Amazon Preparing to Invade Bangladesh

Introduction

Amazon, the U.S. based e-commerce giant has been showing interest for quite some time to enter the Bangladeshi market. There have been rumors earlier last year that amazon is preparing to enter the Bangladeshi market. However, the rumors came to a halt when no amazon officers gave any response to the rumors.

The halt rumors and years of speculation finally became reality when earlier this year amazon had a meeting with the ICT division of Bangladesh about how they will operate in Bangladesh. This news has been confirmed by the ICT division quite recently. Earlier in 2012-13, amazon entered the Indian market. Bangladesh will be the second South Asian country to let amazon operate their business. The news is that amazon is ready to invest in entrepreneurs here. Amazon usually operates in the e-commerce, cloud computing, digital streaming and the artificial intelligence sectors.

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What is Amazon Offering the Market?

Amazon offers 3 types of services. FBA for sellers, purchasing ability for customers and Affiliate marketing are the 3 services. Out of these, amazon is now bringing the FBA service in Bangladesh. Amazon FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) has become quite popular in recent years. There are over 2 million people selling on Amazon worldwide.

So, what exactly is this FBA service? This service basically provides the sellers an international platform to sell their products globally. Almost anyone can list an item for sale on Amazon, whether it’s something you’ve purchased wholesale, made yourself or simply a product you no longer want. These products are sent to the amazon warehouse. When a customer purchases a product, amazon packages it and ships it to the customers.

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In a news report, Amazon has stated that they want to stock Bangladeshi products in their warehouse as well and give the new entrepreneurs an opportunity for business. There are many manufacturers and garments industry in Bangladesh who is successful in the local market but unable to ship their products globally. This is where Amazon comes. Amazon will give them the opportunity to list down their products on their site.

When a buyer will purchase their product, amazon will ship their products to the buyer from the manufacturer. In this way, sellers or manufacturers will be benefited greatly. Firstly, they can sell the products globally. Secondly, even if the seller is not producing the products personally, he/she can collaborate in a joint venture with a producer who has little knowledge on Amazon. And thirdly, amazon also handle returns and refunds so there is no extra trouble for that.

In an interview, the state minister of Bangladesh has said whether amazon will come to their market or not will depend on Amazon and the local market policy.

The Backdoor of Opportunities for Bangladeshi Entrepreneurs:

As the world’s four largest companies, Amazon comes with Google, Apple, and Facebook. On July 7, the journey began with the hand of Jeff Bezos. And right now, Amazon could be a potential marketplace for Bangladeshi businessmen, manufacturers and producers. The needs of different people in the world are changing constantly. This marketplace is going to be a unique way of bringing Bangladeshi products to the world by analyzing their needs. With small investments, entrepreneurs can sell their products by using Amazon as an e-commerce platform.

Amazon and other e-commerce entrepreneurs stated the above in a conference.

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On ‘The Payoneer Forum: Selling Global with Amazon’ organized by Payoneer on Saturday (July 23) at Payoneer’s initiative at the BRAC Inn Center in Mohakhali, Dhaka. The conference was conducted by Payoneer itself. The Speakers at the conference were Nahid Hasan, Head of Business Development Division of Payoneer Bangladesh, Amit Arora, Head of Payoneer’s Direct Sales (E-Commerce) Division, Ansuman Harzai, Sales and Business Development Manager at Amazon, Founder of E-Commerce Site Stelker Bharat Mandhak and as well as Mahfuzur Rahman (CEO of Tech Rajshahi).

During the conference, explaining various aspects and prospects of doing business with Amazon, Ansuman Harzai, Amazon’s Sales and Business Development Manager, said there are many types of products in Bangladesh that are in good demand in the global market.

By analyzing our various tools, we have learned that there is a huge demand for health, cosmetic products, and foods as well as Bangladeshi garments in the world market. Product merchants will get the opportunity to grow their business with the help of Amazon. More than 200 businessmen and entrepreneurs attended the conference about amazon.

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When amazon will enter, there will be huge opportunities for Bangladeshi sellers to directly communicate and network with international sellers.

My thoughts

At the current scenario, the arrival of Amazon will only benefit the sellers! The customers who purchase products from Amazon will not be benefitted from this deal. “Amazon.com.bd” will not be arriving anytime soon. Amazon is only trying to bring its FBA service in the Bangladeshi market now. The market infrastructure of Bangladesh is not quite ready for Amazon yet. In the current market infrastructure, sellers will be able to benefit quite a lot. However, customers will still have to wait for a while. Further development of the infrastructure, payment gateway and e-commerce ecosystem may enable amazon to come soon.

Amazon is continuously doing market research and survey here. If the whole system (delivery channel, payment gateway etc.) improves, maybe Amazon will think about launching their services for the customers here. In that way, when amazon will enter, other e-commerce companies will not face any sort of trouble.

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