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Analysis of e-Tail sector in Pakistan and Drivers for Change. Institute of Business Management Karachi, Pakistan By Amin S. Lalani January 2013 Supervisor Ejaz Wasay Survey Assistance Hira Saeed

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An in-depth analysis of Pakistan Internet Retailing Opportunity

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Page 1: Analysis of e tail sector in pakistan and drivers for change

Analysis of e-Tail sector in Pakistan and Drivers for Change.

Institute of Business ManagementKarachi, Pakistan

ByAmin S. LalaniJanuary 2013

SupervisorEjaz Wasay

Survey AssistanceHira Saeed

Page 2: Analysis of e tail sector in pakistan and drivers for change

Abstract

e-Tailing (Online Retail – B2C in particular) offers tremendous opportunities for B2C (business-to-

consumer) ecommerce or direct selling to grow and flourish in the local and international markets. It is

especially proving helpful for startups eager to establish market presence despite limited resources, within

the shortest time period. Similarly, it helps brick-and-mortar businesses become brick-and-click stores,

and facilitates their engagement with customers online, resulting in wider customer reach. e-Tailing also

helps businesses become more productive, organized and customer oriented, whilst enhancing the

capacity of customers to look for their desired products in the comfort of their home or workplace, and at

the same time strike great bargains in the shape of discounted prices.

This paper evaluates Pakistan’s state of readiness for supporting a bustling e-tail sector, in comparison

with similar economies as well as identifies key factors that curtail growth of e-tailing in Pakistan.

The findings reveal that, Pakistan has significant level of ICT infrastructure, internet user population,

GDP, market size, ecosystem, cognitive approach towards online buying and technical workforce. These

factors have been key variant to activate e-tail at small scale in any economy. The reasons for low

financial turnover reporting in e-tail are due to undocumented economy where e-tail is done on COD

(cash on delivery) basis and e-tail stores which are operating through Facebook.

Keywords: e-commerce, e-tailing, micro economics, digital economy, ICT for Retail, Online Retail.

Page 3: Analysis of e tail sector in pakistan and drivers for change

Introduction

Pakistan’s Retail and Wholesale sectors account for 17.2% of GDP (SBP, 2011, p.34) which is equivalent

to US$37.15 billion. The domestic market is ranked 31 in the world (WEF, 2009 p.21) in terms of size

and at a fairly low 3.55 out of 10 rating with respect to the Digital Economy Rating (DER) according to

EIU. All these indicators suggest that although, Pakistan has tremendous potential for e-tailing as well as

the opportunity to capture online business around the world, very few transactions are currently settled

through the internet. Pakistan made US$7 million transaction in overall e-banking (SBP, 2012)

e-Tailing has become a rapidly growing phenomenon for trade and commerce in the world. As the

internet gets ubiquitous more and more retailers setup their stores online. Venturing an online store is

more easy, affordable and manageable as compare to brick and mortar store, where large sales force is

hired to generate conversion. Recognizing this, many e-commerce firms exploit the notion of "infinite

shelf space," explicitly touting selection as the most important value proposition vis-a-vis their traditional

offline counterparts. (Smith, Bailey, and Bryn-jolfsson 2000).According to a recent census, 5.1% of total

retail sales in the US were achieved online (USCB, 2012). UK estimates 13.2% of entire retail sales

(Centre for Retail Research). In China, one of the fastest growing economies, online sales accounted for

4.3% of total retail sales. If only 1% of all retail transactions in Pakistan were settled online it can

generate $371.5 million in terms of top line or e-tail revenue, which could be a good starting point in the

development of the e-tail sector.

Nearly 9% of Pakistan’s population has access to the internet (WB, 2010). With GDP of US$216 billion

and Per Capita income of US$1120 (WB, 2011), Pakistan qualifies as one of the fastest growing

economies in South Asia. Pakistan also has a rapidly growing number of mobile users, currently

estimated at 120 million (PTA, 2012) who will potentially access the internet through their mobile

devices. Smart phone users have the potential to become consumers for online products and services.

