Submitted this under my MBA Program

1. Background
Bangladesh‟s top mobile phone operator GrameenPhone, and USA-based CellBazaar have
introduced a service connecting buyers and sellers in an electronic marketplace over the mobile
phone. It‟s like a more direct, more primitive e-Bay, a phone-based equivalent of newspaper
classified advertisements. The CellBazaar concept was developed at the MIT Media Lab by Kamal
Quadir and he later founded a company and established a partnership with Grameenphone. The
service enables sellers to list details of their products, produce or even services in a database while
buyers can look for any of this information through SMS. It will not handle transactions, but is
simply put buyers and sellers in contact with each other via mobile phone or PC.
A Brief Overview
Cell bazaar is a user-generated virtual marketplace, accessible by mobile phone or PC. Cell Bazaar
works through SMS code and messages; users enter the code 3838 and can post items to sell or
buy, as well as obtain market prices. This code can also be used to hear marketplace postings
through voice service, enabling users to browse by 8 categories: Jobs, Mobile Phones, Agriculture,
Motorcycle, Car, Electronics, Computers, and To-Let. CellBazaar is also WAP-enabled (Wireless
Application Protocol), a “next generation” mobile phone technology that provides a faster way of
browsing the online marketplace. The marketplace is also available online for anyone with a web
browser.

2. The success story of Mr. Kamal Quadir
Kamal Quadir's story is almost as interesting as CellBazaar's. Born and brought up in Jessore, the
world of cutting edge business practices and innovation must now seem a long way from his roots.
He says, “My childhood shaped this business in a very interesting way and the fact that it was not
from the epicentre that is Dhaka is probably most of the story. When I w as young I would see all
these little ads in the papers and hear news of fruit, grain and agricultural products in general and
how people would be selling them at what seemed like ridiculously low prices, at times they would
even be bartered for other goods,” He always wondered why the prices would be substantially
higher by the time those products came to us, and probably more than that he was astounded by
how cheap the goods actually were. That process of thought was the seed that eventually took more
than 20 years to mature into what is now CellBazaar.
Quadir's story does not just skip forward 20 years, it took almost two decades to nurture those
initial thoughts and his travels around the world actually shaped that. Quadir is quick to point out
that his father put a lot of emphasis on education. He attended university at Oberlin College, USA,
studying an interesting combination of Art and Economics. The economics part he attributes to his
parents wishes, “no one wants to be paying through their nose for a son's education and eventually
see that he is studying art. That concept is not understood, so I kept the economics part basically to
add legitimacy to my degree,” he says with a chuckle. In December 2005 almost exactly two years
ago, he started their journey; the first thing that needed to be done was to develop software which
would turn his idea into reality. A Danish-American-Bangladeshi outsourcing company was hired to
initially develop the software, which subsequently has been internalized. Now the application is run
and debugged entirely in-house. Initially the idea was to run the program via SMS, but then he
realized the potential of the internet on mobile phones and soon started up a WAP or mobile
internet version. After that they developed the web version of the program, thus making it available
to everyone with an internet connection.
The process is quite simple; when buying a product, the more specific one is about the search the
fewer messages one will need. To have a look around simply SMS 'buy' to 3838 to see the
categories and follow the instructions. To sell a product all one has to do is SMS 'sell' to 3838 and
then follow the instructions again; it is a remarkably easy process and takes only a few minutes. It
is easy to understand why it has become so successful in such a short period of time. But there is
one flaw in the whole system, which is that only Grameenphone users can buy and post through the
SMS method. One massive advantage of the process is that people cannot use a fake number for
phoney posts. That is a major problem faced by many of the up and coming auction websites in
Bangladesh. Sites such as ClickBD and bracNet suffer from a deluge of fake posts, sometimes
putting down absolute stranger's numbers and other times putting down numbers that do not even
exist.

