“We are lagging behind quite poorly”

By Samantha Magick

In 2020 as shops and markets all over the world were forced to close due to the coronavirus, people shopped from home, with e-commerce seeing exponential growth in many markets. And the trend will continue. Online platform Shopify predicts the global e-commerce market will be worth US$4.89 trillion this year, or 21.8% of total retail sales.

“We have to ask ourselves the question, how much did the Pacific really benefit from this? You know, how much did MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium-sized enterprises) benefit? And more often than not, unfortunately, the answer is nil… MSMEs weren't really in that space,” the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat . . .

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