Developments in telecommunications, the global diffusion of the internet, and emergence of e-commerce

have helped in the creation of an environment that fosters the globalization of markets throughout the

world (OECD, 1997).

Page 4: Analysis of e tail sector in pakistan and drivers for change

Literature Review

e-Tailing like any other business strategy runs within an ecosystem. The ecosystem consists of core

components, such as consistent connectivity, secure and affordable payment gateway, logistics services,

online tax collection mechanism and privacy protection. Any single component can become a barrier for

growth of e-tailing in an economy. Weak formal institutions are also responsible for lower consumer trust

in e-commerce and their preference to buy online (Kenny, 2003). A survey conducted among Brazilian

consumers indicated that the low e-commerce adoption was connected with the state regulations on

privacy and security, lack of business laws for e-commerce, inadequate legal protection for Internet

purchases and concern over Internet taxation (Tigre and Dedrick, 2004). Allied components like online

marketplace, coupons and vouchers, online consumer reviews, web 2.0 adaptability, mobile adaptability,

etc enables e-Tailing to work smoothly in an open, competitive environment. Jeff Bezos, the chief

executive officer (CEO) of Amazon.com, contends that the popularity of his company's Web site is due to

the superior shopping experience that Amazon.com offers (Taylor 1996, p. 132): "Bill Gates laid it out in

a magazine interview. He said, 'I buy all my books at Amazon.com because I'm busy and it's convenient.

They have a big selection, and they've been reliable.' Those are three of our four core value propositions:

convenience, selection, [and] service. The only one he left out is price: we are the broadest discounters in

the world in any product category. These value propositions are interrelated, and they all relate to the

Web.

In order to understand e-tailing better, it is imperative to understand the historic perspective. e-Tailing

initiated in late 70s when small and big companies use to print catalogue and post it to 1000s of customers

for free. This 100s of pages catalogue offering 1000s of products gives convenience and saving

worldwide. A buyer in Pakistan can order a nail-cutter from Japan through catalogue. By 1995 it was

inevitable that internet will not only revolutionize the supply chain formulated by catalogue industry but,

it will also decrease the order turnover time, increase the inventory turnover and product to market time.

The changing phenomena forced organizations to adopt ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) upgrading

from traditional EDI (Electronic Data Integration) in order to manage such velocity of consumer

interaction. Many successful case studies started popping by 1995 like Amazon, Yahoo and Netflex in

1997. In US, e-tailing was in full swing during these years and all required trust, infrastructure and

technology developed, were at its mature stage, which helped US to succeed in e-tailing arena. In 1999,

the conventional bricks-and-mortar stores rang up 93% of United States retail sales revenue; e-commerce,

by contrast, accounted for about 1%, and catalog sales the other 6% (Collett 1999). e-Tailing not only

gave more convenience to the customers and saving but also helped companies to reach more audience

Page 5: Analysis of e tail sector in pakistan and drivers for change

through internet which was not possible during catalogue era as it has its own limitation. As an

illustration, LIGHTNING Instrumentation SA, a Swiss networking equipment manufacturer, was able to

raise its sales by about 20% after establishing a Website, all of which came from outside its domestic

market (Quelch and Klein 1996). By 2000 big brands like Nike, JCPenny and Sony started offering

products and services through their website. "More and more customers are coming to the Web to learn

about products before they go to a retail store," says Anne Mulcahy, president of Xerox General Markets

Operations (GMO). A major focus for GMO is convincing account salespeople to represent Xerox's total

solution, even though some of those products, such as printers, are typically fulfilled through an indirect

channel (Cohen 2000, p.13). According to one survey reported in The New York Times (Tedeschi 2000),

about 42% of top suppliers (e.g. IBM, Pioneer Electronics, Cisco System, Estee Lauder, and Nike) in a

variety of industries have begun to sell directly to consumers over the Internet. This new phenomenon of

multi-channel sales by some brand i.e selling directly online and through reseller had brought adverse

effects on resellers perhaps; the direct channel adds profits indirectly. The threat to sell in the direct

channel induces greater sales in the traditional retail channel (by 60%), and this more than makes up for

the lower unit profit margins (33% lower). The manufacturer's profits grow by 7% even though nothing is

sold in its direct channel (Chiang et al., 2003).

