The state of Bangladesh ecommerce in 2015
Cash-on-delivery dominates, Dhaka leads adoption, and 12 categories drive 80% of GMV. A founding snapshot.
When 1shop started cataloguing Bangladesh's online retail in early 2015, the entire market was estimated under $50M annually. Cash-on-delivery represented over 90% of transactions, with bKash only beginning to penetrate ecommerce checkout.
Three structural problems defined the era: trust (counterfeits in cosmetics and electronics), logistics (Dhaka-centric, with same-day delivery only inside Gulshan/Banani), and discovery (sellers depending on Facebook pages, not search).
Our thesis from day one: a single trusted marketplace with escrow, BD-wide cold chain, and category-specific authentication would unlock the next decade of growth. The numbers since have validated it — see our 2025 retrospective for the full arc.