How to start an ecommerce business in Bangladesh (2026 guide)

Starting an ecommerce business in Bangladesh has never needed less: a product people want, a phone, a bKash merchant account and a courier who will pick up from your door. What still trips people up is the order of things — spending on a website before there is a product, or running ads before payments and delivery actually work.

This guide walks through the whole path in the order that works, with the honest trade-offs at each step. It is written for a first-time seller, but the sections on payments, couriers and cash-on-delivery fraud apply just as much to a Facebook page that is ready to become a real store.

What you actually need before day one

You do not need a company, an office or a developer to sell online in Bangladesh. You do need:

• A product and a supply: something you can restock. Test demand on a small batch before you commit to inventory.
• A business phone number: the number customers call and message on WhatsApp. Keep it separate from your personal number from the start.
• A bKash merchant account: bKash is where most online payments in Bangladesh happen, and a merchant account is what lets you take them as a business. bKash asks for business identity documents — check their current requirements and apply early, because approval takes time.
• A courier account: Pathao and Steadfast both onboard small merchants and pick up from your location. Open an account before your first order, not after.
• Photos: clear, well-lit product photos on a plain background. A phone camera is fine; consistency matters more than equipment.

A trade licence is not required to open a Facebook page or an online store, but you will need one for a bKash merchant account and for most bank and courier contracts, so it is worth starting the process.

Where to sell: Facebook page, marketplace or your own website

Most Bangladeshi sellers start on Facebook, and that is fine — it is where the customers are. The problem is what happens next. Orders arrive in Messenger, addresses get copied by hand, payments are chased one by one, and you never own the customer list. A marketplace like Daraz brings traffic but takes commission and controls the relationship.

Your own website fixes both: orders come in with the address and phone number already filled in, payment and delivery are handled in one place, and every customer is in your list for the next campaign. The three common ways to get one:

Option	Time to launch	What you manage	Best for
Hosted platform (e.g. Eazifiy)	Minutes	Products and orders from a panel	Sellers who want to sell, not build
WooCommerce (WordPress)	Days	Hosting, theme, plugins, updates	Sellers who already have a developer
Shopify	Hours	Apps and USD billing	Sellers mostly outside Bangladesh

The right choice depends on who will maintain it. If the answer is "me, from my phone," a hosted platform is the only option that does not eventually stall. We compare the trade-offs in more detail in Eazifiy vs WooCommerce and Eazifiy vs Shopify.

Keep the Facebook page either way — it becomes your marketing channel, with the website as the place orders actually happen.

Set up payments: bKash and cash on delivery

Two payment methods cover almost every Bangladeshi customer:

1. Cash on delivery (COD) — the customer pays the courier at the door. Most first orders are COD, because the customer does not know you yet.
2. bKash — the customer pays from their bKash app or number before delivery.

You need both. COD gets the first order; bKash gets the repeat orders and cuts the return rate. On a hosted platform both are built in — on Eazifiy you connect your own bKash merchant account under Payment Methods and the money goes straight to it, never through the platform. With WooCommerce or Shopify you add a plugin or gateway app and configure it separately.

Two settings are worth turning on as soon as bKash works:

• Advance payment on COD orders: ask for a small bKash payment (for example, the delivery charge) to confirm a cash-on-delivery order. Fake orders stop at this step, and real customers rarely object.
• A discount for paying in full with bKash: even a small one nudges customers away from COD, which means fewer returns and money in hand before the parcel leaves.

For the details of every way to accept bKash on a website, see bKash payment gateway for your website.

Pick a courier and connect it

Pathao and Steadfast are the two couriers most small online stores in Bangladesh start with. Both pick up from your address, deliver nationwide, collect COD and remit it to you on a schedule. Rates are per parcel and depend on weight and destination zone — check their current rate cards rather than any number you read online.

