IOSR Journal of Business and Management (IOSR-JBM)

e-ISSN: 2278-487X, p-ISSN: 2319-7668. Volume 23, Issue 1. Ser. III (January 2021), PP 01-09
www.iosrjournals.org

Dimensions of F-commerce in Bangladesh: Scope, Challenges and

Recommendations
Mohammad Shakhawat Hossain
University of Dhaka; Bangladesh
______________________________________________________________________________
Abstract: The term 'F-Commerce' refers to a form of marketing platform that facilitates the advertisement,
auctioning, purchase and sale of any items (goods and/or services) through the Facebook social media network.
Facebook's enormous popularity helped the F-Commerce platform to rapidly boost its users' shopping habits in
a very short period of time. Because of the availability of electrical devices and quick access to the Internet,
people are now interested in buying goods online. One of them is F-commerce, or Facebook commerce. This
plays a critical role in improving our country's economic development. One of the key considerations for people
to use this F-commerce is quick usability and less spending. This exploratory study is intended to observe the
adoption of F-Commerce in the context of Bangladesh and to recognize its possible consequences. During the
month of October-November 2020, a collection of group discussions with consumers and detailed case studies
on Bangladeshi f-traders were carried out. Here I have tried to find out the scope of improvement of F-
commerce sector along with the challenges and with few recommendations.
Keywords: F-commerce, Exploratory Research, Bangladesh, Scope, Challenges, recommendations
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Date of Submission: 24-12-2020 Date of Acceptance: 05-01-2021
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I. Introduction
In this new period of time, everything is readily accessible and the use of the internet and the
telecommunications device makes everything accessible. People can now quickly interact within a friction of
time from one location to another. Science took the world into our hand's hold. So, people are opting out of the
conventional business system and getting interested in the online marketing system during this period of time.
Because of the lower store requirement, man sells; this online marketing warehouse is advancing at a very first
rate. F-commerce (Facebook commerce) is now being used more and more by people for a few days as most of
the time when people get leisure time they walk around and surf on Facebook. So, they prefer to buy the item
through Facebook whenever they see some interesting product. It is also more profitable for young investors, as
less investment is needed than the conventional marketing system. As they can see the picture of the product and
judge accordingly, customer satisfaction is also pleasant. On the basis of their demand, they can order the
product or service. In addition, the product quality is also nice and home delivery comes with facebook
marketing, so it also helps us save a lot of time.
Social networking sites need to be people focused by functionality; and the adoption, success, and
development of Facebook confirm that such features are very well attributed to it. Apparently, Facebook's most
popular social network website is not browsed by its users with the intention of shopping; while people may
choose to buy from a social networking site if it provides exclusive offers with a trouble-free shopping
experience than other conventional e-commerce sites. Therefore, Facebook agreed to add a few shopping
features for its users to conform to the previously stated people-oriented characteristics. The concept of F-
Commerce has therefore grown. From the words Facebook and commerce, the term F-Commerce is derived. It
refers to the purchase and sale through Facebook of goods or services.Facebook has over 2.7 billion active users
worldwide and research reveals that there is a 51 percent increased probability that they will also click "buy" if
anyone has clicked "like". As a less-developed and densely populated
country, Bangladesh faces the dilemma of providing its young and educated people with adequate
employment opportunities. Therefore, to address this kind of unemployment crisis, successful entrepreneurial
efforts and initiatives are needed by the country's youth. Since F-Commerce offers entrepreneurs the ability to
market their product in such a way that the offering data cannot be ignored or even rejected by the target groups
in some cases; hence, it is very important to investigate the activity as well as the prospects of F-Commerce
within the context of Bangladesh given its enormous potential to alleviate this unemployment crisis.
The absence of current literature, however, is a common phenomenon for such recent topics and new
trends. To date, research has been insufficient and, moreover, very few studies have been carried out in
Bangladesh. Through this paper, i will try to understand the Dimensions of F-commerce in Bangladesh its
scope, challenges and few recommendations for its bright future.

