Fair from Oct 1 to promote online purchases

Ten top local e-commerce companies will jointly organise a 10-day online shopping fair titled “10-10” from October 1, the first in the country, to promote the practice of making online purchases.

The 10 are ajkerdeal.com, rokomari.com, bagdoom.com, priyoshop.com, pickaboo.com, othoba.com, sheba.xyz, khasfood.com, nrbbazaar.com and hungrynaki.com. The e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh and some payments and technological companies also joined the initiative.

Customers can visit the 10's websites to make purchases and avail up to 70 percent in discounts, free delivery and, on paying through mobile financial services, cash backs of 10 to 20 percent.

The company representative, at a press conference in the capital yesterday, said customers also have the chance to win 100 gifts, including a visit to Thailand.

One aim was to show policymakers that local entrepreneurs were united in helping each other promote the industry, they said.

The government recently changed a policy allowing foreign entities to have complete ownership of online shops. It was previously a maximum of 50 percent. Local e-commerce companies are against the move.