E-commerce in Afghanistan

E-commerce

Internet access

Afghanistan has a population of 33.3 million, of which only 2.2 million have access to the internet (for a penetration rate of 6.8%). Though the country has seen a steady rise in mobile broadband penetration over the past five years, the Afghan market is still at an early stage of development and penetration remains relatively low compared to other countries in Asia. The most popular web search engines in Afghanistan are Google (96.3%), Bing and Yahoo (1.8% and 1.2% respectively).

E-commerce market

The e-commerce market in Afghanistan is still in an infant stage. This is due to several factors: first of all the country’s poor IT infrastructure, the lack of secure online payment methods and also the cultural tradition according to which Afghans prefer to buy from nearby shops they are familiar with. Long delivery times also hinder online retail (especially in the capital Kabul). As of now, the vast majority of payments are made as cash on delivery, though the government is planning to implement the “Afghanistan Payments Systems (APS)”, a national country level payment switch which is a gateway to all online local and international payment schemes (including mobile payments), which is expected to help e-commerce grow in the country. Some of the main local online stores are: Amtaa, Afghan Bazar, Azad Bazar, afom.af, JVBazar.com and zarinas.com.