TOO lazy to put on some clothes and make-up to pay a visit to the grocers?
Or too scared by the recent bomb threats to step into a supermarket?
No worries, there is an e-solution to all your problems and it’s
just a click away.
Since 2003, MIT (Myanmar Information Technology)
has been providing an online shopping service on the net. From
its website (e-commerce.com.mm) you can get access to over 20
online merchants with a wide range of possibilities. From groceries
to jewellery to ticket reservations – the convenience of
this service is amazing.
“We started developing these programs because we wanted
to try this new service, which has been very successful in other
countries. EBay and Amazon are two examples of excellent international
websites for shopping,” Tint Tun Naing, project manager
of MIT explained.
MIT’s Shopping Centre is organised as a directory, with
15 different product categories. These categories include Apparel,
Computers, Gift Centre, Hair Care, Watches, Cosmetics, Mini Mart,
Skin Care, Furniture, Stationery, Multimedia, Jewellery, Travels
and Tours, Exports & Imports and Supermarket. Each of these
companies is under contract with MIT, who maintains all the branches
of the web.
Much like the other online directories managed by foreign countries,
you can look for products either by using a keyword search or
by drilling down through a particular category and its subcategories.
You can also limit your search to a specific category. To complete
the procedure, select your desired items, add them to your virtual
cart, register your name, address and voila! You just have to
wait for your purchases to be delivered to your doorstep.
One of our leading merchants, City Mart provides both e-shopping
for those with internet access, and telephone-shopping. The difference
between these two is that the former comes with a handy catalogue
complete with colourful pictures, descriptions, and prices, where
the latter needs you to jog your memory. Without a catalogue,
you have to remember the brand and price of what you want to buy.
“The goal is to make shopping more convenient. This service
greatly helps those who do not have the time, or whose health
condition prevents them from going outside,” Ma Thet Wah
Win, the marketing manager of City Mart, said.
However, each store has different terms and conditions. City
Mart requires shoppers to purchase at least K5,000 worth to be
home delivered for a small fee. Stationery (which is merged by
uniball, ECS and Thiri Mann) requires purchased items to exceed
K1,000. All stores guarantee a free home delivery service if the
purchased total exceeds K20,000; if not, they only charge K1000
for delivery. All of these merchants provide delivery services
to twenty-two different townships in Yangon, even to the far-flung
districts of Dawbon and Thakaytha.
One would think that with the civil strife and dreary rainy season
the number of online shoppers would have increased.
But how popular is this not-so-new service? The ID Executive
of City Mart, Ma Aye Thant, said that there have been more than
300 orders to date; however, she admits that customers are very
sparse. Tin Tun Naing said that it was not too bleak a picture.
“For Myanmar, it has been an incredible feat to get so
many customers, because it has never been done before in this
country.”
Indeed, it has been one small step for the world, one giant leap
for the Myanmar online community.
