Over the past decades, technology has become an integral part of people’s lives and is transforming the life of global people substantially by lessening their day-to-day activities.
A big part of this technological transformation is the creation and spread of the internet technology which revolutionized computers and communications in the world in a manner it has never before.
This, in turn, has opened the door for online marketing and e-commerce to flourish. Especially, after the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic across the globe; and peoples have been restricted to stay at their homes, more businesses designed to operate mainly over the web are emerging.
Since social distancing and staying at home became the new norm, online business has been booming internationally. Based on this fact, e-commerce holds more appeal to all who can access it.
In the Ethiopian context, in the year 2020 significant growth of internet users were registered within 10 years’ time. Statistics of the year 2000 shows that there were merely 10,000 internet users; but in just 10 years the number of users has reached to 20,507,255, showing a significant growth of 204.97 percent. However, out of the total population of Ethiopia, only 17.8 percent use the internet. Similarly, out of the people who are using the internet, the number of Facebook users is 6,007,000.
Electronic commerce also known as Internet commerce refers to the activities of buying and selling goods or services using the internet and transfer of money and data to execute the transactions. Any type of commercial transaction that is facilitated over the internet is considered as e-commerce; but it is usually used to refer to the sale of physical products online. E-commerce has evolved over time making products easier to discover and purchase through online retails and marketplaces.
And in the same manner as the small number of Facebook platform users, online marketing is a resource that has not been utilized to its fullest capacity in Ethiopia. As studies indicate, the platform is used only by about 17 percent of the population. Out of approximately 115 million people in Ethiopia, there are only about 21.14 million registered users on the online platform.
According to a marketing specialist, Matias Aklilu the number of people within the country would open up a great advantage to do well on online marketing and there is still so much untapped potential.
Currently, the websites mostly used to shop online are Deliver Addis, Jumia, Qefira.com, Sheger.net, ShebaShopping, HellooMarket, and Delala, all of which operate as marketplaces.
Off late, the Ethiopian Diaspora Agency in collaboration with the Ministry of Innovation and Technology (MInT) has launched an e-Service platform in order to provide efficient services to members of the Ethiopian Diaspora community.
Launching the platform, Ethiopian Diaspora Agency Deputy Director General Mohammed Endris said that the e-Service platform aims at saving time and avoiding inconveniences by allowing members of the Ethiopian Diaspora community to get efficient services from wherever they are located.
The e-Service platform is expected to help the government’s ongoing efforts to adequately engage the Diasporas in the overall activities of national development.
Stating that the Ethiopian Diaspora Agency is working to use the potential and enhance the engagement of members of the Diaspora communities at all corners of the world for the development of the country, Mohammed called on members of the Diaspora communities to closely work with the Agency in terms of filling the gaps observed in data sources about members and in further digitalizing the data system of the Agency.
ICT Development Acting Director General at MoIT, Yonas Hailu on his part said that launching the e-Service platform is part of the Ministry’s digitalization of services in government institutions.
The Ministry also confirmed to provide the necessary support and work with the Agency in the effort to build the digital economy of the country, he pointed out.
Founder and CEO of RantaAgro-processing Manufacturing Industry Getachew Dinkineh in Southern Ethiopia told this writer that the sector has many returns for both the consumers and the government. In short , it makes life easier and creates verities of possibilities.
He noted that the technology allows users to save time and energy; and open new ways to trace the transaction and let the government collect revenue from the institutes. “To my understanding, e-Service is an ideal market system, because it does away with the hustle and bustle that consumers may face. Above all, it lets institutions and trailers to address the growing demands of consumers; and improve the satisfaction of clients in addition to offering opportunities to conduct transaction that is free form and counterfeit activities. It is high time to make the e-Service system more ideal as well as easily accessible to all,” he remarked.
As to him, human development efforts are vital in augmenting the quality of the service and each higher education and the telecom services delivering institutions should scale up in honing the skill and knowledge of the workers and trainees, he concluded.
True, e-Service benefits many citizens, both local and the Diaspora community, in terms of saving their time through getting the services quickly and efficiently from any corner, offering greater convenience to users and lessening the routine activities of many citizens. However, to facilitate the services at the desired level and win customers’ expectations, addressing the bottlenecks that are interrelated to the IT infrastructures and similar limitations is crucial to augment users’ participation and benefit large number of people. Equally, absence of legal framework that governs e-commerce is challenging the area not to develop accordingly and the market work efficiently.
In fact, recently, the government has been drafting a national law to regulate e-commerce. When it is approved and implemented, it could boost the online market.
BY MENGISTEAB TESHOME
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD THURSDAY 17 MARCH 2022
