How big is Pakistan's e-commerce market in 2026?

Pakistan's formal e-commerce payment volume tracked by the State Bank of Pakistan reached ~PKR 220 billion in FY2024 and continues to grow double-digits year-on-year. Total retail e-commerce (including COD orders that never touch a card) is materially larger — most industry estimates put it in the PKR 500–700 billion range for 2024, and trending higher into 2026.

What share of Pakistan online orders are Cash on Delivery?

Cash on Delivery remains the dominant payment method — widely reported by platforms and logistics companies as 55–70% of online orders, depending on vertical. Mobile wallets (JazzCash, Easypaisa) and cards are growing fast but COD is still the majority for first-time buyers.

How many Pakistanis shop online?

Pakistan has ~111 million internet users (DataReportal Digital 2025) and ~71.7 million social media users. Active online shoppers are a subset — industry estimates place them around 25–35 million in 2025, concentrated in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad.

Why aren't more Pakistani SMEs selling online?

The three most commonly cited barriers are (1) setup cost — international website builders charge in USD and add transaction fees, (2) payment-gateway integration friction with JazzCash/Easypaisa/card processors, and (3) lack of FBR POS-compliant invoicing for tax-registered sellers. Less than an estimated 5% of Pakistan's ~5 million SMEs have a standalone online store.

Which verticals are growing fastest?

Fashion (unstitched, pret, boutique), beauty and personal care, mobile accessories, and home-delivered food lead Pakistan's e-commerce growth. Fashion alone is consistently the #1 category on marketplace data published by Daraz and by social-commerce platforms.

WoBooks Research · April 2026

Pakistan E-commerce Report 2026

A curated snapshot of Pakistan's online retail market — market size, payment split, mobile commerce share, top verticals, and the barriers keeping 95% of SMEs offline.

TL;DR

Pakistan has ~111 million internet users and ~196 million mobile subscriptions, yet fewer than 5% of the country's ~5 million SMEs run a standalone online store. Cash on Delivery is still 55–70% of orders, JazzCash and Easypaisa dominate digital-wallet checkout, and formal SBP-tracked e-commerce payment volume reached ~PKR 220 billion in FY2024. The gap between internet adoption and SME online presence is the single biggest commerce opportunity in South Asia in 2026.

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Last updated: August 2026 · Data curated from public sources (SBP, PTA, PBS, DataReportal). See methodology below.

Headline indicators

Fifteen numbers that frame Pakistan's 2026 e-commerce market. Every figure links to the original source.

241.5M

Total population

Source: Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, 7th Census 2023

~111M

Internet users

Source: DataReportal — Digital 2025 Pakistan

~196M

Mobile subscriptions

Source: PTA Telecom Indicators

~71.7M

Social media users

Source: DataReportal — Digital 2025 Pakistan

PKR 220B+

Formal e-commerce payment volume (FY2024)

Source: State Bank of Pakistan — Quarterly Payment Systems Review

55–70%

Cash on Delivery share of orders

Source: aggregated from Daraz logistics disclosures and TCS/Leopards industry briefings, 2023–2024

~80%+

Orders placed on mobile

Source: DataReportal Digital 2025 (mobile share of web traffic in Pakistan)

~5M

SMEs in Pakistan

Source: SMEDA — Small & Medium Enterprises Development Authority

< 5%

SMEs with a standalone online store

Source: WoBooks estimate, triangulated from domain-registry and platform-seller counts

Fashion — top e-commerce vertical

Source: Daraz annual vertical mix disclosures, 2023–2024

USD 278

USD → PKR reference (2026)

Source: SBP — interbank reference rate

3 cities

Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad drive majority of online GMV

Source: platform delivery-zone data published by Daraz, foodpanda, inDrive, 2024

Payment method split at checkout

Shares vary by vertical — fashion leans harder on COD, app-based food delivery skews to wallets. Ranges below reflect the full spread observed across platforms in 2023–2024.

Cash on Delivery

55–70%

Driven by low banking penetration and first-order trust concerns. Returns/RTO are 10–25% of COD shipments.

Mobile wallets (JazzCash, Easypaisa, SadaPay, NayaPay)

15–25%

JazzCash and Easypaisa together hold the majority of wallet volume. Raast (SBP's instant payment rails) is the fastest-growing segment.

Card (debit + credit)

8–20%

Higher share for cross-border merchants, travel, and software. 1-Link + SBP local cards dominate the domestic slice.

