Since the pandemic increased on-demand delivery services, a sizable part of Bangladeshi consumers has incorporated online shopping into their daily lives with great ease. Because of convenience, diversity, and the advent of fresh, innovative ways to market commodities, consumers now choose to buy perishable items online rather than in-store.
Realizing the growing demand, ekShop is the first to pilot the delivery of perishable items via Bangladesh Postal Department. This initiative unlocks geographic limitations and marks the beginning of transportation of perishable goods across the country. In this process, the postal department and ekShop will work jointly, where ekShop will collect the product from the seller, package it and present it at the counter, after which the product will reach the designated destination at the mail processing center at the other end through the channel of the postal department. However, the home delivery facility from there will currently be offered by ekShop.
The first consignment of this process was sent from Dhaka to Chattogram on Tuesday, September 20, 2022, destined to reach the customer the next day. This dispatch was 114 kg of premium quality packaged mutton from Meat & Bones, a brand of Agro Force Ltd. For best quality control, the order travelled in a designated ekShop delivery van, packed in Styrofoam cooler boxes, and chilled at minus 16 degrees at the Automated Mail Processing Center’s cold storage.
The inaugural parcel delivery sendoff was completed in the presence of Assistant Project Director Shah Alam Bhuiyan, ekShop Team Leader Rezwanul Haque Jami, ekShop Head of Operation Taufiq Ahmed, and officials related to the initiative at Tejgaon Mail Processing Center.
Mr. Shah Alam Bhuiyan, Assistant Project Director of the Mail Processing and Logistics Service Center Construction Project said, “The postal department has started a new horizon through the handling of perishable items. 14 newly constructed mail processing centers have chiller chambers. As a result, fish, meat, vegetables, fruits, etc. can be sent. These modern mail processing centers equipped with chiller chambers will contribute positively to the creation of digital Bangladesh of the current government.”
Rezwanul Haque Jami said, “The dream of digital Bangladesh is now a reality. All the instructions of the Honorable Prime Minister will take Bangladesh forward, we are working to implement her words with utmost importance. ekShop will work to ensure that this facility of the Postal Department is useful to all levels of entrepreneurs.”
As per Prime Minister’s Ordinance (up to Upazila level), post offices should have chambers with a chilling system. The chilling system is being used so that the perishable products i.e. food items starting from fruits and vegetables can be sent through the post.
ekShop is the world’s first assisted rural e-commerce platform that operates as a national e-commerce facilitator by integrating all the main and reputable e-commerce, payments, and logistic providers into one platform through API. It enables sellers with a “Single Point of Entry”’ to all e-Commerce platforms.