The internet has significantly changed the way the retail business is done in many parts of the globe; now it’s doing the same in economies like Pakistan. The trend of online shopping has caught up quite rapidly in Pakistan in the recent years.
The fact that the new online marketplace is expanding and consolidating itself is reflected in the growth of numerous C2C (consumer-to-consumer) and B2C (business-to-consumer) startups, focussing on online marketing and selling and offering a wide range of products – fashion-wear, footwear, casual clothing, jewellery, electronics, computers, handsets, books, gifts, toys, and what not – to be sold and bought online.
The major catalyst of this changing trend are mostly foreign investors, who see enormous potential for the online retail business to grow in a country with a large population of 180 million people and a burgeoning urban middle class and a massive youth bulge.
“The investments made by the global firms show their confidence in the future of e-commerce in this country,” argues Ahmed Jahangir, managing director of kaymu.pk, one of the fast growing online marketplaces in Pakistan.
Launched in January last year, kaymu.pk is one of the largest ventures of Rocket Internet, a German incubator operating in Pakistan, and Qatar Telecommunication, and is based on a marketplace model and acts as a platform where buyers and sellers can come together. Rocket has invested over two million euros in Kaymu.pk, which largely operates on a B2C model and is making its way into being C2C as well with an aim to cater to all who have a product to sell – be it large businesses, small stores or home-based sellers.
