Pathao Commerce brings merchant operations together on one platform

Pathao has launched Pathao Commerce, an integrated platform bringing together storefronts, sales channels, orders, inventory, payments, delivery, and customer communication to help merchants manage and grow their businesses.

The launch comes as Bangladesh's social commerce sector, comprising 200,000 merchants and accounting for more than 80% of digital commerce, expands rapidly, according to a press release.

The company said businesses were handling increasing numbers of orders, customers, sales channels and operational tools. Built around three core needs — management, efficiency, and growth — Pathao Commerce aims to reduce manual work, simplify daily operations, and help merchants expand their businesses.

"For years, merchants have trusted Pathao to take the hassle out of deliveries and help them get their products to customers reliably," said Pathao CEO Fahim Ahmed.

"With Pathao Commerce, we are taking that commitment beyond delivery, giving entrepreneurs a single platform to manage everything from their storefront and orders to inventory, sales, payments, delivery, and customer communication. By taking away the burden of juggling multiple tools, we are giving merchants greater control and confidence to focus on their customers, build their brands, and turn new opportunities into growing businesses."

Pathao Commerce allows merchants to manage their product catalogues, orders, payments, inventory and deliveries, while also creating a professional online storefront through a single platform.

It also connects with third-party sales channels, including Shopify, WooCommerce and Daraz, allowing merchants to bring their existing sales operations into Pathao Commerce.

Sales, orders, inventory and earnings are automatically updated, giving merchants greater visibility and control over their operations. Pathao said the integration would let businesses manage these functions in one place and reduce reliance on separate tools.

For many online merchants, completing a sale involves switching between Facebook Messenger, Instagram direct messages, WhatsApp, spreadsheets and delivery platforms, often entering the same information several times.

Pathao Commerce provides a unified chat inbox that brings customer conversations from these communication channels together through official Meta integrations.

Merchants can view order histories within conversations and use artificial intelligence-enabled support to enter delivery information faster. Pathao said this feature is backed by its database of nearly 10 million unique addresses across Bangladesh.

Merchants can also generate an Instant Checkout link directly within a customer chat window, allowing customers to complete their orders and payments in a single step.

Once an order is placed, a pickup agent is automatically dispatched to the merchant's doorstep, while a tracking link is immediately shared with the customer. Pathao said this reduces the need for merchants to handle delivery-related queries.

By reducing the need to switch platforms, copy and paste information, and coordinate tasks manually, the platform aims to simplify the process from customer communication to delivery.

Pathao Commerce also offers tools to support business growth beyond daily operations. Merchants can customise their storefronts, track sales and inventory, and use analytics to inform business decisions.

The company said merchants would soon be able to run sponsored campaigns directly through Meta Catalogue integration.

Other features include secure payments, instant payouts through Pathao Pay, real-time delivery tracking and customer trust ratings, which the company said were designed to help merchants sell with greater confidence.

Pathao said the trust ratings, developed using historical data, helped keep social commerce return rates in single digits, compared with around 30% for online marketplaces in Bangladesh.

Merchants can also publish their entire product catalogue to Pathao Shop, opening an additional sales channel in a few clicks.

Through Pathao's Instant Delivery service, businesses can fulfil orders requiring faster delivery. Merchants can also automate this service through direct application programming interface (API) integration with Pathao Commerce.

The company described the launch as a milestone in its transition from an e-commerce logistics provider to a broader provider of digital commerce infrastructure in Bangladesh.

By bringing logistics, payments, communication, and business management into one platform, Pathao said it aimed to help merchants manage increasingly complex operations and pursue new growth opportunities.