Ecommerce in Africa and Asia: How start-ups can benefit from tomorrow's emerging markets

The ecommerce industry in Ghana, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nigeria might sound like a dead market, but there are start-ups testing out the waters in those areas. One of these companies is Saltside Technologies, a digital sales platform entering these markets.

"Most start-ups from Europe, they don't focus on these kind of emerging markets," Nils Hammar, CEO and founder of the ecommerce platform, told IBTimes UK. "That's one of the reasons why we are there because it's pretty empty when it comes to competition."

Start ups and ecommerce giants often go for the BRIC countries. IBTimes UK interviewed the CEO of American Auction in October about SMEs in China. The ecommerce infrastructure and environment in the current emerging countries are obvious, and the consumer market is increasingly more appealing.

However, tomorrow's emerging markets are also becoming more and more popular for ecommerce start-ups. "Even though those countries are poor and internet penetration is low, you see a fast transformation of those countries," Hammar said. "They mature and get more and more attractive every year."

However, the opportunities that western countries offer for ecommerce companies and digital start-ups are often taken for granted, according to Hammar. The issues of trust and fraud are very typical for the African and Asian Markets Saltside Technologies is exploring.

"You lack the basic infrastructure that you need for ecommerce. It's hard to find reliable deliveries, it's hard to find really good payment providers," he said in the case of Bangladesh.