In the recent period, the E-commerce sector is facing serious challenges due to the fraudulent behaviours of a number of E-commerce businesses. Thousands of consumers have their money due to these fake businesses. On the other hand, the confidence of customers on the e-commerce sector has also been eroded. To discuss what should be done to over the current crisis, the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) organised a virtual dialogue on Challenges in the E-commerce sector: What should be done? on Saturday, 25 September 2021. A panel of experts have participated in the dialogue and shared their comments and made suggestions to overcome the challenges.
From the dialogue seven specific recommendations have emerged.
- First, the existing law and regulations should be amended and those should be implemented properly for taking actions on the fraudulent e-commerce organisations.
- Second, institutional capacity of the relevant organisations and departments such as the Ministry of Commerce, Bangladesh Bank, Directorate of National Consumers’ Right Protection, Financial Intelligence Unit, and Competition Commission should be enhanced through sufficient and skilled human resource and adoption of technology.
- Third, coordination among the various institutions including the Ministry of Commerce, Bangladesh Bank, law enforcing bodies and other relevant organisations should be increased and the role of these bodies needs to be clearly defined.
- Fourth, financial intelligence should collect regular data on the E-commerce and share those with relevant bodies and also with public on a regular basis to increase accountability of these businesses and make customers aware of the activities of E-commerce businesses.
- Fifth, awareness among the e-commerce customers should be increased so that they behave responsibly and do not fall prey to such traps of dishonest e-commerce organisations.
- Sixth, private associations like e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB) have a role to collect information of new businesses before registering, asses their sustainability and allow membership of the businesses by monitoring the operations of these businesses.
- Seventh, the Government should solve the problem but through the legal framework of the Company Act and not by investing public money on these fraudulent companies.
CPD’s Executive Director, Dr Fahmida Khatun moderated the session. While setting the context of the discussion, Dr Fahmida Khatun noted that the e-commerce has a huge potential for job creation and economic growth. The sector has flourished due to increased internet connectivity and demand of the consumers. However, the sector is new and should be guided by appropriate policies.
Mr Waseem Alim, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, chaldal.com commented that the existing framework for the E-commerce sector is sufficient and a new regulatory body is not required. He mentioned that starting a new business is already difficult, additional regulations will discourage new businesses. Mr A K M Fahim Mashroor, Chief Executive Officer, Bdjobs.com Limited echoed with Mr Alim and recommended the strengthening of monitoring in this sector by involved institutions like the central bank. He also added that institutions ensuring consumer rights need to enforce the regulations strictly. Adding to this, Mr Md Ziaul Haque Bhuiyan, Chief of Staff, ShopUp stated that the advance payments to E-commerce businesses are made through payment gateways. Therefore, there are transaction records available to monitor institutions and such data should be utilised to track any activity indicative of fraud. Giving example of E-commerce businesses in other countries, Ms Afsana Asif, Managing Partner, Asix BD stated that there are no tracking mechanism of product delivery in Bangladesh and also mentioned the lack of prompt customer care services.
The other Distinguished Panelist at the dialogue, Mr Selim R F Hussain, Managing Director and CEO, BRAC Bank Limited opined that the recent fraudulent E-commerce businesses seems to have turned into investment schemes for some people and this should have been intervened earlier. He also mentioned that there is a lack of coordination among relevant stakeholders. Similarly, Mr Muhammad Abdul Wahed Tomal, General Secretary, e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB) mentioned how recommendations were already given on risky models of many E-commerce businesses but no actions were taken due to lack of coordination between monitoring institutions. There is uncertainty on how the customers may get their money back, said Mr Tomal. Barrister Tanjib-ul Alam, Tanjib-ul Alam and Associates mentioned that the existing law and regulations are sufficient to overcome the challenges in the E-commerce sector but it will not be effective without proper implementation. Therefore, he recommended for capacity building of monitoring institutions.
CPD’s Chairman, Professor Rehman Sobhan delivered special comments at the dialogue. He commented that such scams arise due to lack of governance in the sector.
E-commerce experts, researchers, development practitioners, academics, business leaders, civil society activists, international development partners and journalists were present at the dialogue and shared their opinions.