The Impact of Payments in Bangladesh on Boosting Conversions

Bangladesh Payment (BP) can have a significant impact on increasing conversion rates for e-commerce or cross-border business, especially when targeting the local Bangladeshi market. Below are the key influencing factors and optimisation recommendations:

1. Importance of localised payment methods

  • Mainstream payment instruments::
    Bangladeshi consumers are highly dependent on localised payment methods such as:

    • bKash(70%+ market share of mobile payments)
    • Nagad(Rapidly growing government-supported e-wallet)
    • Rocket(DBBL Bank's popular wallet)
    • Low bank transfer/credit card penetration(Only about 151 TP3T of the population have bank cards).

  • Conversion rate bottleneck::
    If the platform only supports international credit cards or PayPal, it may cause potential customers of Super 50% to abandon their orders due to payment inconvenience.

2. How to increase conversion rates through payment optimisation?

(1) Integration of local e-wallets

  • bKash, Nagad, etc. support instant transfers and the process is simpler than bank cards.
  • case (law): After a cross-border e-commerce company accessed bKash, the conversion rate of Bangladeshi orders increased by 351 TP3T.

(2) OTP/SMS Authentication Optimisation

  • Bangladesh operator network instability, need to ensure high OTP delivery rate; can access multiple SMS service providers for backup.

(3) Cash on Delivery (COD) Option

  • COD still accounts for 40%-60% of e-commerce orders in Bangladesh, especially for low-trust users.
  • Risk Warning: COD rejection rate needs to be controlled (risk can be reduced through pre-authorisation or credit scoring).

(4) UI/UX Adaptation

  • Displays local currency (BDT), language support (Bengali), and highlights familiar payment icons.

3. Other considerations

considerations affect (usually adversely) prescription
exchange control Restrictions on some international transactions Co-operation with local licensed payment gateways
network latency Slow page loads lead to abandoned orders Accelerated with local servers/CDN
Policy compliance Subject to Bangladesh Bank regulations Choose a partner who has been licensed

4. Data-driven continuous optimisation

It is recommended to compare the conversion performance of different payments through A/B testing. Example:

  1. Group A: international card options only
  2. Group B: Priority display bKash/Nagad

Typically Group B will have a significantly higher checkout completion rate.

reach a verdict

In Bangladesh market, ignoring local payment methods may lead to a large number of user loss. Priority integration of bKash, Nagad and other channels, combined with COD strategy and user experience optimisation, can effectively improve the overall conversion rate and GMV. for more information, please contact us for specific technical implementation solutions or cooperation resources recommendation!

Okay, next I'm going to focus onDeep optimisation strategies for the payment chain, andrisk controltooemerging trendExpanded to help further maximise the conversion rate boosting effect of the Bangladeshi market.

5. Deep optimisation strategies for the payment chain

(1) Segmented payment process design

  • Phase 1: Lightweight information gathering
    Reduce initial friction by only requiring a mobile phone number (for sending bKash/Nagad payment links).
    case (law)Daraz's "1-Click bKash" feature in Bangladesh reduces settlement time by 60%.

  • Phase 2: Dynamic payment option sequencing
    Prioritise the display of the most likely choice of payment method based on user behavioural data (e.g. old users recommend credit cards, new users recommend COD).

(2) Automatic recovery mechanism for failed payments

  • Common reasons for bKash transaction failure include insufficient balance or OTP timeout. The following actions can be triggered automatically:
    • Real-time push notification of Nagad as an alternative;
    • Provide a "pay later" link (valid for 24 hours).

(3) Advance deposit strategy for COD users

  • Background to the issue: COD rejection rates of up to 25%-30% (especially in the fashion category).
  • prescription:
    Requiring users to lock in their orders with a 10% deposit via bKash reduces seller risk without significantly affecting conversions.

6. Deeper Risk Control | Risk Control and Anti-fraud

(1) Deeper Risk Control |

Type of risk Localisation features mitigation
E-wallet fraud Stealing someone else's bKash account to top up Mandatory SMS verification + first transaction limit ≤ 5000 BDT
COD abuse False address/duplicate rejections Establishment of blacklist database sharing consortia (e.g., lessons from Evaly)
Policy volatility Central Bank Suddenly Suspends Cross-Border Collection Channels Setting aside the Local Settlement buffer

(2) Dynamic Pricing for Payment Costs

Transparent and pass-through options for processing costs for different payment methods:

  • bKash fee 2% → "1% discount if using bank transfer"
  • COD surcharge 50 BDT → "Choose to pay online and get 50 BDT off"

7. Emerging Trends to Watch

(1) BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later)

Although still in its early stages, local players have begun to test the waters: