Dwindling purchasing power hurts e-commerce

Dwindling purchasing power amid record-high inflation and massive devaluation has put a serious strain on e-commerce companies operating in Pakistan. According to a soon-to-be-released research report on the state of business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce in Pakistan, firms are struggling to even maintain their existing sales levels, let alone grow their operations. “Discussions with e-commerce executives reveal a pretty bleak picture… percentage change compared to 2021 levels shows a clear declining trend up until September, before making a slight recovery in O-N-D [October, November and December],” said the report prepared jointly by Data Darbar, a private markets intelligence platform, and AlphaVenture, a high-touch digital agency with 30-plus e-commerce brands as partners. Pakistan’s e-commerce market is ranked 47th worldwide, with an estimated revenue of $6.4 billion for 2023. Category-wise, electronics and media constitutes the largest share with a 34.1 per cent stake.