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 Dimensions of F-commerce in Bangladesh: Scope, Challenges and Recommendations

II. Objective of The Study

The primary objective of this study is to analyze the degree of F-Commerce in Bangladesh. The specific
objectives of this study are:
 To evaluate the prospect of F-commerce in Bangladesh
 To identify present scenario and potentials of F-Commerce in Bangladesh
 To identify problems related to F-commerce operations in Bangladesh if any
 To make some recommendations to the problem

III. Methodology
This exploratory study used qualitative strategies to collect information, such as internet reviews and
formal interviews. During the month of October-November 2020, a series of group discussions with customers
and in-depth case studies on f-traders in Dhaka and Chittagong City were conducted to research the prospects
and practices of F-Commerce in Bangladesh. The implementation of various methods helped the research to
improve the validity of the findings

IV. Literature Review

4.1 Defining F-Commerce
Currently there are various definitions for f-commerce. Shin (2013) defined f-commerce as a
subcategory of social-commerce (s-commerce) that utilizes Facebook, a social network service that facilitates
user contributions and social interaction, to support online selling and buying of services and products.
However, Chen et al. (2014) referred f-commerce as commercial and business activities using Facebook to
facilitate social interactions and stimulate consumer contributions in facilitating online business deals.
According to Market Business News (2017), f-commerce is a term used in the online business world that
focuses on developing and designing storefront sites and content within the Facebook social networking site i.e.
selling services and goods within Facebook.com. On the other hand, Technopedia (2017) refers f-commerce as
e-commerce that is facilitated by Facebook and transactions may happen on a Facebook page or by using
Facebook Open Graph (i.e. a protocol for integrating third-party websites with Facebook’s site). Besides that,
Gartner (2017) defined f-commerce as the retail transaction capability provided within the Facebook that is
facilitated through application of Facebook APIs to enable the retailers to show products, information and deals
to consumers while allowing consumers to complete transactions within Facebook. In addition, Menon et al.
(2016, p 1) opined that f-commerce is “a form of social commerce that uses Facebook as a platform to facilitate
and execute sales transactions”. In this study, f-commerce is defined as a subgroup of social commerce whereby
business and commercial activities are performed using Facebook to support online buying and selling of
services and products while the transactions can be done on the Facebook page or by using third-party websites.

Source: Infographic- simon.hibbott.com

4.2 F-Commerce History and Current Statistics

F-Commerce is a relatively new market trend that seeks to use Facebook to deliver a horizon of
possibilities in the business arena. The word "F-Commerce" was coined from the combination of Facebook and
e-commerce. It refers to a marketer's ability to exchange goods or services on or through Facebook. This is a
form of social commerce aimed at developing a forum through Facebook for purchasing and selling along with
promotional and branding activities. Social commerce is considered to be a sub-element of e-commerce that
makes online purchasing and selling transactions easier using social networking sites. The achievement of social
trade is attributed thanks to its customer service, visibility, reputation, contextualization, proximity and
recommendation, also known as the six pillars of Social Trading. Social networking sites, accompanied by a list
of other social networking sites such as Friendster, LinkedIn, Hi5, Tweeter and Facebook, started with

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 Dimensions of F-commerce in Bangladesh: Scope, Challenges and Recommendations

