Okay maybe that’s a bit unfair, after all it’s about convenience and not laziness! Pakistan is among the fastest growing e-commerce markets in the region. With online access increasing, shopping couldn’t be easier in these digital days. There is a lot of untapped potential in terms of e-commerce that needs to be exploited to its fullest.

According to local e-commerce experts, the estimated market size is around $25-30 m a year. The advent of 3G services in Pakistan will mushroom in a new era of growth for e-commerce and with more devices than ever getting connected online, it bodes well for the future. Given a lack of proper payment mechanism besides cash on delivery and online bank transfers, consumers mostly do not believe in using their credit cards for shopping online citing fraud and safety concerns. These are some of the payment mechanisms that can be used to receive payments:

Couch potatoes’ dreams come true with e-payments of utility and shopping bills

Easypaisa

This is one of the largest branchless banking service in Pakistan. It offers the most convenient access to all financial services for the consumers at large. Even if a consumer doesn’t have a mobile phone, EasyPaisa offers services that can change the way you do your financial transactions. This service is not limited to Telenor subscribers, but can be availed by all mobile phone users. Customers can have access to the easiest way to do financial transactions, whether it is to make bill payments, sending/receiving money from within Pakistan, receiving money from abroad or to pay donations. It saves the person from travelling to their banks and standing in long queues to make payments and face any time constraints.

http://www.easypaisa.com.pk/

MobiCash

Similar in nature to the concept of EasyPaisa, MobiCash is another branchless banking service run by Mobilink. Mobicash allows the flexibility to conduct financial transactions in the simplest of ways, whether you are paying bills, sending/receiving money within Pakistan or purchasing prepaid balance for your mobile phones. It has limitless boundaries, no need for consumers to wait in long queues and is most convenient for the user. More details are available at http://mobicash.com.pk/

Net Banking/Swipe On Delivery/ Internet Bank Transfers

In conjunction with leading banks in Pakistan which includes Standard Chartered Bank, MCB, Habib Bank, United Bank and many others net banking facility for receiving/sending payments can be setup. The online shopping portals, Daraz.pk, is probably the only website that is offering net banking facilities to make payments in conjunction with SCB. Other methods of receiving payments include swipe on delivery option, where the card swiping machine is brought to your door step when the item is delivered to facilitate payment in case if you cannot use your credit/debit card online. Internet bank transfers are also very popular among most online shopping websites where payments can be made by customers by logging in to their bank accounts and transferring the money to the merchants account for payment purposes in order to complete the order.

This is also possible by mobile phone banking via smartphones. For more details, the online shopping portals may have to contact their banks respectively in order to setup payment mechanisms for their websites.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, August 3rd, 2014