Unlike offline retailing, where consumer can feel and test the product before buying it, online shopping

experience is still new to many consumers as they wouldn’t get opportunity to feel the product before

buying it. This is the reason why many buyers does show rooming and ultimately buy the product online.

There are many benefits of buying products and services online as it gives an opportunity to buyer to

compare various models and brands of a product before settling for final purchase. Offline searching is

more expensive and time consuming as compared to online, where a consumer can log into shopping.com

and find out the best price for the same product offered by various vendors, plus it also gives an

opportunity to compare the product with brands and models too, using compare option available in PCE

(price comparison engine) like Google Products.

For marketers, e-tailing is still in trial-and-error stage after two long decades, as it doesn’t help them to

evaluate brand loyalty, buyers’ mood and behavior and other critical factor required for market analysis.

Without adequate data it is difficult to measure the customer experience. Steven Riggio, the CEO of

Barnes & Noble, observes (Fortune 1997, p. 248): On the other hand based on years of e-tailing data,

organization can measure the impact of online advertisement, buying trend, product popularity and other

factors in real-time which are not possible in offline retail environment. e-Tailing works around

technology and innovation to reach and acquire customers beyond traditional boundaries. Businesses keep

Page 6: Analysis of e tail sector in pakistan and drivers for change

themselves away from e-tailing, because it is assumed that implementing and managing e-Tail is a costly

affair for business. "Anything Amazon.com can do on the Internet, so, too Barnes & Noble. There was a

mystique about how difficult it was to get started on the web, but it is quickly fading. Hiring hot designers

from Silicon Valley, Barnes & Noble now offers a web shop front that's just as inviting and useful as

Amazon, with easy-to-use subject indexes, online author events every day, book forums, book reviews,

and other features" Website. Customers are drawn to a site because of its outstanding of product

information and selection (McWilliam 2000).

Language is one of the barriers blocking e-tailing popularity. This inability in English language hence

becomes a major inhibitor among non-English-speaking consumers, especially the older generation

(Gibbs et al., 2003). Only 8% of Pakistani speaks Urdu which is official language. Research shows that

half the population of developing countries is unable to speak their own official language country (Kenny,

2003).

Page 7: Analysis of e tail sector in pakistan and drivers for change

Research Methodology

The research is designed to analyze e-tail at various levels. The macro factor evaluates Pakistan’s e-

readiness using secondary data from international and local financial and government institutions; the

comparative analysis compares the factor analysis of similar DER (Digital Economy Rating) economies

along with additional variable like GDP, Per Capita, retail and wholesale worth of economy, market size

and efficiency index; and the micro factor analyze top e-tailers using observation technique using strata

sampling method; stores from various category are selected to acquire broader database.

1. Evaluate Pakistan’s e-Readiness: Digital Economy Rating (DER) by Economist Intelligence

Unit 2010 is vital factorial analysis to evaluate the digital readiness of any economy. The

factor analysis covers various pros and cons present in local scenario that result in high and

low ratings of different factors. So I suggest following hypothesis

H1. Pakistan is not ready to take off in global ecommerce

2. Factor Analysis of similar DER rating countries with Pakistan: At macro level, institutional

data like GDP, per capita, internet population by country, retail and wholesale trade, market

size, competitive index and digital economy rating were taken into consideration to table a

comparison and highlight the inactive factors that act as a barrier to e-tailing. So I suggest

following hypothesis. So I suggest following hypothesis

H2. Low rating is not an impediment to growth in e-business volume

3. Analysis of local e-Tailers: At micro level 13 local e-tailers were evaluated based on

Evaluation Instrument for e-Commerce Web Sites from the First-Time Buyer’s Viewpoint