SixDegrees.com in 1997. In a very short time, these sites have achieved a phenomenal popularity that attracts a
large number of users.
Facebook, the American company that provides social networking services online. Mark Zuckerberg,
Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes, who were all students at Harvard University, formed
Facebook in 2004. With over 2.7 billion users as of 2019, Facebook is the world's largest social network, and
over half of that amount used Facebook every day.
The usage of Facebook as a transaction facilitation and execution site It begins with the inception of
Facebook in 2004 and follows the timeline leading to the birth of F-Commerce. Facebook accounts were
introduced in November 2007 and brands made their way to Facebook; the first transaction went down on
Facebook in July 2009 with a gift ordered from 1-800-Flowers; Delta launched Ticket Window in August 2010,
enabling users to book Facebook flights; and today, many brands use storefront apps to let their customers and
fans purchase items directly from their Facebook.
The world's top brands have been using it as a branding, advertising, customer relationship management
tool and distribution network since the launch of F-Commerce. F-Commerce has already begun to be used as a
viable sales platform by Coca-Cola, Starbucks, Disney, the world's top 3 brands. Apart from these, this platform
is also used as an efficient distribution channel by various renowned brands such as Amazon.com, Apple, Best
Buy, Unilever, Gap, Heinz, Levi's, Mazda, Nike, Old Spice, P&G, Sears, Volkswagen, Wal-Mart, etc. To be
more precise, these brands are now engaging with their fans with the use of this marketing tool, developing
brand recognition, conducting surveys, showcasing their deals, providing discounts, coupons, organizing
contests, encouraging consumers, selling goods by offering an esteemed and distinctive point of purchase,
developing loyalty systems, and eventually achieving their different
F-Commerce is a web phase fused into Facebook where customers purchase stuff with only a few taps,
as a large portion of them are seen as a normal target. This more comprehensive degree provides marketers with
a large opportunity to increase their budgetary returns, rendering Facebook a predominant Web Promotion
display system. As a result, distributors need to become acquainted with the different forms of F-Commerce;
despite the fact that this overwhelming dialogue shows that the suggestions contain slight contrasts, the content
of the "F-Trade Environment" is generally indistinguishable. Since this also demonstrates a strong idea that
advertisers can place their brands on Facebook by understanding and adopting this biological framework, which
ultimately facilitates their sales and limited time exercise
Globally, F-commerce comes under ‘Social Commerce’ that covers all social media sites including
WhatsApp, Instagram, etc. In India, 79% of e-commerce sales are due to social media platforms. Due to the
thriving social commerce in India, Facebook has also launched ‘Facebook Marketplace’ that allows people to
buy and sell in their community. The global industry is much more developed with legal frameworks in place.

4.3 F-Commerce Scenario in Bangladesh

There were 3,371,3000 Facebook users in Bangladesh in January 2019, which accounted for 19.7% of
its entire population. It is therefore not shocking that, through this powerful media, businesses have begun to sell
their goods. In particular, players in the telecommunications industry contribute greatly to engaging and
connecting with customers via Facebook.
From these facts, it is evident that Facebook is Bangladesh's most popular social media site. A large
number of people, particularly young people, spend a lot of time on Facebook, which gives consumer marketers
a strong opportunity to integrate it as a viable form of marketing. Therefore, Bangladeshi marketers have not
been surprised to accept this imperative forum to sustain their company and create strong brand equity. Many
Bangladeshi marketers have already begun to incorporate F-Commerce to meet their different marketing goals
in order to take this opportunity. F-Commerce has become a major axiom for Bangladeshi marketers these days
as it is a cost-effective tactic that contributes significantly to making a substantial profit.
There are mainly youth-oriented brands working with F-Commerce in Bangladesh, as the open
audience is customers aged 18-34 via Facebook. While some companies are now expanding their service to a
few other divisional cities, the scale of their service is still restricted to the capital city of Dhaka and Chittagong.
The in-depth interview with some popular companies using F-Commerce shows that the F-Commerce
mechanism has been slightly modified by Bangladeshi marketers to cater to the local logistics scenario. In
Bangladesh, the internet is still an urban privilege, particularly in and around Dhaka, the capital. Most
consumers are not very familiar with the activities of F-Commerce and there is a lack of legislation and facilities
to guarantee this platform's mass use. Payments by Facebook in particular have yet to be accommodated. Using
F-Commerce, Bangladeshi marketers share their stories, publish their latest deals, communicate and get fast
reactions and new customer ideas, provide enticing promotional offers, sell the desired goods and directly
manage a long-term relationship with these customers without the intervention of any third party.
Community actions are going forward by practicing F-Commerce to raise funds for charitable activities
through the use of this media, not for profit organizations like Jaago. Bangladeshi marketers are not lagging

