Impact of Covide-19 on Online Business Industry of Bangladesh

The entire planet earth has come to a standstill as it has been engulfed by the
horror of an invisible silent-killer, the Covid-19. Economies are collapsing,
healthcare systems are failing, people are losing lives on wholesale. Most of the
mighty nations and governments of the world have been brought down to their
knees not by some nuclear ambush but by a simple pandemic initiated by the novel
corona virus. It is world war 3 indeed, but it is man vs virus. Nations are now
subjected to economic recession more or less. Bangladesh is no different in this
regard. Although the death toll has not as yet reached the level that of some parts
Europe or America, but Bangladesh is surely facing the dilemma of choosing
between saving lives and keeping economic turbine in motion. Amid all this fuss,
there do exist one sector that is anticipating a silver lining from the covid-19
shutdown. That is the blooming online business or e-commerce sector of
Bangladesh. Indeed, there lies some opportunities in every crisis.
An "Online Business" is a business conducted entirely online. Goods or services
are marketed, viewed, purchased, and delivery is organized thereafter once the
order has been placed and paid for. An online business can be of many sorts. But
here in this research paper, we are actually shedding the light onto the retail online
business in Bangladesh and the impact of Covid 19 on online business. Online
business in Bangladeshi internet-sphere is mostly conducted on Facebook and B2C
websites owned by the retailers themselves.
Government of Bangladesh announced nationwide lockdown on March 26 th and
ever since then, the economy has fallen down significantly. The supply chain has
been disrupted; people have become jobless. Social distancing became the new
buzz word. Most people became fearful of going out for daily affairs and
necessities. This is where the scope for the entire e-commerce service came in. A
significant spike has been observed in online shopping. A significant number of
customers are now more inclined towards ordering/purchasing their daily
necessities online than ever before, which might also boost the industry farther in
the post-pandemic period.
Industry pioneers and organizations said despite the fact that the overall e-
commerce industry is seeing a significant drop in business, the shift of buyer
attitudes about web-based shopping for day to day necessities is promising. They
further stated a fragment of purchasers who have never thought of utilizing the
online services for their day to day needs, are currently enjoying such services and
expressing their satisfaction in the convenience of the platform. As per industry
sources, around 90 percent of the web-based business firms have had nearly zero
business during the Covid-19 emergency period that started on March 26 with a
nationwide shutdown. The sales of items through call centers declined around one
third in the last one month, while orders via digital platforms – such as apps and
Facebook pages – increased manifold, they said. Health-related items – such as
hand sanitizer or masks – witnessed about 200% increase in sales in the last few
weeks, and the demand is greater outside Dhaka, industry insiders added.
According to a recent study by the E-CAB, the e-commerce industry could be
subjected to about TK 3,480 crore operational and inventory losses amid the novel
corona virus shutdown. The study also showed that 82% of the e-commerce firms
have been severely impacted while 1.5% of the firms are not impacted. About
16.5% have been moderately impacted by the shutdown.