets, and tickets to cricket matches organized by the Bangladesh Cricket Board using mobile phones.

As of April 2021, 15 banks are providing mobile financial services (MFS), with 36.75 million active MFS accounts. In addition, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the digital financial service “Nagad” in 2019, which is partly owned by the Bangladesh Post Office. Mobile financial services in Bangladesh include cash-in, cash-out, merchant payments, utility payments, salary disbursement, foreign remittances, and fund transfers. MFS activities grew rapidly following the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, as consumers sought to use MFS platforms to comply with social distancing measures. Bangladesh’s central bank instructed banks in April 2020 to open MFS accounts for all workers of export-oriented companies to facilitate disbursement of salaries and government allowances.

Existing mobile financial service providers popular in the market include bKash, Nagad, Rocket PLUS more…

Our Social Media is mobile-friendly. So we must have no how to optimize mobile-friendly content, posts, graphics, designs, videos, audios whatever. Pixels and web design, the webpage must be optimized and mobile-friendly.

Conclusion:

1. With a no or limited or minimum budget social media marketing is the best option to reach out to the intended and targeted users.

2. All the benefits of online marketing are stated. Therefore, success relentlessly depends on your business objective as well as the mindset and hiring the right executives.

3. The Transformer Change Maker Challenger Communicator Collaborator Creative and Critical Thinker Barnstormer Mover Performer of your business none other than a Digital Marketing Executive do…

More Resources:

https://www.digitalmarketingbd.com/why-social-media-marketing-is-important-for-small-business/

https://brainstation-23.com/e-commerce-business-scenario-in-bangladesh-2006-to-2018/

https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/views/views/e-commerce-in-bangladesh-where-are-we-headed-1578666791

https://www.thedailystar.net/supplements/30th-anniversary-supplements/going-digital/news/e-commerce-bangladesh-the-next-five-years-what-expect-2043981

https://www.newagebd.net/article/114200/the-growth-of-e-commerce-during-the-pandemic-in-bangladesh

https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/bangladesh-ecommerce