With better internet access and most people switching to smartphones, electronic commerce or E-Commerce is increasingly taking over the traditional ways of doing business in the country. An e-commerce business is a business model where goods or services are bought and sold over the internet. The Labour Ministry is currently providing short-term capacity development on E-Commerce to eligible business and private sector individuals to further promote the concept in the country.
The Labour ministry recently trained 15 individuals in Trongsa for ten days. From learning about copyright and guidelines on e-commerce to digital marketing, the training had everything in store for the participants to expand their business.
“For instance, I am a businesswoman here in Trongsa, I could create an e-commerce page or platform online and upload all the pictures and descriptions of products on it. So, in this way, I can also do business with customers from outside Trongsa,” said Rupa, a participant.
“If we have a great business idea and adopt the e-commerce business model, we can also do business in the global market. Earlier, to start up a business, we had to find a proper location or otherwise would incur a loss if established in the wrong places. But now all we need is a good internet connection and phone,” said Sonam Dorji, another participant.
“If an individual could make short videos and upload pictures of whatever farm produce or other products available in the district and advertise online, they can expand the market and attract buyers from different regions. And this is the motive of our training,” said Lekey Dorji, the Assistant Program Officer under the Dept of Workforce Planning and Skills Development of the Labour Ministry.
“For the consumers, with e-commerce, they don’t have to step out of their homes to buy goods. They can browse online from the comfort of their homes and place orders of whatever products they wish to buy,” said Ujwal Pradhan, the Trainer.
Similar training would be conducted in Paro and Punakha in the next phase.
The Department of National HR Development of the labour ministry is targeting to train about 950 individuals by April next year.
As per the Guidelines on E-Commerce 2019, any Bhutanese citizen having attained 18 years shall be eligible to obtain a license and operate in an e-commerce business.
According to the Office of Consumer Protection, there are 106 e-commerce businesses registered with the Ministry of Economic Affairs as of December last year.
Meanwhile, consumers are advised to avoid unknown online businesses and deal only with registered businesses to be protected from deception.
Passa, Trongsa
Edited by Sonam Pem