(Hung et al 2004). So I suggest following hypothesis

H3. Pakistan’s e-stores do not meet the standards of international best practices

Page 8: Analysis of e tail sector in pakistan and drivers for change

Criteria 1: Evaluate Pakistan’s e-Readiness

As stated earlier, Pakistan scored 3.55 overall, out of 10, in terms of e-readiness under the digital

economy rating in 2010 (EIU, 2010, p22). The score is a composite of 6 selected criteria i.e. connectivity,

business environment, social and cultural environment, legal environment, government policy and vision,

and Consumer and business adoption.

An in-depth factorial analysis of Pakistan’s digital infrastructure reveals some positive and some negative

facts:

1.1 Connectivity (EIU score: 2.35)

Pakistan, ranked 4th on the basis of Point Topic’s World Broadband Statistics 2008 in broadband

penetration, with 3 international undersea connectivity cables namely SEA-ME-WE-3, FLAG and TW1,

950,000 broadband users (PTA 2010 Stats) and 16 Million Internet User or 9% of the population (WB,

2011), this shows that, Pakistan is on the right track for rapid development in local and international

connectivity. The Higher Education Commission has initiated a project to connect all universities with

fast broadband. Universal Service Fund (an initiative to promote telecom services in un-served and under-

served areas – www.usf.org.pk) is working to spread telecom and internet connectivity across the country

including in remote areas.

1.2 Business Environment (EIU score: 5.31)

Pakistan maintained 3.5% growth rate during 2008-12 (WBDI, 2009) despite of the global financial crisis

and, in absence of any financial or tax relief package from the Government. Pakistan is ranked 85 out of

183 countries for the year 2011 by Doing Business 2011 Rank, IFC. This indicates that Pakistan has a

good environment to conduct business. Although being a developing economy, Pakistan maintains

vibrant stock exchange, development prospectus and growth opportunity. It is expected that the business

environment will get better in the coming years.

1.3 Social and cultural environment (EIU score: 2.80)

Social and cultural environment in Pakistan towards ICT is quite low as per EIU which is apparent

through various factors. Although various indicators such as ICT related education in academia and R&D

awareness appears to be growing, perhaps it is not reaching the desired level and is concentrated in a

limited segment of population for several reasons. One could be the language barrier and another access

to geo-demographic diversity. Further the country has very few patents in the field, and enforcement of

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the law to protect privacy and copyright is weak. Due to such factors resulting in a poor socio-cultural

environment, there is inadequate adoption of ICT in the country at different levels.

1.4 Legal and Policy Environment (EIU score: 5.90)

Pakistan scored 5.90 in terms of the Legal and Policy Environment under the EIU Digital Economy

Rankings. This shows that the legal and policy environment is in place but consumers and even

businesses are not aware of it or it has missing elements in terms of assurance or implementation at the

grassroots level. There are three ways for enforcement viz. a) by force b) by facilitation and c) by offering

incentives. Various governments around the world use a mix of these options to achieve better

enforcement.

On other hand the State Bank of Pakistan can play a vital role by drafting a monetary policy so that e-

commerce transaction companies like Paypal and Authorize.net can setup their offices in Pakistan and

facilitate trade between local and global businesses.

Oxley and Yeung, (2001) state that “the integrity of the institutional environment, particularly with

respect to the "rule of law," is important for the development of e-commerce. Only in such an

environment can participants in e-commerce transactions develop confidence and have adequate legal

recourse should the transaction break down.”

1.5 Government policy and vision (EIU score: 4.30)

At the macro level Government Policy and Vision are as vital as business readiness at the micro level to

adapt to a digital economy. Pakistan has clear vision for promoting digital economy which is reflected in

various policies and actions, which include computerization of the national identity card, branchless

mobile banking, e-Taxation, setting up of the e-Government directorate, and much more. Due to

excessive delays in project approvals the results fall short of expectations and the overall strategy gets

derailed, adding to the cost of implementation.