Bank transfer / IBFT

3–8%

Common in B2B and high-ticket retail (electronics, furniture). Raast push payments are rapidly displacing manual IBFT.

Top e-commerce verticals in Pakistan

Ranked by order volume on the country's largest platforms and marketplaces. Fashion has consistently held the #1 spot since 2019.

#1 · Fashion

Unstitched fabric, pret, boutique, accessories

The largest single vertical. Eid collections, wedding season, and women's pret drive repeatable seasonal peaks. Returns are high but AOV is strong.

#2 · Mobile & accessories

Phones, cases, chargers, earbuds

High-trust category dominated by Daraz and brand-owned stores. Card/wallet share is noticeably higher than the national average.

#3 · Beauty & personal care

Skincare, cosmetics, haircare

Growing fastest on social commerce (Instagram + WhatsApp). Brand-direct stores capture the margin that would otherwise go to pharmacies.

#4 · Food delivery

Restaurants, bakeries, home-kitchens

Third-party aggregators (foodpanda, Cheetay) cover the top ~10%, but direct-ordering websites now win with restaurants avoiding 20–30% commissions.

#5 · Home & lifestyle

Furniture, décor, kitchenware

High AOV, low order frequency. COD share is highest in this category — often > 75%.

#6 · Grocery & pharmacy

Daily essentials, OTC medicines

Hyper-local delivery (< 60 min) is the differentiator. Pharmacies are regulated — FBR POS compliance and prescription verification are gating factors.

Why 95% of Pakistani SMEs still don't sell online

Three structural barriers — cost, payment integration, and FBR compliance — keep the vast majority of small businesses off the web. Every one of them is solvable.

USD-priced website builders

International platforms (Shopify, Wix, Squarespace) charge $29–$299/month in USD, plus 2–3% transaction fees. At PKR 278/USD that's PKR 8,000–83,000/month — unaffordable for a shopkeeper earning PKR 50–200k/month gross.

Payment-gateway integration friction

JazzCash and Easypaisa aren't available as one-click apps on most international builders. Merchants hire developers for PKR 30,000–100,000+ to integrate HMAC-SHA256 (JazzCash) or AES-128-ECB (Easypaisa) callbacks, or they stick to COD-only — which kills conversion.

No FBR POS-compliant invoicing

Tier-1 retailers and tax-registered sellers need NTN, STRN, and FBR-format invoice numbers on every receipt. Off-the-shelf builders don't support this — merchants either run a separate POS for tax or risk non-compliance.

Logistics fragmentation

No nationwide delivery API with consistent COD remittance. Merchants juggle TCS, Leopards, M&P, and city-specific riders manually — and RTO (return-to-origin) rates of 10–25% erode margins further.

WhatsApp-first customer habits

60%+ of SME order conversations start on WhatsApp. Most website builders don't send WhatsApp order alerts natively, so merchants miss orders or reply hours late — a lost sale in an instant-gratification market.

Urdu / RTL support gap

Most builders support Urdu product text but not full RTL layouts or Urdu-first storefronts. For sellers targeting Urdu-native buyers (the majority), this is a discoverability and trust problem.

Methodology & sources

This report curates publicly available figures from government regulators and established research publishers. Every headline number links to the original source; ranges are used where authoritative figures conflict.

Primary sources

State Bank of Pakistan — Quarterly Payment Systems Review (formal e-commerce payment volume, card vs wallet split, Raast adoption)
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority — Telecom Indicators (mobile subscriptions, broadband penetration)
Pakistan Bureau of Statistics — 7th Population Census (population, urban/rural split)
DataReportal — Digital 2025 Pakistan (internet users, social media, device mix)
SMEDA — Small & Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SME count and classification)
Federal Board of Revenue — POS integration program (invoicing compliance scope)

Estimates & ranges

Figures marked as ranges (e.g. COD share 55–70%) reflect the spread across published platform disclosures (Daraz, foodpanda) and logistics operator briefings (TCS, Leopards) between 2023 and 2024. Where a figure is a WoBooks estimate (e.g. < 5% SME online adoption), it is triangulated from .pk domain registry counts, marketplace seller disclosures, and our own platform onboarding funnel.

License & citation

This report is published under CC BY 4.0. You may quote, embed, or reproduce any figure provided you cite WoBooks and link back to this page.

Cite as: WoBooks (2026). Pakistan E-commerce Report 2026. wobooks.com/data/pakistan-ecommerce-report-2026

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