3. : A market in your pocket
CellBazaar is an electronic trading forum that enables anyone with cell phone to conduct
transaction through its online platform. Launched in 2006, the US-incorporated company now
boasts more than a million users in Bangladesh. Originally developed as a classroom project by
Kamal during his days at the famed American educational institute MIT as a graduate student, the
concept of CellBazaar has proved to be ideally-suited for developing markets with low internet
penetration. CellBazaar experience has shown that widespread availability of mobile phones could
prove to be an ideal alternative, compensating for low internet density that previously was thought
to be essential for any online business transaction. The idea has widely been acclaimed by
international experts as a model of bringing the benefits of e-commerce to the doorsteps of third
world rural populace through a simple mobile phone handset. CellBazaar‟s method of providing
service has been a bit unconventional from the traditional business point of view. It does not
actually conduct transaction but simply puts buyers and sellers in contact with each other via
mobile phones. Signing in CellBazaar or posting any items on it is free of cost. One exclusive aspect
of CellBazzar is that for the first time it has provided a window for the farmers or producers of
agricultural products to directly negotiate prices with their customers and agro-processors. Thus, it
has come as a sort of alternative for the country‟s isolated and uninformed farmers and traders who
have little bargaining power to get rid of the exploitative middlemen. With the introduction of
mobile commerce in the government pipeline, local experts believe that CellBazaar and its existing
users would definitely have an edge over its competitors in the changing scenario. However, they
were also skeptical on the issue of security and transparency of transaction through such a medium
in the Bangladeshi context.
Buying Selling Process
Cell Bazaar is a service where mobile phone used as a 24 hours electronic market place. In Cell
Bazaar Sellers can post their product information to sell and buyers can search their desired
product to buy, using their mobile phone.
Sellers use their mobile phone interface to post goods they want to sell. This information is stored
on the central server. The sellers have the ability to -
o Post them
o Change or update
o delete the listed good after sale
Buyers use the cell phone to search for the goods they want to buy. They have the option of
optimizing their search by -

4. o They have the option of optimizing their search by Price, brand and location
o They can bookmark favorite items and return to them later
Once a buyer identifies a likely item, the buyer uses the application to contact the seller by SMS or
a direct phone call. After reaching an agreement, buyer and seller meet to close the deal.
How it works?
CellBazaar works on four synchronized platforms -
SMS : CellBazaar service can be availed by sending SMS to a dedicated port “3838” from all
basic mobile phone.
WAP: GP subscriber can avail the same service through their WAP enable handset browsing
wap.cellbazaar.com with easy graphic interface
WEB: CellBazaar is also available in WEB www.cellbazaar.com. Buyers and Sellers with
internet facility on computer can also avail the benefits of CellBazaar („seller‟ need to be a
GP subscriber).
IVR: Convenient for customers to listen to the latest posts by dialing “3838” and take buying
decision
Platforms
SMS
SMS (Short Message Service) has been
phenomenally popular since its
introduction in Bangladesh. CellBazaar
leverages the simple, widespread power of
SMS to bring the market to your phone. By
sending simple text messages to 3838,
you can post items for sale, look for items
to buy, and obtain current market prices
of products or services.
WAP
WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) is the next generation of mobile phone technology. 12%
of all mobile sets in Bangladesh are already WAP-enabled, and this number is growing
rapidly. WAP provides an even faster experience as you browse a simple graphic menu to
access the entire marketplace.

5. WEB
WEB version shows the entire market at a glance on computer screen. Anyone with internet
access can browse the market, and post items for sale. Items posted by WEB, WAP or SMS
are instantly visible to users of any platform. WEB platform also makes the local mobile-
based market available to an international audience.
VOICE
Any Grameenphone user can dial 3838 and listen to the latest items on the market in
Bengali. After dialing 3838, users choose from 8 categories: Jobs, Mobile Phones,
Agriculture, Motorcycle, Car, Electronics, Computers, and To-Let. Every few hours, users will
hear new information through this service.
Coverage
What is most interesting about CellBazaar is that it is not Dhaka-centric, there are currently roughly
10,000 items listed in over 60 different locations around the country, from Lakshmipur to Pirojpur
to Magura and even in the remote areas of Kurigram. This is where the idea really comes to life, it
has the possibility to connect the nation in a way no one could have even thought of before, the
overbearing middlemen who hike up prices could be done away with and personal finance could be
handled from one's own pocket.
Connectivity
Although 75% of Bangladesh‟s population has no access to electricity and Internet penetration is
only 0.03%, CellBazaar has more than one million users. A quarter of them use the service on a
regular basis, with about 550 new items posted each day. Almost all of that is by mobile phone,
though CellBazaar also offers an online platform.
CellBazaar empowers the rural community by giving access to the population where even electrical
power fails to reach and bring the market into the palm of their hands. The service allows for
greater transparency for traders such as farmer and fishermen to get better pricing for their goods.
CellBazaar gives the rural community better access and leverage into the market. As a result, a
recent research report found that 59% of the postings made on CellBazaar are from rural areas.
Partners
Grameenphone is Bangladesh's leading telecommunications service provider with more than 18
million subscribers. It is a joint venture between Telenor, the largest telecommunications service
provider in Norway with operations in 12 other countries, and Grameen Telecom Corporation.
Grameenphone has always been a pioneer in introducing new products and services in the local
market. GP was the first company to introduce GSM technology in Bangladesh in 1997. CellBazaar is
Grameenphone's exclusive provider of community-based, user-generated product & service market
on the mobile phone, via SMS and WAP technology.

