Online shopping is growing rapidly against the dominance of traditional physical marketplaces in Cambodia. Pioneering online stores – such as Khmer24, 7makara, Shop168, SnapyShop, and Kaymu – have been trying to change the way people shop, but they are still far from being true e-commerce platforms.

Their platforms are usually complicated to use; consumers are having a hard time finding what they are looking for; shoppers can’t complete the transaction from a touch of a few button, sleeping in their bedroom. In some ways, shops that market their products on social media channels like Facebook, Instagram and Line seem to provide a similar, yet much easier, experience to customers.

Payment is still conducted offline, and if there is an online payment gateway, people are still reluctant to give out their credit card’s information as they are still not convinced that it is safe enough to do so.

E-commerce in Cambodia still has a lot to improve to reach the full potential. If we want to see the next Amazon, or Alibaba in Cambodia, here are four ways we should do.

Educate people on how to use the Internet for e-commerce

Many Cambodians still lack basic computer skills, let alone shop online. A great number of them have at least one Facebook account; they can like, share and comment, yet in the e-commerce world, we are talking about the ability to understand the sign up process, to navigate the site to favorite products, to check for price, delivery method, and features of the products, and to use your credit card for payment.

There are still many parents who are not like their children who can handle everything so easily on the Internet. These people need extra support. It would be great if the online shopping sites offer a 24/7 customer service.

Build an extremely easy-to-use one-stop platform

People hate having to go through too many pages and click too many things. We have to make them feel that it is extremely easy to sign up, to search for goods, to check the products features, to compare the price, to add the items to the cart, and of course to purchase.

On top of that, the increasing rate of mobile penetration proves the potential of smart devices as the huge shopping channel to reach a wide range of customers in Cambodia. To build a one-stop solution, online shopping businesses need to invest in both web and mobile platforms.

Make electronic payment system available and reliable

One of the biggest barriers for e-commerce business is consumer’s skepticism about online payment system in Cambodia. A secure payment service plays a key role in building people’s trust in giving up their credit card and other personal information. A simple, reliable, and fast payment method on all the platforms will ensure a high-level of user’s peace of mind.

Improve delivery system

With an underdeveloped delivery infrastructure, e-commerce companies still find enormously difficult to get their products delivered affordably and efficiently to consumers. People want the products to arrive at their doorstep in a matter of a day. More importantly, the unintuitive numbering system of house, apartment, building, and road is another major issue for e-commerce, so we need to fix it.