What matters more than the rate is the workflow:

• Can you create the parcel from the order without retyping the address? On Eazifiy an order is pushed to Pathao or Steadfast from the admin panel in one click.
• Does delivery status come back automatically? If not, you will be checking two dashboards for every parcel.
• Can you see a customer's return history before shipping? Both couriers expose a fraud-check API; a hosted platform can show a buyer's delivered-versus-returned record on the order itself.

Start with one courier, learn its pickup times and remittance cycle, and add a second only when you have a reason to.

Build the store

Whatever platform you choose, the store needs the same things on launch day:

• Products with variants (size, colour) and stock counts, so you never sell what you do not have. If your catalogue already exists in a spreadsheet, use bulk import rather than typing it in.
• A mobile-first design — the large majority of your visitors will be on a phone.
• Checkout with bKash and COD, delivery charge by area, and a confirmation page that tells the customer what happens next.
• Your own domain once you are serious. A free yourname.eazifiy.com address is fine to start; connecting yourname.com takes a few minutes from the admin panel and SSL is automatic.
• Policies: a clear return and refund policy and a contact number. Customers check for these before paying in advance.

Do not spend weeks on design before the first sale. A clean template, real photos and honest product descriptions outsell a custom design with no traffic.

Get the first orders

With payments and delivery working, traffic is the only remaining problem. In rough order of cost:

1. Your existing Facebook page and WhatsApp contacts. Announce the store, link every product post to its product page, and reply to comments with the link instead of "inbox please."
2. Facebook and Instagram ads with the Meta pixel installed on the store, so you can measure purchases rather than clicks. Start with a small daily budget on one product and one audience.
3. SMS and WhatsApp to past customers for restocks and offers. This is the cheapest repeat-order channel there is, and it only works if the customer list lives on your store rather than in Messenger.
4. Google: product pages with proper titles and descriptions get found over time. It is slow, but free and compounding.

Track one number in the first month: cost per delivered order. Ad spend divided by orders that actually reached the customer and were paid for — not by orders placed.

What it costs

Be honest with yourself about the running costs before you start:

• The platform. Hosted platforms charge a monthly subscription; Eazifiy plans are ৳599, ৳999 and ৳1,890 per month (or yearly), and any plan starts at ৳200 a month for the first 2 months. WooCommerce is free software, but hosting, a theme and paid plugins add up, and Shopify bills in US dollars.
• Couriers. Per parcel, plus a COD collection charge. Build this into your delivery charge or your price.
• bKash. Merchant transaction fees on each payment — check bKash's current merchant rates.
• Ads. Whatever you decide; the only rule is to measure it against delivered orders.
• Returns. The hidden cost. Every refused COD parcel costs the outbound and return shipping. This is why advance payment and fraud checks pay for themselves.

Mistakes to avoid

• Running ads before payments and delivery work. Every problem shows up at ten times the scale.
• Taking orders by hand from Messenger. It works for five orders a day and falls apart at fifty.
• Shipping COD to anyone. Check the phone number, confirm the order, and use advance payment for high-value items.
• Ignoring the customer list. The second order costs a fraction of the first. Keep the list on your store and use it.
• Building for a year of growth on day one. Launch small, learn what sells, and upgrade when the numbers say so.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a trade licence to sell online in Bangladesh? Not to open a page or a store, but a bKash merchant account and most courier and bank agreements will ask for one. Start the application early.

Can I start with cash on delivery only? Yes, and most sellers do. Add bKash as soon as your merchant account is approved — it is the single biggest lever for reducing returns.

How much should I budget to start? Inventory aside, a hosted store costs less than a month's phone bill to start: Eazifiy's first 2 months are ৳200 a month on any plan. Reserve the rest for product photos and a small ad test.

Facebook page or website first? Both, in that order — but move orders to the website as soon as it exists. The page brings people; the store takes the money and keeps the customer.

Ready to try it? Every Eazifiy plan includes the storefront, the admin panel, bKash and COD checkout and Pathao & Steadfast courier — see pricing or the full feature list.