How to Boost eCommerce in Nepal
This summary is based on a panel discussion hosted by Daraz Nepal during the second wave of COVID-19 in the country. The discussion featured insights from some of Nepal’s top business leaders: Anil Keshari Shah (CEO of Nabil Bank), Manohar Adhikari (Founder of Foodmandu), Temple Pyakurel (COO of Daraz), and Roshan Lamichhane (COO of eSewa). Let's break down what each of them said in simple terms.
We'll go through their opinions one by one to understand what they think needs to be done to grow eCommerce in Nepal.
Anil Keshari Shah – CEO, Nabil Bank
Anil Keshari Shah believes that to grow eCommerce and expand the market in Nepal, we first need to build a strong digital system or ecosystem. This means getting all the important people, like sellers, buyers, delivery services, and payment systems, on board and working well together. He says we should focus on building trust and testing things slowly over time, so everyone benefits in the long run.
He pointed out that COVID-19 actually gave Nepal a chance to speed up digital growth. Because of lockdowns, people had no choice but to use online services and digital payments, so the demand for eCommerce naturally went up.
He also shared that Nabil Bank is making progress in digital services. For example, they’ve started using video KYC (a way to verify your identity through a video call) and launched Nabil Digi Bank. However, he also warned that real success in digital transformation will only come if it's sustainable, meaning we need to keep improving even after COVID-19 is gone.
Manohar Adhikari – Founder, Foodmandu
Manohar Adhikari, a well-known entrepreneur in Nepal, is always focused on innovation and technology. He said that eCommerce businesses in Nepal can grow and become profitable, but it takes time. These are long-term businesses, and just reaching the break-even point (where you're not losing money anymore) can take a while.
He also talked about a big challenge in Nepal: the delivery system. It’s still hard to do proper door-to-door delivery in many areas because of poor addressing systems.
Manohar mentioned that Nepal’s laws and policies around eCommerce are still developing and not very clear yet. So, until proper rules are made, he believes businesses should operate responsibly, in a way that benefits everyone, customers, employees, and partners. Doing this can set a good example and help the government make better laws in the future.
He also shared that Foodmandu is planning to expand to Pokhara and other big cities as part of their business strategy.
Temple Pyakurel – COO, Daraz Nepal
Temple Pyakurel focused on how important it is to listen to customers and be open to change. He believes that having a flexible and fast-moving (agile) system is key to success in eCommerce.
He shared how COVID-19 forced Daraz to team up with partners they hadn’t worked with before. One example is their collaboration with Nabil Bank to launch the Sahayatri program. This kind of partnership only happened because they were willing to adapt quickly.
Temple also talked about the importance of having a flexible team. When teams are open to change and quick to act, it brings long-term success and helps eCommerce businesses grow.
He mentioned how entrepreneurship plays a big role in online business. For example, in China, Alibaba works with different partners who only focus on visual merchandising, making sure products look appealing online. There are even companies that specialize in just this. He said something like this can also create new business opportunities in Nepal’s online market.
Roshan Lamichhane
Roshan Lamichhane shared that the COVID-19 lockdown was a major turning point for online payments in Nepal. Even though eSewa has been around since 2009 or 2010, this was the first time they saw such a huge rise in users and transactions.
He gave some numbers to show how big the growth was, during that period, 239 companies signed up with eSewa, and they added over 15,000 QR code-based merchants.
To support online shopping, eSewa also partnered with Daraz around mid-July to make eCommerce payments easier, although they had started planning for it even earlier.
He also talked about how important team management and time management became during this digital shift. With everything moving online, he realized that many tasks that used to require in-person meetings could now be done just as well using digital tools, saving a lot of time and still getting great results.