The government on Sunday issued a circular announcing a nationwide lockdown for seven days beginning from Monday to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the country. The notification, however, gave special importance to continuing e-commerce services across the country during this lockdown period.
"Everything will be closed from 6 am on Monday (April 5) until midnight on Sunday (April 11) except for emergency services," the notification said. However, e-commerce services and their logistics, as well as courier and food delivery services, will be free from these restrictions.
The notification said that other shops including shopping malls will remain closed. Restaurants will only have online or takeaway services.
It has also been said that strict legal action will be taken if the instructions given in the notification are breached.
General Secretary of the e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB) Abdul Waheed Tamal said, "I am requesting everyone to conduct online business in compliance with health rules. Like last year, this year as well we will strive to support all online businesses in the country through the association."
Meanwhile, industry insiders say that the pandemic has encouraged more customers to shop online. Businesses that are using social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram are getting more customers than ever before.
F-commerce or Facebook based businesses are also booming in the country as a number of people who lost their jobs during the pandemic ventured into f-commerce business selling homemade food items, organic vegetables, fish, medicine, etc.
F-commerce or Facebook based businesses have been thriving in the last few years in Bangladesh, thanks to the number of Facebook users which has now reached nearly 40 million.
According to e-CAB (e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh), there were over 50,000 F-commerce participants on various platforms including Facebook pages in Bangladesh at the end of 2019.
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