In Bangladesh, small outlets and MSMEs have lengthy dominated commerce however face a vital conundrum. Whereas smartphone penetration deepens and digital funds turn into mainstream and hundreds of thousands of small companies try to transition from conventional retail to e-commerce, the instruments to promote effectively on-line stay stubbornly out of attain.
Many current international e-commerce platforms demand technical experience, hefty month-to-month subscriptions, and bank cards, all briefly provide for a lot of of those MSMEs and digital retailers in Bangladesh. Moreover, many of those platforms are too advanced, and critically, not designed for native market situations.
As a substitute, these entrepreneurs cobble collectively makeshift options, primarily promoting by means of Fb (therefore F-commerce) with handbook record-keeping and cash-on-delivery preparations.
This digital disconnect, hundreds of thousands of small sellers unable to entry appropriate e-commerce infrastructure regardless of keen prospects, shouldn’t be distinctive to Bangladesh. Throughout South Asia and the Center East, a curious paradox exists: speedy digital adoption on the shopper stage has outpaced the event of acceptable instruments for retailers.
This hole represents not only a enterprise alternative however a structural financial bottleneck. How do you digitize hundreds of thousands of small retailers who lack technical experience, capital sources, and entry to built-in native options?
Enter Zatiq, a three-year-old startup that is constructed an all-in-one e-commerce infrastructure particularly engineered for rising markets. The corporate says it goals to simplify the transition to on-line enterprise for SMEs in Bangladesh and past by providing a collection of accessible, reasonably priced, and user-friendly options that deal with each the entry-level wants of first-time sellers and the superior necessities of scaling manufacturers.
Its thesis is deceptively easy: by eradicating technical limitations and upfront prices, whereas integrating deeply with native fee and logistics methods, they will unlock a large $100B+ alternative by activating 30M+ presently untapped sellers throughout South Asia and MENA. The corporate says it has enabled over 65,000 sellers to generate $17.35 million in income in 2024, specializing in making on-line enterprise easy and accessible with zero upfront prices. In 2025 Thus far, the corporate says it scaled additional, empowering greater than 150,000 sellers and driving $33.75 million in income.
Zatiq now positions itself as an ecosystem for retailers of each dimension. ZatiqEasy makes beginning easy for MSMEs and first-time sellers, whereas ZatiqPlus equips scaling manufacturers with superior stock, buyer, and finance instruments.
The corporate can also be making ready Provider Integration for seamless sourcing and multi-channel gross sales, alongside Zatiq AI for product visuals and content material. To broaden entry, a Free Plan will let retailers launch shops with 5 merchandise and 10 month-to-month orders for free of charge.
The Market Hole
Bangladesh alone has roughly 10 million SMEs contributing roughly 25% of the nation’s GDP. The broader South Asian and MENA e-commerce market is projected to achieve $140 billion by 2030. But conventional e-commerce enablement platforms have did not seize this marketplace for a number of structural causes.
Technical complexity limitations. Platforms like Shopify require technical data that many small enterprise homeowners in rising markets do not possess
Excessive upfront prices. Month-to-month subscription charges create important limitations in price-sensitive markets
Lacking native integrations. International platforms lack native integration with vital native providers akin to cell monetary providers like bKash and Nagad (Bangladesh), native logistics suppliers conversant in advanced addressing methods, and domestically trusted fee gateways.
Lastly, platforms constructed for Western markets assume enterprise formality, banking relationships, and technical infrastructure that always do not exist
The outcome: whereas there are over 300,000 companies actively promoting by means of Fb in Bangladesh alone (a phenomenon often known as F-commerce), most hit a development ceiling. They can not scale past handbook operations or compete successfully with out skilled e-commerce instruments.
That is greater than a know-how drawback—it is a structural financial inefficiency.
This hole doesn’t simply have an effect on micro-merchants. As Zatiq highlights, bigger SMEs and established manufacturers additionally face bottlenecks when making an attempt to digitize at scale.
