Online shopping spiked in the run up to the Christmas holidays, but the lack of telecommunication re-forms still has the Private Sector Commission (PSC) concerned.
Head of the PSC Ramesh Persaud told Stabroek News that many local businesses are venturing into the online market, however the low availability of bandwidth and the lack of telecommunication reform still hamper such progress.
The Telecommunica-tions Bill was tabled on August 9, 2012, but is yet to be debated and it will now have to await a new session of Parliament, with general elections due in May.
Persaud said that without the necessary telecommunication reforms more traditional businesses have not increased their online presence, but there are young entrepreneurs who have tackled the niche market and are servicing clients.
Stabroek News spoke with Austin Michael of Online Shopper-GYNY who said he noticed a 200% spike in customers in November and December. He told Stabroek News that over the course of the two months his online business catered to over 700 individual orders. He said the online venture would usually have about 100 customers utilising the service, however prior to Christmas there was a significant increase.
The plethora of online shopping businesses operate in much the same way. Customers can utilise their own credit cards or sign up and use the business’s, while making a down payment. The customer is provided with a bond address in the United States or Canada and an estimated cost of shipping is included in the final price.
Many of the Guyana’s online businesses add a five to eight per cent service charge for providing a shipping address in North America.
Businesses such as Web Source Guyana and ZoOn also stated that they saw an increase in traffic. Stabroek News was told that online shoppers represent a variety of demographics however young adults make up a large percentage of the businesses clientele.
Many customers are looking for authentic merchandise and while the service charge and the postage did mean that the costs went up there are more people willing to spend the extra money to get products that they are interested in.
Persaud said online sales were not impacting traditional businesses in a way that would incur losses and if anything were providing an additional avenue for consumers.
Stabroek News was told by a variety of online suppliers that customers turned to online shopping to get trendy items that may take time to get to Guyana such as electronics and clothing.