6. Grameenphone Community Information Center (GPCIC) is a shared premise; where the rural people
can have access to wide range of state of art services such as Internet, voice communications, video
conferencing and all other information services. Set up with technical assistance from the GSM
Association, the Grameenphone Community Information Centers (GPCICs) are equipped with the
minimum of a computer, a printer, a scanner, a web cam and an EDGE-enabled modem to access
the Internet using the EDGE connectivity.
Katalyst aims at poverty reduction via private sector growth, mainly through small & medium
enterprises (SME) development. KATALYST is funded by DFID, SDC, Swedish Sida and Canadian CIDA
and is implemented by Swisscontact and GTZ International Services and works together with the
Bangladesh Ministry of Commerce.
Thakral is a Joint Venture between the Thakral Group of Singapore (operating in 30 countries) and
Esquire Group of Bangladesh. Thakral is IBM's exclusive representative in Bangladesh and works on
software development on mainframes, data warehousing, etc.
BracNet provides enterprise organizations with a high-speed dedicated Internet access via a Cisco
Powered backbone engineered for mission critical data. It is an affiliation of Brac, the world‟s
largest non-government organisation.
BRAC Bank Limited, with institutional shareholdings by BRAC, International Finance Corporation
(IFC) and Shorecap International, has been the fastest growing Bank in 2004 and 2005. The Bank
operates under a "double bottom line" agenda where profit and social responsibility go hand in
hand as it strives towards a poverty-free, enlightened Bangladesh.
Prothom Alo is Bangladesh's largest circulation Bengali language newspaper and a key influence on
cultural trends. CellBazaar provides Prothom Alo classifieds on the mobile phone.
The Daily Star is Bangladesh's largest circulation English language newspaper. CellBazaar provides
Daily Star classifieds on the mobile phone.

7. Service in Bangladesh
Grameenphone launched the CellBazaar service in collaboration with the company CellBazaar Inc.
in July 2006. CellBazaar Inc. was founded in 2005 with the concept of “CellBazaar” developed at the
media Lab of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
The major objective behind the Cell Bazaar service concept is:
Create an electronic market for buying and selling through mobile phone
Leverage mobile as the most widespread communication device in developing world
Overcome the digital divide by using the mobile phone as a computer
Work as a Market Transformer and M-commerce Facilitator
Provide first data-use experience to mobile users and prepare them for 2d-generation
technology
Give a birds-eye-view of the market and Information hub for sellers and buyers.
Bring GP subscribers under a common platform of buying & selling
Connect the isolated and uninformed segment to the hub of information
Provide a compelling value-added third generation service to GP users
Contribute to economic development of farmers, traders and businessmen
Give 24 hours market information in CellBazaar
Service Cost & Benefits for Customer Benefits
Buyers
Birds-eye view of entire market for comparison of prices, product etc.
Comparison shopping without having to travel to markets
Sellers
„Mobile is the Shop‟, without spending any money on infrastructure
Bypass middlemen and go directly to buyer, increasing gross revenue
Less risk of bringing goods to market
Buyers & Sellers:
Gathers market information to make smart business decisions

