Bid to regain customer trust

Local e-commerce platforms are organising a 20-day online shopping festival featuring quality products and services in a bid to regain consumer trust in the industry, which has been shrouded by recent controversy.

Dubbed "10-10", about 20 established e-commerce, logistics and payment companies are going to take part in the festival starting from today.

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"E-commerce is not a fraud or Ponzi scheme. It's all about good products and seamless service for consumers and there are some real players in the industry with good reputations," said AKM Fahim Mashroor, chief executive officer of AjkerDeal, one of the participating e-commerce platforms.

But due to the existence of some fake e-commerce platforms, a negative notion has been created about this industry.

"We want to change all the misconceptions with this campaign," he added.

The other participating companies are: Chaldal, Pickaboo, Pathao Food, Rokomari, Sheba, Ekshop, Aadi, and Star Tech.

According to the organisers, these are reputable e-commerce companies who have been in service for several years without controversy will take part in the campaign.

Mobile Finance service provider bKash will join the festival as payment partner while Delivery Tiger will act as a logistic partner.

The platforms are giving different gifts and discounts offers for customers as well as free delivery all over the country. For example, customers will get 10 per cent instant cashback of up to Tk 1,000 for payments through bKash.

The image of the e-commerce sector has recently been tarnished by some platforms such as Evaly, E-orange, and Dhamaka. With the promise of providing hefty discounts for advance payments, such platforms are now unable to provide either the products or refunds to thousands of customers.

One of our common objectives for this campaign is to boost e-commerce sales through faster delivery and committed service, said Morin Talukder, chief executive officer of Pickaboo.

"We will continue to work together to build customers' trust in e-commerce.  We want to establish that e-commerce is not a discount store, rather it's a convenience store," he Talukder.

Pathao is proud to partner with the 10-10 campaign, according to Fahim Ahmed, president of Pathao.

"Credible digital platforms coming together in this campaign can help instil consumer trust and confidence in e-commerce, and build a vibrant local tech ecosystem," he said.