'Pathao Commerce’ launched to simplify business for merchants

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

Bangladesh's social commerce ecosystem comprises 200,000 merchants and accounts for more than 80% of all digital commerce, according to a press release.

Built around three core merchant needs — management, efficiency, and growth — Pathao Commerce aims to reduce manual work, simplify everyday operations, and help businesses focus on expansion.

"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 removing 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 brings together the tools merchants need to run their businesses. They can manage product catalogues, orders, payments, inventory, and deliveries, and create a professional online storefront through the same platform.

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

Sales, orders, inventory, and earnings update automatically, giving merchants greater visibility and control over their businesses. Pathao said this would provide a single place to manage operations that previously relied on multiple disconnected tools.

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

Pathao Commerce simplifies this process through a unified chat inbox, bringing customer conversations from these communication channels together through official Meta integrations.

Merchants can view order histories within conversations and use artificial intelligence-enabled support, backed by Pathao's database of nearly 10 million unique addresses nationwide, to enter delivery information faster.

They 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. The company immediately shares a tracking link with the customer, reducing the need for merchants to handle delivery-related queries.

The company said reducing platform switching, copying and pasting, and manual coordination would make the process from customer conversation to delivery faster and simpler.

Pathao Commerce also provides tools to help merchants grow beyond their day-to-day operations. Businesses can customise their storefronts, track sales and inventory, and use analytics to make informed decisions.

Merchants will soon be able to run sponsored campaigns directly through Meta Catalogue integration, the company said.

The platform offers secure payments, instant payouts through Pathao Pay, real-time delivery tracking, and customer trust ratings. Pathao said these features were designed to help merchants sell with greater confidence.

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

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

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

Pathao 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.

The company said bringing logistics, payments, communication, and business management into a single platform would help merchants manage increasingly complex operations and pursue growth opportunities.