HOW IS DIGITAL MARKETING INFLUENCING BUSINESSES IN PNG?

In the developed parts of the world, digital marketing has changed the way people buy and sell products. E-commerce has become a convenient way for customers to make purchases on cars, clothing, groceries and more. In the United States of America, Australia and the rest of the Western world a lot of it is done using desktop computers, because marketing campaigns and web designs were done for computers’. But, that could be different for developing countries like Papua New Guinea.

Most people in Papua New Guinea like Latin America and other developing parts of the world, have limited or no connection to broadband or DSL for most of the population. For PNG, only recently Australia signed an agreement with the Solomon Islands’ and Papua New Guinea to build a new cable for some hundreds of millions of dollars. But, for the time being internet rates remain expensive, desktop computers or laptops are quite expensive to buy and so mobile phones take precedence over them. Therefore, digital marketing campaigns in those areas heavily focus on encouraging their customers to call or visit their local dealer and less on driving traffic to their website.

APEC meeting on E-commerce 

But, Papua New Guinea is trying to make a quantum leap into the new world of digital marketing without providing the basic services needed to power mobile phone and computers. 85% of the country population live in the rural areas where there is no electricity, no Internet and no communication infrastructure. While, people living in urban areas also living in towns and cities face frequent power outages and expensive Internet rate charges. In 2018, the PNG government hosted a series of meetings during Asia Pacific Economic Forum or APEC; one of the topics discussed during the meetings leading up to the leaders summit was e-commerce. The PNG government expects its people to take part in e-commerce, but that seems like a far shot, because it’s simply not possible to drive E-commerce, because most people living in the village don’t have bank VISA cards or Master Cards to buy and sell online.

So where does E-commerce fit in a country like PNG? The short answer is, it doesn’t fit in now, in terms of buying and selling.  It will probably work in the next ten years, because right now, customers would prefer to physically make the payments. Most of the people in the village don’t have birth certificates or the ability to sign papers for a bankcard. If the PNG government is serious about E-commerce, it must try to prepare its people to take part.