8. Cell Bazaar Users
Students
Businessman
Housewife
Farmer
Success Stories
S e lle r
Seller: Nuran Nabi, Rice seller, Location: Dinajpur Nurun Nabi sells rice, via his rice warehouse and
shop in Dinajpur. He has started posting rice information on CellBazaar and received phone calls
from rice mills in Dhaka region. Now Nuran Nabi is selling Rice to the buyers of Dhaka region. He
met CB team at Dinajpur CIC and expressed his enthusiasm for the service.
Buyer
Buyer: Md. Ferdous Sheikh, office employee, Location: Dhanmondi Mr. Ferdous was looking for car
for 3 months through traditional channels and also visited several traditional channels. And finally
starts visiting CellBazaar for 2 months and found Toyota Starlet, 1989 model, Dhaka Metro 110623,
for 3 lakh Taka. The sellers Mr. Matiul Haque Farooque received 60 calls until evening on the day of
posting. The buyer Ferdous Sheikh called at 4:30 pm and after negotiation they closed the deal in
2.5 lakh.

9. Marketing
Television Ad
CellBazaar launched their second television campaign during Eid 2008. Featuring a middle class
Dhaka family, tired of their old TV. Will they break into Bank of Joba, will they collect enough money
to buy a new TV? CellBazaar service to the rescue: by selling the old TV to a buyer on CellBazaar,
they now have enough money to buy a new TV. This advertisement is also the marketing debut of
3838 Voice service.
CellBazaar launched their first television campaign during Eid 2007. Featuring a newspaper seller
called Shamsu Hawker, who begins a new career buying and selling used televisions via CellBazaar.
The advertisement's unusual setting on a train, as well as positive imagery of Bangladesh, created a
sensation among TV viewers. The character "Shamsu Hawker" has become a nationally recognized
icon and popular cultural figure.
Sticker
CellBazaar's grassroots marketing has created top-of-mind share all over Bangladesh, using the
ubituitous car, taxi and microbus. Our stickers are now the most visible piece of marketing in the
cities. DAILY STAR, in their recent cover story described our marketing strategy:
"They seem to be everywhere without obtrusive ads, and that definitely must be a first for
Bangladesh."
Booklets
CellBazaar has launched educational booklets for four target audiences: villagers & farmers, old &
retired, young professionals, and tech-savvy teenagers. There are detailed booklets for those who
want step-by-step instructions, as well as short leaflets for customers who want to carry a "quick
guide" in their pocket. Available at all Grameenphone centers across the country.
Billboard
On the occasion of CellBazaar winning the 2008 GSMA award in the category of "Best Use of Mobile
for Social & Economic Development", Grameenphone launched several billboards in the capital city.
Focusing on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), the billboard thanked the people of Bangladesh
for using the CellBazaar service and making it popular, which resulted in this international
recognition.

10. Awards
The Tech Museum Award 2007
Telecom Asia Awards 2008, in the category of “Asian Telecom Innovation of the year”
3GSMA Global Mobile Award, 2008 in the category of “Best Use of mobile for social and
economic development”
The Manthan Award South Asia 2008, in the category of “Best e-content development”
MANTHAN Award 2008
Digital Empowerment Foundation and the World Summit Award (WSA) are organising together with
the Center for e-Governance, the South Asia Conclave on ICT & Digital Content for Development as
part of efforts to strengthen the Digital Content Movement in the countries of the region.
The strategic direction of WSA is to strengthen the digital content industries and the creative
development in the region. WSA's plan up to 2015 foresees a myriad of innovative content in fixed
line and mobile Internet applications. WSA takes great pride at leading this vision thanks to the
cooperation with the Manthan Award, which now proactively encompass the entire South Asia for
the World Summit Award.
GSMA 2008
CellBazaar received GSMA Global Mobile Award 2008, in the category of "Best Use of Mobile for
Social & Economic Development." The GSMA Global Mobile Awards are the 'Oscars' of the mobile
phone industry that serves a third of the world's population. TheGSMA represents a stage for all
players in the mobile world to attract the attention of their peers and the global media.
Founded in 1987, The GSM Association (GSMA) is a global trade association representing more than
750 GSM mobile phone operators, and 180 manufacturers and suppliers across 218 territories and
countries. Members represent more than 3 billion GSM and 3GSM connections - over 86% of the
world's mobile phone connections. The GSM Association's Board comprises top-level
representatives of some of the world's leading mobile operators, such as AT&T, China Mobile,
Orange, Telefonica Moviles, T-Mobile and Vodafone.
CellBazaar received "Asian Innovation of the Year" award at 11th Telecom Asia 2008. This is the
first year that Telecom Asia presented an award for Innovation.
The other nominees in this new category were mChek from Bharti AirTel (India), M-Money from
Maxis (Malaysia) and Globe Telecom (Philippines), Mobile MiniPC from SK Telecom (Korea), Recall
from Idea Cellular (India), and X-Series from Hutchison 3 (Hong Kong).

