Dhaka — The Alesha Mart, an e-commerce company, started business on January 21 this year. In the last six months, the company has given a subsidy of Tk 350 crore by selling motorcycles at different discounts. At this time, it has made a profit of Tk140 crore. In all, the company’s net loss or subsidy stands at Tk 210 crore.
This information was presented at a press conference at the Westin Hotel in the capital on Sunday (July 18) by the chairman of Alesha Mart Limited. Manjur Alam Sikder.
“We launch Alesha Mart in January,” he said in a written statement. No products were sold that way in the first month. Then we started selling motorcycles with subsidies.
However, other products were not subsidized. In these seven months, we have become one of the top three e-commerce companies in the country. There have been a lot of complaints about e-commerce lately. Everyone may look the same. But so far there are no allegations against us. No product supplier will receive money. We have paid them Tk 350 crore in advance. Customers also have no complaints against us.
Alesha Mart has been set up as part of the Social Responsibility Program (CSR), said Manzur Alam Sikder, adding that other businesses are profitable for us. Here are the losses. Alesha Mart is now running as part of CSR. Surely this business model will change after some time. There is no CSR model in e-commerce anywhere in the world. We are doing business in this model for the first time.
“So far we have served about three and a half lakh orders,” he said. Of these, only 10 complaints have been received under the Consumer Rights Act. Most of the allegations have been settled. At present, the type of business of e-commerce industry all over the world including Bangladesh is to attract customers with discount offers.
The chairman of Alesha Mart Limited said, “We feel that the demand for motorbikes is high among the people of the country.” So, we have given a little more discount on this product along with other products to attract customers. In the last six months, we have sold motorcycles at various discounts and given a subsidy of Tk 350 crore. At this time, we have made a profit of 140 crore. In all, our net loss or subsidy is Tk210 crore.
“I would like to say that we do not want to occupy the market with discounts,” he said.
We will occupy the market with the service of our customers. To this end, we have set up our own bike delivery points for the convenience of the customers. Soon Alesha Mart will bring physical customer care service.
Recently, questions have been raised about the business activities of Evaly, Alesha Mart and several other such e-commerce businesses. Then the central bank started the investigation. This makes a huge difference in the income and expenditure of the organizations. After that, the banks of the country announced to suspend the card transactions in these institutions for the financial security of the customers. Last Saturday, bKash also announced that it will no longer deal with them.