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behind using this influential medium, with recent global statistics showing F-Commerce positively affecting
consumer conversion (51 percent), customer loyalty (28 percent) and customer advocacy (41 percent). F trading
activities by corporate houses as well as small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Bangladesh has been growing
since 2010. According to data collected by e-Cab, in the past year, business transactions worth Tk 7,000 crore
took place over traditional e-commerce mediums, and an astounding further Tk 1,000 crore was contributed by
the F-commerce sector. These are mostly click and order stores that view their products to order on the
Facebook page, arrange online or offline payments and deliver the products via courier service or personal sales.
Online boutiques, fashion houses, photography and event management services are primarily part of these
companies. There are also stores which sell electronics, music, books, play station games, watches and foods
etc.
One of the advantages of the site to the masses of Bangladesh has been its unexpected commercial
potential, instantly linking buyers and sellers on a quick and personal level. The introduction of the Facebook
Live feature further boosted this, as potential customers could now be reached at minimal cost, thus enabling
sellers to communicate directly with potential customers in real time through a combination of audio-visual
stimuli.
In developing the marketing mix, F-Commerce offers noteworthy benefits to young entrepreneurs,
particularly in promoting and distributing offerings at a limited cost. Many small and medium-sized companies
quickly gain access to a wider ocean of consumers and use this strategy to sell their full product mix at the same
time. As a result, without difficulty, they can track the movement of their clients, their insight, and collect
feedback and new ideas about the deals. In addition, these entrepreneurs are now negotiating with their
customers directly, effectively and charging a more favorable price over the other rival brands by using this
powerful platform. As this platform provides these small business owners with another opportunity to use a
'Zero Distribution Channel' to sell their goods directly or via courier service and to achieve a greater profit
margin by saving the intermediary expense.
Because of the ease of use, F-commerce has opened many new doors for many individuals otherwise
limited by the market barriers that usually hold back entrants into brick-and-mortar stores or related companies.
When the concept began, it not only exploded, but overtook several other more traditional e-commerce sites, as
well as brick and mortar shops, since Facebook and YouTube are solely devoted to a wide portion of local
Internet traffic. According to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, as of June 2019, the
number of Internet subscribers in Bangladesh was over 96 million, and it can only be believed that there has
been a further rise since then.

4.4 Scope of F-Commerce in Bangladesh

As it is still in its initial phase, the future of F-Commerce cannot be stated in obvious terms yet.
Various studies show that this mechanism's effectiveness directly depends on how rewardingly it can carry out
its e-commerce commitments in the near future and help marketers in achieving their marketing goals. All
believes that F-Commerce is an insurrection trade platform despite the fact of its childhood, since it has altered
the traditional way of doing business. Evidence also indicates that the world's largest brands have already begun
to profitably trade their products and services on this site, and analysts expect that more purchases will be made
on Facebook than on Amazon in the next 5 years. While it is too early to predict what the future holds for F-
Commerce, it has obviously become a great opportunity for small and medium-sized companies to reach a
global audience through Facebook at a lower cost.
Moreover, this will have an even greater influence on the entrepreneurial pattern of the Bangladeshi
people. Contemporary experience in Bangladesh demonstrates that there is a strong change of mind among
Bangladesh's youth. Because of this stance, they are more involved than ever in doing business. These

