E-commerce sites are bustling with promotions and orders ahead of Pahela Baishakh, as people rush to make online purchases, mostly for outfits and fashion accessories.

Targeting the Bangla New Year, online traders are offering huge discounts and cash-back options, helping them register 40 to 50 percent more orders than usual.

Razib Ahmed, president of e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB), said, “The number of orders we are getting now in one week, is typically the amount we get in a month.”

In its third year, e-CAB is observing E-Commerce Day today.

Targeting Pahela Baishakh, traders are running online campaigns and giving huge reductions this year, said Ahmed. “We have asked our members to bring variation in their offers.”

AKM Fahim Mashroor, founder of ajkerdeal.com, said business houses generally get around 15,000 online orders a day, which grows 40 percent around this festival time.

With no official study on the recent size of this market, it is worth no less than Tk 600 crore, increasing at 50 percent a year, he added.

E-commerce sales in Bangladesh stood at about Tk 400 crore at the end of 2015, according to LightCastle Partners, a research centre that works on digital services.

Praising the government for introducing pay bonuses for its staff during Pahela Baishakh since last year, Ahmed said it also helped boost their business.

Ajkerdeal.com is offering up to 50 percent cash back on 10,000 Baishakhi products that mostly include sari, panjabi, salwar kameez, t-shirt and kids apparel.

Daraz Bangladesh Ltd (daraz.com.bd) is offering discounts of up to 70 percent; it is also hosting a Baishakhi Fair from March 30 till April 14.

Daraz, a regional e-commerce marketplace, is running its business in four other countries in this region. It began its Bangladesh operations two years back and is showcasing more than 60,000 products on its website in different categories targeting Pahela Baishakh.

Due to the success of the week-long Baishakhi fair last year, it decided to extend the fair tenure this time, said Shayantani Twisha, a manager of the company. The theme of this year's fair is 'embrace online shopping, strengthen economy'.

The product delivery chain is also growing along with a rise in online purchases.

eCourier.com.bd, an e-commerce product delivery service company, is looking at a 20 percent hike in orders at present, which will go up to 50 percent in the last three-four days to Pahela Baishakh, said Biplob G Rahul, chief executive and founder of the company. “We are now mostly delivering the products outside Dhaka.”  Bagdoom, another e-commerce brand, is receiving orders from abroad, said Mirajul Huq, its chief marketing officer.

“We are receiving an increasing number of overseas orders as gifts for relatives who are living here.”

Officials of both Daraz and Bagdoom said they are offering additional discounts for online payment, but the market is being led by cash on delivery.

At Bagdoom, only 3 percent of transactions take place through online payments; cash on delivery accounts for 86 percent and rest comes from the mobile financial sector, said Huq.

“We are even offering up to 20 percent extra discount for online payments, but 90 percent of transactions still happen in cash,” said Twisha of Daraz.

More than 1,000 e-commerce firms are now operating in Bangladesh, in addition to many other platforms that mainly run their business via Facebook, according to e-CAB.

The government is taking steps to formulate separate policies to help the e-ecommerce sector flourish and strengthen control over fraudulence.

Most big brands in the country also have online sales and they are also getting a good response ahead of Pahela Baishakh.