E-commerce platform to promote Lao products to AEC
E-commerce platform to promote Lao products to AEC
A new benchmark e-commerce platform is set to promote Lao pr oducts to the Asean Economic Community within the next few months, according to a local entrepreneur.
All Lao products, property and other trade will be listed online at www.laomall.la with a specific emphasis on promoting the nation within the AEC.
Chairman and CEO of AEK Group Company Limited, Mr Oudasack Lasoukanh, told Vientiane Times on Friday that he got the idea from overseas visits and was determined to adapt the concept to Laos.
“I saw so many websites in other countries promoting their products and asked myself why we can't do that here in Laos,” he said.
Mr Oudasack said Laos was focusing on turning itself into a land-linked nation to integrate with other Asean Community members.
“We are a landlocked country so becoming a land link is a good way to promote local produc ts to the region and I see the e-commerce platform as being important to this,” he said.
The AEK Group has gathered local IT engineers to develop the platform since October 2015 while adhering to the Law on Electronic Transactions.
The platform is expected to be fully operational in the next two months but a beta version can already be accessed. The company is working with the Ministry of Science and Technology as well as the One District, One Product (ODOP) initiative in the development, and to upload local products onto the site.
The company last week signed an e-commerce and ICT cooperation agreement with the Lao Development Bank and plans to collaborate with logistics companies on product deliveries.
“We will sell everything through the platform except prohibited items like drugs, alcohol, weapons and other things,” Mr Oudasack said.
The website will not only sell local products Laos but is welcoming those from other countries, particularly Asean nations.
“Lao people can buy something from Vietnam or Thailand and those people can also buy things from Laos,” he said.
Vientiane Times found several websites selling similar products online but the AEK Group e-commerce platform is som ewhat different, having formalised cooperation with related sectors and banks.
“We would like to make the site perfect before officially launching it in the next two months,” Mr Oudasack said.
