The number of e-commerce startups are rising in Myanmar as many youths venture into retail trading via free social network sites like Facebook.
In recent years, startups have been using Facebook for trading and also taking advantage of the free advertisement platforms to boost trade, retailers said.
“Previously, we traded through our own Facebok page. But now, as we have free advertisement websites, there has been a lot of improvement in trading,” said Ma Thazin, who is an online retailer.
More people are getting engaged in e-commerce as online retailing allows not only to sell new products but also used ones. Among the product mobile phones, IT gadgets and kitchenware are most popular in Myanmar, retailers say.
“I think [online retail business] will become more popular in the future. It may be widely used internationally but as we don’t have good internet coverage in Myanmar, it will take some time to develop,” said another online retailer.
According to Asia-Pacific Internet Group, the online retail market in Southeast Asia has experienced double digit growth in the last few years.