11. Challenges
One of the challenges that they've faced is introducing CellBazaar into the daily lives and set
routines of the Bangladeshi people. Many people had trouble conceptualizing the idea that they
have a worthy item to sell, and that a few simple text messages can connect them to a virtual
marketplace. In the past, a rural village person couldn't even imagine that they wanted to sell
something and the whole world would be willing to buy it. The biggest challenge they have is
people blocking that audacity and courage. So far over a million people have used the service since
launch. Bangladesh is a country of 150 million people. Fundamentally the real issue is about
changing people's patterns and if once they learn how to use it, they‟ll start doing it really
frequently.
Some might say Cell Bazaar is only for the educated, because it requires a certain level of English to
be able to use it. It is a correct statement in many ways and then again it does not wholly justify
itself. At CellBazaar they have found out that most SMS's made come from Polli-Phones (a mobile
phone service for the villagers by GrameenPhone) with prepaid sim-cards that offer special deals
for young people and then finally post paid users in that order. If that is truly the case then a simple
listing should not be that tough to make, but over and above the education barrier is the fear of
technology barrier. There is a common acceptance that technology is only for the young people and
only they know how to use it, but that misconception must be shattered if we are to truly advance
technologically. For ideas like CellBazaar to truly work the nation must come along for the ride,
educationally and technologically, both the country and the company stand to benefit
tremendously.
CellBazaar has its intricacies as well, as mentioned earlier people often sell more than one item but
only understand enough to list one item. What happens then is that when the call is made to inquire
about one item, the potential customer is told about all the other items for sale. Also one post can
be valid for quite a long time because things like fish and livestock, their stocks are constantly
being replenished and the market price is always fluctuating. This means one can adjust the price in
one's post to suit the market price as well as keeping the post alive so that people will continue to
call. What was interesting was that many people did not know they could adjust the prices of their
posts, as one wholesaler was surprised by the price that was listed in for his onions, a post he made
more than 6 months ago. Logically with prices quite low now, one could have seen his old post at a
high price and would not call him because of that. These are a few areas the company could look
into, keeping their users updated.

12. Entrepreneur Development
Cell Bazaar is associated with a
foundation called AQF, a family-run
association which is involved in at least
recognizing and help promoting
Bangladesh entrepreneurs and their
innovations, ideas, if not being able to
patronize it. Cell bazaar seems to have
identified the core problems faced by
innovators and entrepreneurs in Bangladesh and they are doing their bit to help them.
CellBazaar enables entrepreneurs and small businesses to provide products and services to millions
of people in Bangladesh through a mobile phone-based electronic marketplace. It gives an
opportunity to entrepreneurs to start and grow operations in a market that wouldn't otherwise be
available in their local community, thereby creating jobs, stimulating the economy, and delivering
products and services that improve the lives of millions of poor people.
The CellBazaar marketplace is available to more than 25 million people in Bangladesh, including
farmers that use the service to sell their harvest at fair market prices and struggling students that
find and connect with tutors.
Some Negative Aspects
Experts argue that Cell Bazaar have a number of competitive advantages over rivals like
ClickBD and Bracnet where the latter parties face major problem of phoney posts with fake
phone numbers. But there could be a case of fraud which makes people scared.
Some critics also argue that the CellBazaar concept has very low user retention rates,
meaning they have very high number of first time users who eventually don‟t stay with them
in future.
As part of the Digital Bangladesh initiative, the government is looking at authorizing m-
commerce (that is money transaction through mobiles). CellBazaar will have a tested
platform and a constantly growing user base that can be the first users of m-commerce. But
still this concept is new for the people of Bangladesh and there is always a point of the
“matter of trust” which is very difficult to build in the minds of consumers.