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Bangladeshi entrepreneurs have widely accepted F-Commerce as a mode of guiding their marketing activities,
specifically promotional activities, with minimum investment through a Facebook page. It can provide them
with a stress-free way to start and set up the company, connect with a wide group of consumers, show their
goods and carry out their overall promotional activities. Bangladeshi entrepreneurs are expected to increase
brand presence and consumer interaction through this channel, which will make brands more accountable to
consumers and eventually sell their goods in a customer-friendly manner. In addition, improved understanding
of how customers shop along this path, how they shape opinions and make smoother buying decisions would
allow marketers to optimize F-Commerce's potential.
It has been described as one of the main reasons for the country's stubborn growth of F-commerce even
though Shop Up has great potential for this industry to implement that these companies should at least follow
certain requirements before starting their operations. In order to understand Bangladesh's F-commerce
ecosystem, four famous Facebook companies of various types were interviewed to learn how these F-commerce
stores began their journey and the challenges they overcame and still face.
In 2015, Poter Bibi began with a small investment in and with very minimal designs. It was quite a
challenge for them at the very beginning to collect the available designs of few local weavers at a small scale
because handloom sarees available on the market are not favored by mostly young generations because of their
bulkiness and high prices. Therefore, to attract young buyers, keep quality intact and produce some comfortable
sarees in a fair price range. At the beginning of the journey with the Facebook group, they got a big response.
Motivation; personalized designs were produced with differentiated design and quality fiber. Poter bibi
attempted to bring their designs to the local population, Bangladesh's heritage and culture. Since the fabric and
textile industry in Bangladesh is flooded with Indian and Chinese goods, the only way to survive in the industry
was by offering unique designs while retaining the traditional aspect intact. In 2015, Poter Bibi began with a
small investment in and with very minimal designs. Collecting the available designs of a few local weavers on a
small scale, the whole process doubles the cost, but profitability is still there because consumer judge quality
and then price becomes a secondary consumer concern. Poter Bibi has expanded their business over the last few
years, and they are planning to make it the designated solution for F-commerce platform deshi shares. But
inventory management, customer database maintenance and the development of other statistics are still a real
challenge for them. Owing to the long and slogging phase of bank loans, financing from the bank was unlikely.
In 2012, Rapunzel’s Secret began with the hair oil they used all the time, created by the owner's
grandmother for the past 50-60 years. Among her friends and close groups, the hair oil began to gain interest,
encouraging her to start her business via her Facebook page. The brand flourished through their goods and
packaging after a lot of process growth, and became one of the first movers in Bangladesh's F-commerce
industry. Back then, only by their clients and word-of-mouth, the page gained tremendous popularity. To get
new clients, they now have to invest in good ads and promotions. Initially, they got organic reach, now the page
spends USD 10-12 to reach consumers. The real strength of the Secret of Rapunzel lies in the fact that they have
a well-established place in the minds of a powerful, loyal customer base. They want a stronger F-commerce
ecosystem that will help expand the entire industry. Since loads of vendors are appearing on Facebook every
day and the quality of the product and service is declining, it is a huge concern. So before starting the company,
they hope that each company meets a certain requirement. With increasing fraudulent activities, consumers
begin to lose their trust in real, legitimate companies.
As collaboration between two men, Gorur Ghash started out in 2014. They used to sell posters for wall
decorations initially, and it was restricted to a very small crowd. The company didn't do as well as they had
planned, and one of the partners wanted to quit. Nahiyan announced later in 2017 that he wanted to revamp the
company into a clothing line. So he reached out to two of his colleagues, Fahim and Ali, and Gorur Ghash
started out as a clothing line for the three of them. Their 'Denim' campaign launch was very well received and
that's when Gorur Ghash took off. The company is known for its innovative designs and high quality at low
prices. And making things enjoyable and relatable is the overriding theme of their material. So, in line with their
name and placement, their name, campaigns, reception, all carry the humorous and witty element. Humor is now
a quality which defines their brand of clothing. However, it is difficult at times to keep a steady flow of
imaginative content going. Facebook operates in a way that means that they publish important content on a
regular basis to sustain interaction. In addition, it has also been a struggle to gain the trust of customers that they
have succeeded in bringing so far. They feel, however, that Bangladesh's online shopping scenario is not well-
developed, making it important for them to maintain a rather homely, informal customer interaction. Many
Facebook pages do not take actual pictures of their goods and anything totally different from what they have
ordered is shipped to customers. This is why Gorur Ghash is investing his time in product photography to make
consumers believe in the product's authenticity. And in order to boost their trust more, they offer a trial policy
where they can send it back without any charge if the customers don't like the product upon delivery.
At the beginning, Tasnim and her friends used to run the Facebook page of a lifestyle blog named
'Bardots and Newton.' Via that, they were invited to an event where they had the option of putting a stall up.

