Security worries are the primary reason for low adoption rates of e-commerce, say the professors of Wollongong University. Of course this study does not cover SME's in the
region. The article simply goes to say that the study should help us figure out what to do and what not to do.
Here's a tip: currently, this is not why e-commerce is not even adopted in the region. The reason is quite simply that it is prohibitively expensive for a business to set it up. Oh yes, I have gone through the motions. It is terrible!
First, you start asking the guys at etisalat how to go about doing it. They tell you that you need to talk to a list of banks. You talk to the banks to find that they don't all offer these services. There are only 3 that do. Only 2 of them can actually help. National Bank of Dubai is naturally the useless one. They only offer their services to government and semi-government organizations. How about that? There is Emirates Bank and National Bank of Abu Dhabi. Emirates Bank are clueless. They had no idea what to do with us and I simply gave up trying to talk to someone who had anything between their ears. NBAD was to the rescue.
AED 50,000/- deposit (refundable) + AED 5,000/- annual fee. This goes to the bank. Then you have to pay the eCommerce folks at etisalat some of your money too. The bank also charges you a commission (a pretty heavy one if I can remember).
I asked one of the bankers in the department why it was so expensive. His answer was: the POS credit card machines they use at retailers are a lot cheaper and their commission is much lower. So they make up for the cost this way. My next question was, how many clients do you have for this service? 14. FOURTEEN! Granted, this was last year, but come on!
So, instead of making any money, they decided that it should cost so much that it would put any young entrepreneur off completely.
Give us the tools and we'll deal with the security issues.
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7 comments:
Does one have to use Etisalat though? Aren't there third party options such as having an Amazon shop, that kind of thing?
Sure, but what if you are selling services, which make up the majority of businesses in the UAE? Other third-party credit card gateways are geared for the adult industry, which is even worse, since their risk is considerably higher.
You also have to worry about local banks allowing the use of credit cards with certain gateways. So, ideally you want to have something that is local to you to avoid any complications that your clients may face.
Generally eCommerce here is regarded as a very high risk business by the (few) banks and etisalat.
I also faced the same problem. It is very difficult to understand why it is so much difficult to use the payment gateway on the website.
The article was very much useful for newcomers who would not break their heads.
For e-commerce to flourish, the security should be tightened so as to make sure the strategic plan i safe within the e-commerce site.This allows the online store to take full advantage in the e-commerce industry.
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Thanks so much for this helpful information come back again for more interesting information…Keep it up
Nadkaar - Dubai Website Design
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Awesome blog! Thanks for sharing useful information.
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