Enterprise-grade options typically assume Western-style provide chains, banking methods, and shopper behaviors—making them tough to adapt domestically. By introducing ZatiqPlus for superior operations, ZatiqEasy for micro-merchants, and a forthcoming Provider Integration community to attach sellers straight with trusted producers and wholesalers, Zatiq positions itself as a bridge throughout the total spectrum of service provider wants in rising markets.
Zatiq Answer: From Fast Launch to Enterprise Scale
Sultan Moni, Zatiq’s founder, frames the corporate’s mission with unabashed ambition: “We’re unlocking a $100bn market alternative by empowering 30m untapped sellers.” The corporate’s flagship product, Zatiq Straightforward, makes an equally daring promise, creating totally practical on-line shops “in simply 10 seconds.”
Such claims would sometimes warrant skepticism, but the corporate’s traction suggests substance behind the advertising and marketing aptitude. Since launching in 2022, Zatiq claims to have enabled over 150,000 retailers throughout Bangladesh, who’ve collectively generated greater than $33.75 million in income this 12 months alone.
The corporate now employs 32 individuals and has expanded its operations throughout seven departments, with backing from Dekko ISHO Enterprise Capital, a outstanding Bangladeshi investor.
What makes Zatiq noteworthy shouldn’t be merely its development trajectory however its basically completely different strategy to e-commerce infrastructure. Relatively than trying to transplant Western platforms with some native changes, Zatiq constructed its ecosystem from the bottom up across the particular constraints of rising markets: mobile-first customers with restricted technical data, fragmented fee and supply methods, and intensely price-sensitive retailers.
The result’s a platform that appears nearly implausibly simplified in comparison with many current alternate options. Creating a web-based retailer requires no coding data and prices simply 500 taka (roughly $4.50) month-to-month—lower than one-sixth the entry-level worth of Shopify, the Canadian e-commerce large.
But inside this simplicity lies subtle integration with native fee methods like bKash and Nagad, and logistics suppliers together with Pathao, Redx, and Steadfast—corporations nearly unknown outdoors the area however vital to commerce inside it.
The Three-legged Digital Stool
Zatiq’s strategy extends past mere storefront creation. The corporate frames its providing as a “three-pillar answer” addressing what it sees as the basic limitations to digital commerce success in these markets: technical complexity, stock entry, and data gaps.
The primary pillar, Zatiq Straightforward, handles the technological heavy lifting, permitting retailers to create and handle professional-looking on-line shops with out technical data.
For scaling SMEs and established manufacturers, ZatiqPlus extends this basis with enterprise-grade modules for stock, advertising and marketing, finance, and buyer administration.
Individually, Zatiq AI offers retailers with artistic instruments—producing polished product visuals, professional-quality photos, and compelling descriptions—serving to even the smallest sellers challenge an enterprise-ready presence.
The second, Zatiq Provider, connects these retailers with each native and worldwide suppliers by means of what the corporate calls a “pay-after-sale” mannequin—primarily permitting retailers to listing merchandise with out holding stock, mitigating money circulate constraints.
Wanting ahead, this provider community will develop right into a Provider Integration system, permitting retailers to supply merchandise seamlessly and promote throughout a number of channels from a single dashboard—eradicating one of many largest bottlenecks for development in rising markets.
The third, Zatiq Academy, offers entry to e-commerce training and knowledgeable providers.
This holistic strategy displays a complicated understanding of the interconnected challenges going through small retailers in these economies.
Merely offering web site templates could be inadequate when retailers wrestle to supply dependable stock or lack the data to optimize their digital operations. By addressing these linked constraints concurrently, Zatiq goals to create a self-reinforcing ecosystem that may probably scale throughout related rising markets.
A Completely different Form of Disruption
In Silicon Valley parlance, disruption sometimes entails difficult incumbent companies with new know-how. Zatiq’s mannequin represents a unique selection, not displacing current e-commerce giants however somewhat constructing infrastructure the place practical alternate options barely exist.
The corporate’s true opponents should not Shopify or WooCommerce however somewhat the handbook, casual methods that retailers have cobbled collectively: Fb pages with WhatsApp ordering, paper ledgers for stock, and money funds.
Essentially the most telling statistic about Zatiq’s potential market comes not from its personal projections however from the Bangladesh authorities’s estimate that the nation has roughly 10 million small and medium enterprises contributing roughly 25% of GDP.