1.6 Consumer and business adoption (EIU score: 2.51)

On the consumer side, there has been 10.5 Million debit and credit card in transaction (SBP, 2010 p.69),

with Rs.75.4 Billion POS (Point of Sale) based transaction (SBP, 2010 p.70). More and more buyers are

Page 10: Analysis of e tail sector in pakistan and drivers for change

accepting the plastic currency as it is convenient and safe. It took some time to accept this norm, similarly

online buying is an evolution phenomenon which will take some time to blend with the economy.

It is vital that consumer and businesses both must seek to adopt e-transaction. Some of the leap steps that

could change the paradigm are

a) In order to attract customers to buy online, it is vital to have ecosystem for e.g. crowd-sourcing

sites like news site, discount coupon sites, etc which can redirect traffic to e-Tailers. Initiative by

dealstoday (online deal distribution site) and olround (rewards with punch to customers that can

be redeem at any other member restaurant) are getting popular and are bringing real advantages to

online and offline customers.

b) Retailers are yet to become technically advance, in order to fill in this gap, websites like daraz

takes the lead where they market, display, sale and deliver product on customer behalf.

c) Electronic risk is always a point of concern, to overcome this, brand like daraz offers 7 days

money back guarantee if any product didn’t satisfies the buyers demand.

d) After the closure of payment gateway by Citibank, UBL started offering payment gateway at

more relaxed terms to the e-Tailers, starting from Jan 2013.

The above factorial analysis reflects that Pakistan has adequate infrastructure i.e. multiple international

connectivity, market size, internet subscriber, facebook users and government policies (Pakistan’s Cyber

Crime Bill 2007), that can propel digital economy to take off. Although there is only one gateway

provider on ground perhaps, Pakistan has excellent COD (cash on delivery) payment option provided by

BlueEx courier which is used by all major online retailers. Other payment options such as e-Banking

(UBL Net Banking) and mobile banking (omni and easy paisa) pools the gap for payment which is safe

and secure.

Page 11: Analysis of e tail sector in pakistan and drivers for change

Category 2: Factor Analysis with countries having similar DER rating to

Pakistan

Economies with low Digital Economy Rating (DER) i.e. around 3.80 do succeed in e-tailing. So there is

high probability for Pakistan to succeed as well if it can cross the 3.8 benchmark, against the current

rating of 3.55. An analysis of countries similar to Pakistan in terms of e-readiness will perhaps provide

some pointers;

Economies with ratings closer to Pakistan are:

a) Algeria 3.31,

b) Iran 3.24 and

c) Ukraine 3.66.

Countries at a slightly higher level with ratings between 3.8 and 4.2 are Indonesia, Egypt and Vietnam

has successfully adopted the e-Tailing framework in their countries. A closer analysis reveals that:

1. These countries have almost twice the Per Capita Income of Pakistan.

2. Their competitive index rating is also high.

In Vietnam 35% population have access to internet whereas Pakistan has just 9% internet penetration. It is

important to mention here that UN has announced internet as a basic right of citizens, similar to water and

electricity. Australia is among countries that have implemented multi-billion dollar high bandwidth fiber

network in the country.

This means that Pakistan has to adjust its “macro-factors” in order to enter into e-Tailing in a decisive

manner. Until 2007 Pakistan was reputed to have 13% internet penetration but suddenly it dropped by

four points to 9% in 2011.

Some of the other findings besides economic data that assist in the adoption of e-retailing are:

1. Cognitive approach towards internet buying - high in Egypt, Vietnam and Indonesia as compared

to Pakistan.

2. Ecosystem such as Groupon, Paypal, Nielson and Google that offers various services for the

benefit of e-tailers.

