Doha: Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) has introduced several initiatives to support ideas of entrepreneurs in the field of e-commerce. The e-commerce market is growing at the rate of 25 to 35 percent annually in Mena region and in last two years it is gaining momentum, said an expert during an event.
MCIT organised a virtual event yesterday entitled ‘Activating your online store with MCIT eCommerce Guidelines’, which gave an introduction about e-commerce, and the process to setup online store locally in Qatar and Theqa, Qatar’s e-commerce trustmark which is offered by MCIT for all e-commerce organisations and guidelines to set up business.
Harish Nair, an e-commerce expert said, “MCIT has come up with many initiatives in the area of e-commerce to nurture the ideas for entrepreneurs and there are multiple guidelines that have been launched.”
Speaking about e-commerce industry growth he said, “e-commerce is growing at the rate of 25 to 35 percent annually in Middle East and Africa (Mena) region. Last two years have been a great kick for the e-commerce industry to pick up and be at this level. It is expected to grow at the same level for next few years. Global growth in terms of e-commerce is about 18 percent and today it is about $4 trillion industry which is quite promising to any entrepreneur who would like to start e-commerce business.
He added, on the other hand, if we look at the local market, we have high Internet penetration (5G) and access to smart phones and social media through which a lot of promotion is done to buy or sell a product and various kinds of business models. So, the future is promising for e-commerce.”
He explained in last decade from 2010 to 2020 the entire e-commerce market has grown about tenfold. “From a business of close to $500bn it has grown to $4trillion. Going forward this is going to be the new way how people are going to promote their services and products.”
Nair noted, with e-commerce customers can search, compare and shop. There are four major business models for e-commerce which are promoted whether they are web or mobile application which include, B2B (Business to Business), B2C (Business to Consumer), C2C (Consumer to Consumer), C2B (Consumer to Business).
Speaking about e-commerce business in Qatar he said, “There are three simple steps by which you can register your organisation in the country that is business registration, trademark and domain registration. “There are five guidelines by the ministry that are helping organisations to setup their e-commerce or the online store that is security, technology, terms and conditions, user experience, user interface design,” he added.
Speaking about the role of technology and security for e-commerce he said, security refers to the cybersecurity concepts that allow for secure electronic transactions online. Technology includes both software and hardware technologies to build an efficient e-commerce application.
MCIT is intended to support e-Commerce merchants in their adoption of MCIT eCommerce Guidelines and Theqa criteria by providing advisory services which includes – nurturing idea for e-commerce business, ideation to registration, choosing business models, explore, comply the Theqa trust criteria, know local regulation, technology and security adoptions, design and go to market, and best practices adaption.