The overwhelming majority of those companies stay digitally underserved, working with minimal know-how regardless of serving more and more digital shoppers.
Comparable patterns exist throughout Zatiq’s goal growth markets. Pakistan has round 5.2 million SMEs contributing practically 40% of GDP. Egypt’s roughly 3.7 million SMEs generate round 80% of the nation’s jobs and 40% of financial output. Saudi Arabia and the UAE, whereas wealthier, nonetheless have important SME sectors working under their digital potential regardless of excessive web penetration and smartphone utilization.
Such projections would sometimes warrant skepticism, however the sheer dimension of the untapped market makes them at the least theoretically achievable, offered the corporate can handle the advanced challenges of multi-market growth whereas sustaining its technological edge.
The Economics of Accessibility
Maybe most intriguing about Zatiq’s mannequin is its enterprise mannequin innovation. Whereas many current e-commerce platforms sometimes cost $29-299 month-to-month plus transaction charges, ZatiqEasy presents two fascinating alternate options: both a flat 500 taka month-to-month charge (roughly $4.50) with no per-transaction fees or a Free Plan will let retailers launch shops with 5 merchandise and 10 month-to-month orders for free of charge. The free plan expands accessibility and is designed to let first-time sellers experiment with digital commerce with out monetary threat, whereas providing a transparent improve path to increased tiers as their companies develop.
For companies aiming to scale, ZatiqPlus is accessible with versatile subscription tiers and enterprise plans tailor-made for bigger operations.
This pricing construction displays a complicated understanding of rising market economics, the place month-to-month money circulate constraints typically outweigh long-term price effectivity. By permitting retailers to decide on between mounted and variable price buildings, Zatiq accommodates each established companies and newcomers testing the digital waters.
The economics work for Zatiq due to decrease working prices in its residence market and distinctive capital effectivity. Its know-how stack was constructed in-house with native engineering expertise somewhat than costly imported options.
Buyer acquisition leverages current social networks and neighborhood buildings somewhat than pricey digital promoting. Assist operations make the most of native expertise conversant in the particular challenges of retailers in these markets.
This strategy contrasts sharply with Western know-how corporations which have struggled to adapt their enterprise fashions to rising market realities.
Many have tried to enter these markets with primarily unchanged merchandise and pricing, solely to achieve a tiny fraction of potential customers.
Zatiq’s bottom-up strategy, constructing particularly for native constraints somewhat than adapting international templates, could show extra sustainable in the long term.
Origin, Evolution, and Development
Zatiq’s story begins with a transparent drawback identification: the rising hole between social commerce {and professional} e-commerce in Bangladesh. Whereas 300,000+ companies had been actively promoting on Fb, they lacked correct instruments to scale effectively.
Based in 2022 by Sultan Moni, the corporate targeted on speedy iteration based mostly on actual consumer suggestions. This strategy proved essential in a market the place conventional market analysis typically fails to seize the nuanced challenges of small companies.
The preliminary thesis was easy: simplify the transition to on-line enterprise for SMEs in Bangladesh by providing an accessible, reasonably priced, and user-friendly platform that addressed their distinctive challenges. The founding staff introduced international expertise, having constructed and scaled startups throughout Canada, Pakistan, Nigeria, and the UAE.
What’s significantly attention-grabbing is how Zatiq advanced by means of deliberate, user-centric improvement:
- Section 1: Know-how Barrier Elimination: Creating an ultra-simple platform that anybody may use
- Section 2: Provide Chain Integration: Constructing a provider community with pay-after-sale fashions
- Section 3: Data Switch: Creating an knowledgeable market for steerage and automation
This phased strategy allowed Zatiq to handle the three core obstacles stopping small companies from scaling on-line: know-how limitations, stock entry, and experience gaps.
