Zarni Min Naing/MBT
As the internet usage in Myanmar expands, the convenience and allure of shopping online is also experiencing a rise in popularity.
Online shopping is most popular among women and feedback from customers suggests a few quick clicks are more convenient than fighting traffic congestion to visit the store to browse their wares.
“There are many kinds of products in our shopping website. We put the whole shopping mall online. If there are any problems with the products, the customer can return and exchange the products,” Elin Torstensson, managing director of shop.com.mm, said.
Shop.com.mm claims to be the largest shopping website in Myanmar. Aside from its size, the website also helps connect online buyers and sellers.
The online retailer will deliver its goods to more than 60 townships. Online shopping malls like shop.com are not the only sites getting a lot of visitors these days. Sale pages through Facebook and other social media are also getting their share of online sales.
“I bought a dress from an online store that I liked because of its beauty, however; when I received the dress, it wasn’t the same as the online store posted and the store wouldn’t allow me to return it,” Ma May Myat Noe, a resident of South Dagon township in Yangon, said. “Buyers should ask for a guarantee before the order from an online store.”
While the convenience may attract some to online shopping, internet speed is a barrier for online retailers to overcome if it is to survive. The low speeds of internet in Myanmar may frustrate some shoppers and there are many people who are not familiar with computers, which creates further isolation from online retailer’s customer base.
“The internet connection of Myanmar is still slow compared with other countries. The slow connection problem is still prevalent,” Torstensson said.
Shop.com.mm charges the delivery services of the goods and some online stores ask for pre-purchase through bank account if the price of the product is more than K15,000.
“There are many online shopping stores in Myanmar now. However, we are always taking care of our customers and always trying to gain the trust of our customers,” Torstensson added.
There are many small- scale online stores and some of these smaller companies had to shut down due to a lack of orders, Ma La Pyay Win owner of an online store that order products from Hong Kong said.
“When we run the online store, the most important thing is orders from our customers. We don’t profit if the orders are very few as our goods and products are ordered from foreign countries. Therefore, we have to ask that they wait two weeks for their order to arrive,” Ma La Pyay Win added.
One of the things that customers don’t like about online shopping is that it may take a long time for some orders.
“I have bought some clothes from online. It takes a long time to get the goods, therefore I don’t buy items online anymore,” a buyer from Kamayut township said.
After foreign mobile companies entered the Myanmar telecom market, the usage of mobile phones and internet via mobile connection has rapidly spread.
One of the mobile operators, Norway-based Telenor, claims it has 12 million users on its network and 57 percent of the users use internet. The state-run operator Myanmar Post and Telecommunications (MPT) says it has 17 million users and 11 million of them have subscribed to its internet packages.
Torstensson estimates that with increasing internet speeds and accessibility in years to come, online shopping will grow right along with it.
From: Myanmar Business Today