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They wanted to give their followers something more than just meeting them, so they decided to create fragrant
candles and canvas paintings for the event. It was very well received and they realized that there was a void in
the Bangladeshi market for these handmade themed products. Bangladeshi customers have increased their
buying power, so they want to spend on goods for their personal satisfaction, and so they have seen an
opportunity here. Movies, books and their characters have risen in popularity and individuals choose to hold
their moment or affiliation. In addition, Bangladesh's scented candles are commonly imported and not readily
available. The ones that can be discovered are either of extremely high prices or of poor quality. They officially
launched their Facebook page called 'Newton's Archive' in 2017 after seeing these opportunities. They received
a phenomenal response. Since then, the company has expanded from a kitchen to an office room, from making
10 candles a day to 100 candles a day. The concept behind every candle, in addition to the quality, is unique. It
is not just a candle that people purchase, but an experience. For instance, their best-selling show-inspired candle,
Mates, will take the client to Central Perk. Thus, an immediate success was a coffee and caramel scented candle
called 'I'll be there for you'. In individuals with themes, they spark nostalgia and warmth.

V. Advantages of F-Commerce
F-Commerce is a forum for advertisers to gather customers on Facebook and try to sell goods while
they socialize in every public place with their friends. In reality, with the acceleration of social networking sites,
"F-Commerce" is the most successful word used by today's marketers and demonstrates that it is useful for both
marketers and consumers. F-large Commerce's spectrum of basic functions has been split into two fragments
that are discussed below:

5.1 Advantage to Consumer

The main benefit extracted from F-commerce from the customer point of view is the ease of scrolling
through loads of items from the comfort of your own location, and the versatility of time. Sitting in a bottleneck
of traffic or you are getting out of work too late to have the markets open. Shop on Facebook for something you
like, and get it shipped to your doorstep, sometimes within a day or so. Like many people, they check their
Facebook almost every day and spend 28 minutes on average. In addition, 90% of individuals buy goods based
on recommendations, so it is the most convenient choice for individuals to suggest future purchases to friends
and shop at the same time. The specific, convenient ways in which "F-Commerce" can help consumers are as
follows:
 Consumers may not only associate with each other through F-Commerce, but also with their favorite
brands.
 Consumers are eager to engage with brands that cannot be marketed in one way.
 Via F-Commerce, customers can engage with the diversified activities of the brands and could always get a
positive reply.
 Via F-Commerce, several advertisers offer unique "fan first" access to brand fans. Consumers will also
enjoy the fan-first experience of new products and other promotional rewards such as Facebook sales only,
exclusive coupons and glimpses of new products.
 Consumers face a more manageable collection of considerations over F-Commerce because it expands
consumers' ability to access a product list, read product ratings and fan reviews, and take opinions from
their friends

5.2 Advantages to Marketer

In reality, the benefits are far more diverse and far-reaching from the point of view of industry. First
off, in terms of tasks, working hours, and ease of communication, a Facebook-based company provides the
entrepreneur with versatility like no other. The right to do things while keeping complete family duties at home
is one of the major challenges for many women in Bangladesh. Companies currently have reasons to assume
that "F-Commerce" is still a viable and effective method as prospective consumers try to associate individually
with their favorite brands by liking the website, products or services. With F-Commerce's acceleration,
businesses can now develop a more digital partnership with their consumers that is highly beneficial to
marketers. As a consequence, F-adoption Commerce's rate has now been greatly accelerated by not only the
Click-Only businesses, but also the Click and Brick organizations as they incorporate this alternative with their
current strategy. Many of today's marketers have been inclined to use these F-Commerce success stories as a
primary facet of their online marketing tool, as it is an incomparable way to achieve a more far-reaching social
following while attaining greater brand recognition and advertisement. Companies should specifically support
their offers with more targeted ads to their "fans" and predict a greater amount of customer interaction with the
brand, since it is a reliable tool for implementing advertising messages. Accordingly, it creates "Brand
Awareness" as advertisers can track consumers engagement with brands, can collect enormous Facebook user
data, can better segment their markets, and can assess competitive pricing, viable packaging and promotions.