3. High number of startups and

Page 12: Analysis of e tail sector in pakistan and drivers for change

4. Robust policies against cybercrime.

Some positive indicators which place Pakistan ahead of countries like Iran, Ukraine and Algeria are:

1. There are numbers of e-tail stores in Pakistan offering products and services (see details in Part

III) of world standard;

2. Pakistani exporters have a strong presence in B2B portals like trade-key and alibaba on the

international front. Besides that, Pakistan has Tejari.com for local B2B activities, exclusively

designed for the Hotel and Aviation industry. In addition to this, Industrial Information Network

(IIN) www.iin.com.pk managed by SMEDA also promotes local businesses internationally.

3. E-tail catalysts such as dealstoday.com.pk and tcsconnect.com.pk help local e-tailers get

customers through crowd sourcing.

4. Nearly all advertising agencies now have a digital department to promote brands and products

online.

5. Google generated US$6 million in 2011 through display ad revenue (Aurora, 2012).

6. Universities have started digital media and ecommerce courses for student as elective in MBA

and Media Science programmers.

7. Credit and Debit Card transactions at POS are increasing which suggests that Pakistanis are

becoming more comfortable with plastic money.

8. M-Commerce is becoming popular enabling e-tailers, the opportunity to receive or make payment

through online bank transfer, m-commerce (easy paisa, omni and mobicash) supplemented with

COD (cash on delivery), where customers are more open to the idea or where a suitable payment

gateway is missing.

9. Pakistan Customs have implemented electronic filing system at Karachi through PARAL which

is working perfectly and has eradicated the lengthy processes that had existed before and blocked

corrupt channels that were open. Institutional environment is key to success for e-Commerce

growth (Oxley and Yeung, 2001, p.705-723).

Page 13: Analysis of e tail sector in pakistan and drivers for change

Category 3. Analysis of local e-tailers

In order to evaluate the local e-tail stores, an evaluation model developed by Wei-Hsi Hung and Robert J

McQueen on “Developing an Evaluation Instrument for e-Commerce Web Sites from the First-Time

Buyer’s Viewpoint” was used as the basis for evaluation.

Using strata sampling technique, 12 e-tail stores handling different product-lines such as online books,

electronics, fashion, gift shop, grocery and general items were selected for analysis of the local e-tail

scenario. The survey questionnaire was divided into 4 major categories viz, information, negotiation,

settlement and after-sale. Ratings were given on a scale of 0-10.

The survey was further bifurcated into 3 segments:

1) How easy is it to use the function to find one piece of information?

2) How informative is the Web function?

3) How rich is the content in terms of information required?

A segment analysis of the survey findings reveals that if an e-tailer maintains superior ratings in

individual segments, the customer is likely to move from one segment to another during the purchase

lifecycle, and the customer stays in the purchase lifecycle as long as he is satisfied. However, if the e-

Tailer fails to satisfy the customer, then there is a high probability of losing that customer. The level of

interactivity provided by an online shopping environment increased, the higher reported satisfaction was.

Similarly, the greater the number of attributes provided on a per-product basis, the higher reported

satisfaction was found to be (Paul W. 2005). Online retailers need to post item availability information

early in the process to minimize the adverse impact of stockouts. Information about when an out-of-stock

item will be restocked should also be provided. Order status/tracking information will alleviate some

concerns related to the delivery of merchandise. Online retailers should also expand their ability to handle

multiple payment options beyond credit card only (Minjeong K. et al, 2006). Therefore, it is vital for e-

Tailers to maintain the highest possible rating (out of 10) in each segment.

Page 14: Analysis of e tail sector in pakistan and drivers for change

Graph representing evaluation of local etailers

Based on above output some key findings have come to light which are:

Page 15: Analysis of e tail sector in pakistan and drivers for change

1. Local e-Tailers are well acquainted with the core e-Tailing services which are cataloging,

payment methods, shipping etc. But some of the parameters are not seriously taken into

consideration. For instance:

a. Information about the company,

b. Company financials,

c. Advance search,

d. Product guide,

e. Exchange policy and

f. Knowledge base.