Whereas Zatiq began with web site creation, it has advanced into a way more complete platform. The present product consists of:
- Web site Builder: Zero-coding required, creates websites in 10 seconds
- Enterprise Administration Instruments: On-line order administration, stock monitoring, receipt printing
- Advertising Integration: Fb Pixel and GTM integration, loyalty applications
- Monetary Instruments: Fee processing, monetary reporting
- Logistics Administration: Built-in supply providers, monitoring, and notifications
- Provider Community: Direct connections to product suppliers with pay-after-sale fashions
- Skilled Ecosystem: Entry to verified consultants for consulting and retailer automation
- AI Instruments: Picture enhancing, product photoshoot technology, and automatic content material creation for product descriptions
- Enterprise Modules: Superior stock, CRM, finance dashboards, and multi-warehouse administration for scaling manufacturers
What makes this strategy highly effective is that it creates a whole enterprise ecosystem somewhat than only a technical device.
Combinedly, timing, a product that meets the wants of its customers, and a artistic enterprise mannequin, has helped Zatiq to develop from an thought to Bangladesh’s fastest-growing e-commerce enablement platform in just some years.
The corporate now employs 32 professionals throughout seven departments and has expanded its operations past Bangladesh.
Present metrics showcase spectacular traction:
- 1,50,000+ energetic retailers
- 405+ crore BDT (~$33.75M USD) in facilitated gross sales
- Operations in Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Pakistan, and Egypt
The corporate has additionally secured backing from Dekko ISHO Enterprise Capital (DIVC), offering capital for growth.
What’s significantly notable is diversifying income streams. Whereas the core enterprise comes from subscription charges, the growth into provider marketplaces and knowledgeable providers creates extra monetization alternatives as retailers develop.
Challenges amid alternative
Regardless of promising early traction, important obstacles stay on Zatiq’s path to reaching its formidable development targets. Infrastructure limitations persist throughout its goal markets, with inconsistent web connectivity nonetheless plaguing rural areas.
Academic limitations require substantial funding in consumer onboarding and assist.
Belief-building stays important in areas the place digital commerce is comparatively new and buyer skepticism runs excessive.
Maybe most difficult might be sustaining platform scalability and efficiency whereas rising exponentially throughout numerous markets with completely different regulatory environments, fee methods, and logistics networks. The corporate’s plans for AI-driven instruments and enhanced analytics would require subtle know-how improvement past its present capabilities.
Aggressive threats additionally loom. International platforms with deep pockets may probably develop simplified, localized choices for these markets. Native opponents with robust regional connections may emerge in every goal nation. There are in truth a number of native gamers in Bangladesh working on this house.
Because the potential of those markets turns into extra widely known, competitors will inevitably intensify.
But Zatiq’s first-mover benefit and deep native integration create significant limitations to entry.
The corporate’s connections with native fee suppliers, supply providers, and provider networks could be tough for brand spanking new entrants to duplicate rapidly. Its rising service provider base offers beneficial information for steady enchancment and have improvement.
Most significantly, its elementary understanding of native market dynamics informs product selections in ways in which could be difficult for outsiders to match.
Digital Infrastructure as Financial Catalyst
Past its enterprise potential, Zatiq represents one thing probably extra important: a brand new mannequin for digital financial improvement constructed from inside rising markets somewhat than imposed from outdoors.
By creating infrastructure particularly designed for native realities, such platforms may probably allow hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs to take part within the digital financial system on their very own phrases.
The financial impression extends past direct platform revenues to broader results all through native economies: job creation as companies scale, elevated formalization of beforehand casual actions, expanded market entry for native producers, better monetary inclusion by means of digital fee adoption, and abilities improvement as entrepreneurs purchase digital capabilities.
If profitable in its regional growth, Zatiq and firms prefer it may assist reshape the digital commerce panorama throughout areas the place small companies have traditionally been excluded from e-commerce development.
The businesses that efficiently bridge these infrastructure gaps could finally create extra financial worth than their extra seen counterparts in developed markets—not by disrupting current retail channels, however by enabling solely new ones.
For now, Zatiq stays targeted on execution, repeatedly refining its platform whereas fastidiously managing its growth throughout culturally and economically numerous markets. Whether or not it could actually efficiently navigate these challenges will decide if it actually turns into the infrastructure spine for a brand new technology of digital entrepreneurs throughout South Asia and the Center East.
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