OMG
Throughout history, we have come a long way from the Barter system to buying and selling goods through money, Being physically present during the transaction is made so that we could build trust with each other. However, with the introduction of the Internet and E-commerce, things were changing rapidly as more and more people had access to internet E-commerce was growing rapidly which had its impact on the Physical outlets or traditional Brick wall store. But the Pandemic COVID 19 seems to be the final blow to the Physical Outlets and Traditional Brick wall stores.
Internet was firstly introduced in Nepal in the year 1993 in the venture of Royal Nepal academy of science and technology (RONAST)and a private company Mercantile office System (MOS). However, only 9% of the population used the internet until 2011 but the use of the internet in Nepal has been growing rapidly around 63% of the population used the internet in 2017 which are likely to be increased as people are starting to take the internet as the basic service of their life.
THE PAST
As the use of the internet was rapidly increasing in Nepal this opened up a platform for online business. Munchahouse.com is the first online shopping site in the history of Nepal after which many followed its path. Currently, there are many online businesses in Nepal. for Example; Sasto Deal, Daraz, Meroshooping .com, etc.
Though many of online businesses were popping up in Nepal. Their growth were slow and steady as many of the Nepalese people were unable to trust the online business as they preferred to go visit the physical outlet rather than ordering the same from online. The reason behind the slow and steady growth of E-commerce in Nepal could be a lack of trust by the consumer as well as by the initial service provided by the existing E-commerce businesses. For Example, I bought a shirt for the first time through E-commerce which came out to be a damaged piece but when I called them and said what happened they didn’t even consider replacing it. This incident was a few years back however things have been changing slowly as more and more people have been trusting the E-commerce, as well as an E-commerce business, have been upgrading their services and being linear to consumer satisfaction.
THE PRESENT
As the world has been suffering from the Pandemic COVID 19 for more than 6 months. The world economy is on the verge of collapsing. Every business, Sector Has been hit hard people are afraid to get out of their houses. The governments are imposing lockdowns, restricting the public gathering, and closing up the places like Theaters, restaurants for the possibility of public gatherings. In the current scenario, only the viable option seems to be an online business. You need to shop there are shopping sites and apps, You wanna have some food you can order it and it gets delivered to your doorsteps, You need a grocery or skincare products or even medicine there is Site for it. Those businesses that had only their physical outlet available is also going online to survive in the current situation. So, in a sense, the current pandemic is killing the physical or Brick store and Boosting E-commerce.
THE FUTURE
We have been dealing with the Pandemic Since the Begining of the year 2020 and still there seems no hope that it will end any time soon. Though the scientist from various countries have been working to make a vaccine and various vaccine have been running their third phase of the test which means they have been testing the vaccine on human. Recently Russia and UK Showed the interest to test the vaccine in Nepal and was granted permission by the authorities of Nepal. We will overcome the Pandemic sooner or later yes we will. however, even after the end of a pandemic, I don’t think things will get back to as it was before. The complete dependency on e-commerce was the foreseeable future-looking at developed countries throughout the world. The Pandemic has made that future come sooner hence E-commerce Seems to be the New Normal not only in Nepal but throughout the world.
