In recent years, the e-commerce market of Pakistan has experienced exponential growth, with registered numbers of e-commerce merchants exceeding 2, Have risen 6 times. This is mainly due to the introduction of 3G / 4G services and the availability of cheaper smartphones. With 72% Pakistan has one of the highest percentages of mobile and internet penetration in South Asia, with 40 million internet subscribers and 20 million Facebook users. This visible growth has prompted many retailers to exploit their own websites or to use online markets to sell their products

Yet there is still a lot of room to grow. According to Statistics, more than USD 54.47 billion in sales was reported in the US in 2017, only by Amazon. By comparison, e-commerce sales in Pakistan were $ 622 million in 2017 and are expected to reach $ 1 billion by the year 2020.

Apart from technology, some factors that have served as a catalyst for the growth of e-commerce, ease of purchase while sitting at home, the availability of a delivery via cash on delivery where you only pay when you get the product, variety of products to choose and customer reviews and feedback on social media.

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And this growth is not limited only to the big cities of Pakistan. According to Jawad Farid, head of Corporate Innovation at Excellence Delivered (ExD), one of Pakistan's largest technology service providers, there has been a strong demand for e-commerce services from both tier 2 and tier 3 cities in Pakistan

"Although it is a fairly new trend in doing business for Pakistan, the online shopping trend is expanding rapidly," Jawad said.

ExD currently manages the e-commerce and digital presence of several major brands and online e-commerce platforms. The e-Stores of their customers have a variety of regular customers from smaller cities, military areas and even rural areas of the country

Jawad explained the workings of e-commerce, explaining that the primary payment method currently used is Cash on Demand (COD), where more than 90% of online purchases are paid by COD at the time that the customers receive the package.

Considering the fact that about 35% of the country's monthly 70,000 cash deliveries are delivered outside of Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, this trend is interesting to note. It shows that, despite the fact that online shoppers come largely from the urban areas, national shoppers are also willing to go online to make purchases for goods that they can not find on local markets. And this shows a part of the market that is likely to show an increase in online shopping in the near future.

This high growth in terms of sales and consumer preference has also prompted the brands to reconsider their strategy with regard to conventional retail channels and to try alternative e-commerce methodologies. With ExD, brands like Rungrez and Qalamkar have taken this gamble with 3 times more inventory stored in their e-Store than any previous campaign. About 90% of the stock was sold out in less than a day, even before the official launch was successful.