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This knowledge helps advertisers retain their stocks at the right price with the right goods, the right packaging
and the right promotions.

VI. Challenges of F-Commerce in Bangladesh

There is space to make F-Commerce ecosystem stronger. It is very simple for anyone and everyone to
start their business via Facebook, but it is difficult to maintain authenticity because this is a problem that can
end up impacting other stores. F-commerce-based company, like any new initiative, is not a cake ready to eat,
and seeks entrepreneurs to pay their dues through hard work, research, prompt adjustment to change, and
demands their time and effort.
Only the first step is discovering and refining relevant concepts. All things that F-commerce has in
common with conventional business are studying the ins and outs of the market, identifying reputable vendors,
maintaining a viable supply chain, keeping up with trends, maintaining personal relationships and professional
honesty and courtesy.
F-commerce has many problems, among them following are crucial:
 Low speed internet connection and coverage: Poor speed and coverage of Internet is a major barrier in
implementing F-commerce.
 Product Quality: People are used to shopping going market, mall, super shop, where they can see the
product and touch/trail the product but here it lacks.
 Language barrier: most of the F-commerce site is based on English language; people are scary about
English so it decreases the interest of using F-commerce.
 Literacy rate: The main issue in implementing F-commerce is to have its perceived usefulness among
the people. In comparison with the developed countries, the rate of literacy in Bangladesh is lower. Because of
this lower rate of literacy, it is extremely difficult to make the mass people understand the effectiveness of
electronic commerce.
 Delivery system: When it comes to the delivering products outside Dhaka it become tough for these
small stores because outside Dhaka delivery service is poor and mostly dependent on local courier services. For
example, if you need delivery at Chittagong you need to wait for 5-10 days this is one of the threats for F-
commerce.
 Nonuser Friendly Interface: Purchase from Facebook is a new experience to local people so they are
not comfortable with the interface yet it takes much time to find detail about of a product, and the purchasing
process is not known to mass people.
 Lack of Privacy policy: In Bangladesh there is no such policy for keeping the buyers and sellers safe
from privacy breech
 Achieving of Client trust: Achieving customer trust is also a challenge here in Bangladesh as many
fraud sellers have cheated the consumer in various user
 Strong dependence of Letter of Credit to conduct international transactions: Most of the product sold
through F-commerce is imported and is highly dependent on Letter of Credit for import
 Small Number of Debit/Credit Card User: The number of consumers having credit card are debit card
is very less in Bangladesh
 No legal framework: No surveillance on the F-commerce sites and no legal structure make this sector
unorganized and defamation of the business is a big issue.
 Insufficient business knowledge: In this large pool of stores, majority of them fail to create a
sustainable business in the long run due to lack of basic business knowledge such as customer management.
 Impact Of COVID-19: The pandemic is creating a time of uncertainty and, as a consequence,
consumer buying habits have shifted. Consumers have moved to buying important goods such as medication,
food, and grocery products. In Bangladesh, however, most F-commerce companies sell non-essential products
like clothes, lifestyle pieces, bakery, arts and crafts, jewelry, etc. As a result, in terms of sales, most of the F-
commerce companies selling non-essential goods have taken a big hit. Companies selling food goods, on the
other hand, have seen rapid growth in market demand. Moreover COVID-19 situations have disrupted the whole
supply chain and it created heavy losses for the small entrepreneur.

