Local SMEs to go global using Daraz’s dexports

Daraz has inaugurated a new feature for local businesses – particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – which allows them to export their products using a leading global e-commerce platform, Alibaba.com.   

Daraz Bangladesh and Alibaba have jointly come up with the feature named "dexports" – which is a blend of Daraz and exports – for Bangladesh.

The service rolled out at a virtual event on Wednesday morning.

"Under the dexports, local sellers and exporters can subscribe to Alibaba's yearly gold supplier feature by paying a subscription fee and enjoy all the benefits of gold supplier membership of the platform from Bangladesh," said Yaseer Ahsan, head of Business Development at Daraz.

He said Alibaba is one of the largest business to business (B2B) platforms of the world which has 20 million active buyers from 190 countries and every day three lakh searches are made on this website regarding products or services.

"The most important advantages of the platform are that entrepreneurs will get more inquiries and gain the trust of potential customers. It will help entrepreneurs promote their products easily and conveniently," he added.

Yaseer said they would train local sellers. "We will also give technological support to them and a dedicated team is being formed to serve Daraz exporters."

Daraz or Alibaba will not take any commission on sales from exporters, he added.

Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi officially inaugurated the feature at the virtual conference and said, "The advantage of the global platform is that it has no days and nights. If it is night in one country, it is day in another country. Thus, the global platform is active for 24 hours."

"SMEs are suffering the most because of the Covid-19 pandemic. I hope with the help of dexports, entrepreneurs from rural areas and the marginalised level will engage in this global e-commerce platform and sell their products on the global market. And this way our country will be glorified. After all there is no alternative to commerce," he added.

State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak welcomed the initiative and said the future of trade is based on e-commerce.

"Due to the pandemic, many have already lost their jobs. However, in the meantime, e-commerce business has seen a 50 percent increase and is creating new employment opportunities for our youths," he added.

"The Export Promotion Bureau plays a key role in promoting local export-oriented goods to global platforms by attending global trade fairs. However, due to the pandemic, it has now become nearly impossible for us to join any global trade fair," said AHM Ahsan, vice-chairman and chief executive officer of the government agency responsible for developing the nation's export industry.

He believes dexports will have a significant impact on the country's exports.

"Marginalised entrepreneurs from villages are not very engaged in e-commerce platforms like urban entrepreneurs are. We have to work to engage them in more e-commerce activities," he added.

Daraz will organise a webinar at 11am on Monday next week to discuss details about dexports with interested entrepreneurs and exporters.

To participate in the webinar, the organisers have urged interested sellers to register here: https://forms.gle/tHQ8X2VzM1V3cMjc8