2. It was also revealed that user experience was too low in e-Tailers and features such as advance

search, and accessibility from one resource to another were rare.

3. Criteria 3 was of great concern as none of the e-Tailers had details about purchase history,

training, advance search after a user logged into his account.

4. e-Tailers must seek for technology innovators and should look for young employees within the

organization or outside or find someone from college campus, these innovators will create a

competitive edge to attract more customer coming to the store. Further the e-Tailer must think

brick and click as omni channel which complement each other rather than competing each other.

(Rigby, D 2011).

5. Computers and mobile phones e-Tailers were more advanced than any other e-Tailers as they had

better understanding of software’s and various trends like web 2.0 and social media integration.

6. Apparently, retailers who are rated below 5 points do not generate any sales due to lack of

business processes and service model available on the web store. It is empirical that, businesses

should have more than 7 rating to get popular and generate higher sales revenue.

7. Finally it was not necessary that an e-Tailer would get a consistent score in all 4 criteria on any

single parameters i.e. if the information was easy to find, it is not necessary it was useful

information, or had further functions linked to it.

Page 16: Analysis of e tail sector in pakistan and drivers for change

Hypothesis Testing & Discussion:

H1 is rejected, as there are many e-Tail stores in Pakistan mainly working in gifts, books, apparel,

consumer electronics and computer categories. Apparently there is no published figure to give clear

insight on e-Tail worth in Pakistan due to the reason most of the transactions are done through COD

(Cash on Delivery) and many e-Tailers are working through Facebook, most of the gift stores uses paypal

or international merchant account integrated on the website whose transactions are not accounted in

Pakistan. On the other hand H2 is accepted as although countries like Indonesia and Egypt has low

ranking but, they managed to conduct sizeable online transaction similarly, Pakistan too has sizeable

ecommerce share but as discussed earlier either it’s not documented or reported in overseas through

paypal and international merchants like Authorize.Net and 2Checkout.com. H3 is also rejected; based on

above research which reveals Pakistani stores score high in most of the categories which mean the stores

works according to best practices and standards followed by all major e-Tailers world over.

Pakistan e-Tail businesses are in move with presence of OLX, Dekho, Olaround and Daraz international

brands, who offers true ecommerce experience with their years of experience while working in

international marketing. Local sites such as libertybooks, homeshopping and galaxy have helped local

industry to set various standards to curtail frauds, manage risk, accept payments, provide customer

support, quick delivery etc. These lessons help other e-startups to setup e-store and start selling in no

time. All local advertising agencies now offer digital advertising services in collaboration with

international agencies which helps in developing local eco-system to promote product and services. Sites

like dealstoday, FCPakistan.com and other crowd sourcing sites offering quick revenue boost to local e-

Tailing sites. Continuous improvement will lead to a matured and prosperous e-Tail business in Pakistan.

Page 17: Analysis of e tail sector in pakistan and drivers for change

Annexure I

 

GDP in billion US$

Per Capita Income 2010 in US$

eReadiness Rating

Competitiveness Ranking

Domestic Market Size

Easy to Start Business

Internet Users as % of population

Retail and Wholesale in billion US$

Online Retail in Billin US$

Vietnam 124 3,435 3.87 4.27 39 91 35.45 29.70 0.266Srilanka 59.17 5,620 3.81 4.25 62 97 15.13 14.956  NAUkraine 165 7,251 3.66 3.9 37 146 30.25  26.4  NAIndonesia 846 4,668 3.6 4.43 15 129 18 135.36  NAPakistan 211 2,763 3.55 3.48 26 85 9  37.15  NAKazakhstan 186 13,189 3.44 4.12 55 64 44.04  18.6*  NAAlgeria 188 8,715 3.31 4.32 51 134 14  18.8*  NAIran 331 11,479 3.24 4.58 18 142 21  33.1*  NAEgypt 229 6,324 4.2 4.19 27 116 35.62  25.19 2.1

*Assumption : 10% GDP

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