VII. Recommendations
The government and private sector should come forward and take effective measures to ensure a bright
future for the country's F-commerce in order to remove limitations, policymakers and business stakeholders
should take some steps. strengthening the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution, reducing value-added
tax and supplementary duty on e-commerce businesses to a logical level, easing the conditions of licensing for
formalizing e-commerce entities, introducing 5G network and arranging training for e-commerce-based SME

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entrepreneurs. In order to help SMEs, scale up further to contribute to the social economy, regulators and
governmental authorities should now think about updating trade regulations. The broad guidelines are:
 Cost of bandwidth: cost of the internet plays a vital role to encourage people using internet, if the cost
stays high it will be a threat for F-commerce. Also, we need to have a close look on the internet speed and
network coverage which should be increased everywhere from the villages to megacities.
 Clear guidelines for smooth online transection: Generally, four parties are involved in an online
transaction in Bangladesh- customers, merchants, e-payment gateways, and bank. When customers purchase
something from merchant’s sites, merchants send the transfer the request to overcome the barriers first and
foremost priority should be given to the establishment of a clear regulation for online transaction. Government
regulations work like blue prints which also give positive signal and courage to entrepreneurs to come forward
and invest in a new industry.
 Dual Language Translation: Most of the people are not so good in English, so if the site’s contents are
written in both bangle and English it would be more comfortable for people to buy online at the same time, they
will easily get the desire product with less time consumption.
 Establishment of regulatory body: This regulatory body’s main job will be to take all the complaints
from both customer and merchants’ due importance. And resolve the issue with shortest possible time. It will
create trust among consumer for purchasing from F-Commerce sites.
 Improvement of Delivery Channel: Entrepreneur should initiate a mechanism so that it takes less time
to reach to customers door steps. Also, they need to establish a zone base delivery hub so that they can cover up
to Thana level.
 Legal Guideline: Legal framework need to be defined by the government so that any malpractice can
be dealt by legal ground. Protection of consumer rights is key for a sustainable e-commerce ecosystem in
Bangladesh. Quality, conformity, liability, distribution, secured payment system and price of products are very
much linked with consumer rights

VIII. Conclusion
To conclude, getting access to Facebook shopping has really changed and shaped our culture as a
society entire. This use of platform has opened new doors and possibilities that make for more Today's
comfortable lifestyle. Variety, fast service and lower prices were three important ways in which Facebook
shopping has inspired individuals from all over the world. The results would be useful in providing the f-traders
as well as their focus groups with new insights. Obviously, the results could help increase the number of f-
traders in Bangladesh by a large amount. However, as this analysis was an exploratory investigation performed
only once during the month of October-November 2020, there are few limitations to this report. Which means
that the results of the evaluation criteria of the participants can change. Future studies may extend the analysis to
Bangladeshi individuals in other provinces other than Dhaka, Chittagong and compile all of them together. To
track changes, studies should also be repeated at regular intervals. the sector's growth has caught the attention of
policymakers, and e-Cab is actively pursuing measures to make the ecosystem more sustainable by creating
supportive infrastructure

IX. Limitations and Scope of Future Research

This research is neither a technical study of F-commerce nor addresses government policies, but rather
points out on the basis of the experimental study the opportunities and challenges with some recommendations
of F-commerce in Bangladesh. It would be safer if I could use survey questionnaires to gather data that could
have helped to solve the particular problem that appeared later in the report. The financial impact of F-
commerce could be quantified by future exploration. In this area, investigating governmental policies may be a
decent research job. Another relevant study may be to determine the total amount of revenue generated from F-
commerce.

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Mohammad Shakhawat Hossain. “Dimensions of F-commerce in Bangladesh: Scope, Challenges and

Recommendations.” IOSR Journal of Business and Management (IOSR-JBM), 23(01), 2021, pp. 01-09.

DOI: 10.9790/487X-2301030109 www.iosrjournals.org 9 | Page