B2C ecommerce export hits $1 million a month

LAHORE: Pakistan’s B2C ecommerce export reached over $1 million per month after the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) removed a condition of filling its Form-E for small exporters, industry said on Friday.

According to Chainstore Association of Pakistan (CAP), the central bank’s regulatory framework for B2C (Business to Consumer) that removed the mandatory requirement of Form-E for a consignment of up to $5,000 helped online businesses of all sizes to achieve the milestone.

“This development has allowed SMEs [small and medium sized enterprises], youth, and women entrepreneurs across the country to easily serve international customers in dozens of countries over the past few months,” said CAP chairman Tariq Mehboob.

“We foresee that the exponential growth already observed in this space will also attract international payment gateways such as Paypal, AliPay, and Stripe to offer their services in Pakistan,” he added.

He said before the SBP’s relief, ecommerce merchants had no way to send international orders officially, which would lead them to utilise gifts and sample schemes at nominal values.

Mehboob congratulated the National e-Commerce Council (NeCC) on facilitating online businesses in the country, while appreciating the role of the ministry of Commerce, SBP, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), and other related private and public sector stakeholders of the NeCC to achieve the milestone for ecommerce industry of the country.

Both the SBP and FBR are key public-sector stakeholders of the NeCC formed under the National e-Commerce Policy approved by the federal cabinet in October 2019.

The NeCC operates under the ambit of the ministry of Commerce and is a platform for public and private sector stakeholders, including other leading private-sector organizations such as Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA), Pakistan Fintech Association (PFA), and many others working together to drive the country’s ecommerce sector forward.

“Due to the policy intervention, merchants are now benefiting through lower tax rates, export rebates, and cheap financing already available to the traditional export sector,” he said, adding that online businesses, including CAP members, were exporting individual orders up to $5000 per shipment with minimal documentation and competing globally whilst bringing precious foreign exchange to the country.

Asfandyar Farrukh, CAP’s senior vice chairman expressed that in order for domestic businesses to be even more competitive in the international market, international shipping costs should be reduced for small-packet shipments.

Pakistan Post and local logistics providers have a massive opportunity to grow if they could capture the skyrocketing cross-border e-commerce trade from the country, he added.

“In addition, the government should explore the possibility of partnering with China Post for its ultra-cheap ‘ePacket’ shipping facility for international deliveries.”

The rapid growth in ecommerce exports is another milestone after the long-awaited addition of Pakistan to sellers list of countries on Amazon in May, 2021, for which a Business-to-Business-to-Consumer (B2B2C) export procedure was also designed by the NeCC to facilitate businesses working with international online marketplaces.

Farrukh said with collaboration of the stakeholders, NeCC aims to ensure timely execution of the action items as part of the National Ecommerce Policy with key emphasis on global connectivity, financial inclusion, digital payments, logistics, taxation, and other key pillars of the policy.