Pakistan’s per capita e-commerce spending amongst lowest in Asia Pacific

The report  “Embracing the E-commerce Revolution in Asia and the Pacific” jointly prepared by the United Nations Economic and Social Communication for Asia and Pacific (UNESCAP) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) measured per capita internet retail spending in Pakistan at $0.60 as compared to $871 in Korea.

Even in central Asia states, per capita e-commerce spending is more in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Kazakhstan than Pakistan.

“In many least developed countries and developing countries in Asia and the Pacific, e-commerce use among firms is extremely low,” the report said. “For instance, in September 2017, Pakistan only had some 400 e-commerce vendors, roughly 0.44 percent of its estimated 900,000 physical stores.”

Pakistan ranked 120 when it comes to e-commerce readiness in the region, one of the lowest rankings only notches above Myanmar and Afghanistan, a table in the report showed, referring to the UN Conference on Trade and Development’s business-to-consumer readiness index score covering 144 global economies as of 2017. The scoring was based on internet usage, secure servers, financial inclusion and economy’s readiness to e-commerce.

Download the report