13. Future Plans
Cell Bazaar is planning to start grooming its brand ambassadors in a systematic fashion.
This should be led by initiatives by the government, the media and the business sector. Cell
Bazaar needs to choose the brightest young entrepreneurs in the perspective of Bangladesh,
and leverage their global standing to bring in good attention to Bangladesh
Cell Bazaar must deploy the brand ambassadors to attract positive attention, good media,
business interest, new partners and financial investment from the world. Individual success
stories will drive this phenomenon, and therefore it should deploy those successful
entrepreneurs as the frontline for Bangladesh‟s message to the world that “We the
Bangladeshi‟s are eager to be part of the global family of successful entrepreneurs”.
We are in the Asian century, and Bangladesh can have a seat at the table and a stake in the
digital future. We can secure that space and establish Bangladesh as a brand through global
digital projects from Bangladesh such as Cell Bazaar.
CellBazaar looks for overseas expansion
CellBazaar, the country‟s pioneering mobile phone-based online marketplace, is setting its sight on
neighboring countries as a way of possible overseas expansion. It‟s award-winning founder Mr.
Kamal Quadir said his three-year-old company has already been approached by at least two major
telecom operators from India and one from Pakistan as part of potential tie-ups. He said over the
next six months the company would hold talks with potential suitors as the company plans to
replicate its success stories in other developing countries. However, the key challenges are always
adapting to local needs. But fortunately, CellBazaar‟s core platforms, SMS, WAP, WEB, use a core
which is programmed in English, with an add-on layer which is in Bangla. Kamal said his company
sees no problem in winning new markets. The way their add-on layer is built, adapting to new
languages will be relatively easy. Another key aspect will be to build a database that is tailored for
the geographic spread.

14. : New Idea Development
Idea No: 1
Cell Bazaar can introduce a mailing system in which their can a option of auto reply system
whenever there is match of criteria and preference provided by both the buyer and sellers-they
both can be sent an e mail notification( as provided by the job portals usually). In this way the seller
and the buyer both can be benefitted. It can be call from the Customer Service Center maintained
by Cell Bazaar who will notify the seller and the buyer .For this purpose Cell Bazaar can either use
automated software or maintain a Customer Service Center.
Idea No: 2
Cell Bazaar can create a different dimension in customer care in very dynamic segment with the
help of Grameenphone Community Information Center (GPCIC). It is a shared premise; where the
rural people can have access to wide range of state of art services such as Internet, voice
communications, video conferencing and all other information services. The Cell Bazaar and GPCIC
can work together. The companies can provide their requirement of raw materials from various
segments of Bangladesh and with the help of GPCIC it can be communicated to the farmers. In this
way the farmers can negotiate their price with the companies and the companies can get many
options from which it can select the best offer without any intervention.

15. Conclusion
CellBazaar is an electronic trading forum that enables anyone with cell phone to conduct
transaction through its online platform. Launched in 2006, the US-incorporated company now
boasts more than a million users in Bangladesh.
It does not actually conduct transaction but simply puts buyers and sellers in contact with each
other via mobile phones. Signing in CellBazaar or posting any items on it is free of cost.
CellBazaar‟s main aim is to provide their customers with the best deal available in the market and
to serve the customers better through their website. They are constantly adding more products to
make it easier according to the consumer needs.
CellBazaar experience has shown that widespread availability of mobile phones could prove to be
an ideal alternative, compensating for low internet density that previously was thought to be
essential for any online business transaction. The idea has widely been acclaimed by international
experts as a model of bringing the benefits of e-commerce to the doorsteps of third world rural
populace through a simple mobile phone handset.
Over the last year, CellBazaar has grown rapidly; it now has 1.5 million users and averages 90,000
hits a day (including page views and SMS messages), 600 new items daily and 688 categories. Its
registered seller base is 51,000 and its unregistered user base is thirty times that size. The diversity
of products posted has resulted in constant innovation and change. As the company grows and
matures, it looks set to be the first Internet model start-up in Bangladesh‟s history, with global
media interest, local imitators, overseas expansion plans, and international-standard management
and staffing.
CellBazaar reinvented the use of mobile in Bangladesh and gave the possibility to virtually anyone
possessing a mobile to buy and sell products at reasonable prices for both parties. Giving people
the possibility to use different platforms allowed Cellbazaar to overcome problems of isolation,
literacy and even disability.