Eid shopping in the capital has become a troublesome affair, as thousands of people swarm malls and markets to buy items for themselves and their dear ones on the big occasion.

But things are quite different for Sumaiya Hasan. She doesn't need to bother about the mad Eid rush or move from one shop to another, as she does most of her shopping online.

Sumaiya, a housewife from the capital's Gulshan area, recently ordered saris and salwar kameez on Akhoni.com, and hopes to receive those before Eid.

"I buy products online because it saves me the trouble of getting stuck in tailbacks for hours and haggling with sellers over price," she told The Daily Star.

Sumaiya started buying products online early last year, and never faced any problems. She pays the bills on delivery.

Sumaiya also encouraged her relatives to buy goods online.

She is one of many online shoppers who are buying goods through the       

internet. The rise in number of online shoppers has helped create a new market in the country. 

Shameem Ahsan, president of Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS), said Eid-ul-Fitr sales account for 40 percent and Eid-ul-Azha sales 20 percent of the Tk 100 crore online shopping a year.

He hopes e-traders would see sales of around Tk 50 crore during this Eid.

E-commerce sales are growing by 50 percent annually, said Shameem.

Riding on the rapid growth of the internet and mobile phone use across the country, 250 e-commerce sites and 2,800 Facebook pages are now selling products online.

Every year, an average GDP-growth of over six percent and fast-paced urbanisation contribute to the expansion of the middle class with higher disposable incomes -- the ideal target group for e-commercial activities.

Mohammad Abdur Rouf, chief operating officer of Aarong, said customers were increasingly embracing online shopping, shaking off initial jitters.

When Aarong, one of the leading fashion houses in the country, launched its online sales in Ramadan last year, most of the sales were done through cash on delivery.

Now, more and more customers are buying products online using credit cards, he said. 

"This is a huge shift. It proves that they now trust our online sales system," Rouf said, adding that many buyers also paid bills through payment services such as bKash.

For Aarong, online orders are rising by around 20 percent on average a month. It now delivers about 400 packages a month, which, Rouf hopes, would go up to 1,000 a week before Eid.

"The sale is very small compared to our sales at stores. But we hope it would increase in the days ahead," he said.

Multinational companies are also entering the local e-commerce market to take a fair share of the pie and bulk up their presence in Bangladesh.

Global footwear brand Bata initiated its e-commerce sales through online marketplaces Ajkerdeal and Daraz in the first quarter of this year. 

"We have got good response. It will grow in the coming days as it is convenient," said Mohsena Hassan, e-commerce manager of Bata.

Online sales are not limited in the capital or other major cities. Consumers in many towns are also catching up with those in big cities.

For example, Bata is getting 50 percent of the online orders from outside the capital, said Hassan.

Buoyed by the initial response, Bata is now working on initiating its own e-commerce portal to drive its online sales.

Shameem, also chief executive officer of leading online shop Akhoni.com, said the government needs to formulate a policy to protect local companies in e-commerce as foreign firms wouldn't miss the opportunity to capture the hugely untapped market.

"Online shopping will account for $10-15 billion in the next one decade. If we can retain control over the market, it will not only benefit the local firms but also help the economy," he said.

BASIS has launched an e-commerce alliance to help online sellers grow and improve the quality of their products and services. It also aims to ensure that no customers are fleeced or served with fake or defective products.

"In case customers receive faulty or damaged goods, we want to make sure that they get proper redress." 

Online sellers need to improve their services in order to woo customers, who are still leery of online shopping.

One such buyer is Sanjida Islam, an MBA student at Dhaka University. She has mixed experience about online shopping. Recently, she bought a wrist band from an online store that delivered the product a day after she made the order. The product was fine.

But she had bitter experience in purchasing an ornament online. The store delivered the product 15 days after the due date. The trouble didn't end there. She received a faulty product, prompting her to call the seller.

"When I called them, the seller's representative talked to me in such a tone that I didn't feel like asking for a refund."

The online stores have to improve the quality of their products and services to become an alternative to bricks-and-mortar stores, she said.

Another buyer, Sarah Karim, first ordered only low-cost products to see whether online shopping would be a viable option for her.  

She started with online food delivery services such as Foodpanda and HungryNaki a year ago. And she was pleased with their services. This experience led her to buy other products online.

Sarah, an official of a multinational company operating in Bangladesh, then ordered around a dozen products on Kaymu.com in the last two weeks, and received them in good condition.

She was happy with the service and the quality of the products.

"The service is very good. I am very happy." She also advised her friends to buy items online, saying it would save them time and hassles.