today there is a host of online shops selling everything from consumer goods –
shophive.com and
daraz.pk – to real estate –
zameen.com – and even cars –
pakwheels.com.
Entrepreneurs in Pakistan are focused on the country’s 30 million internet users, roughly 15 percent of the population.
The total volume of online sales was around $35 million last year, according to industry officials – a tiny fraction of the sales seen by global giant Amazon, Alibaba in China or Flipkart in neighbouring India. But experts agree there is potential.
The arrival last year of 3G and 4G mobile networks – years behind other emerging markets – has proved a further boon to online commerce in the country.
“Basically the 30 million could be 100 million in the next few years,” said Shaun Di Gregorio, CEO of Frontier Digital Ventures, a venture capital fund based in Malaysia that recently invested in Zameen.com and Pakwheels.com.
“In order to surf, you need a wave, and the wave is here,” added Frenchman Gilles Blanchard, co-founder of the site
Seloger.com who has invested in Pakistani startup Zameen.com.
Di Gregorio and Blanchard are among the foreign investors who are hoping to cash in ahead of any move by the global giants to acquire local companies.
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