Page - 284 - in Digital Entrepreneurship - Impact on Business and Society

differences to a lack of an online payment system and the deficiency in digital infrastructures for online business transactions. John says, “in developed countries such as the U.S., vendors communicate and sign contracts with the e-commerce platforms via email, whereas inLebanon, I have to prepare a hard copy version of thecontractwithacustomer.This consistsof a lengthyprocessofgoing to lawyers, making the contract official, and giving them commission; thus, increasing the probability of customers backing out of their online purchase.”He continues by saying, “the stock in Lebanon is not electronic and it’s not easy for someone to prepare a feasibility study for investors to invest in or fund online businesses.” John states that the Lebanese bank has prohibited PayPal (the most popular online payment and monetary transaction system), and that the only payment system available in Lebanon is “Ariba,” which takes 3% commission on each transaction, when it should only be taking 0.5%, again hinting at corruption dis- rupting business affairs. Another difference that John states is that the concept of “e-signature” is not acknowledged inLebanon: “wesendcontracts byPDFandaskourvendors toprint it out and send it to us by Aramex. So, whereas others do this in a minute, this process takes us twoweeks.” John adds, “in other countries, it is very simple and easy for anyone to upload a product theywant to sell online,whereas, in Lebanon this process is more complicated and time-consuming.” In addition, John pays $2000permonth forWi-Fi,whereas indevelopedcountries, thepriceof even faster Wi-Fi is $50 permonth. Despite all the disadvantages that digital entrepreneurs face in Lebanon, the founder still wants to make a business footprint in his country: “to begin with, Lebanon is my home. Secondly, in developed countries such as the USA, there exists a lot of monopoly and competitors in e-commerce, like Amazon.com. So, launchingLebMall.com inLebanongaveme an advantage of being afirstmover.” John elaborates by saying, “Lebanese citizens consider the price of their online shopping itemsexpensive since theyaren’t accustomed topayinga large amountof money online; however, little do they know that they already spend its equivalent sum in daily activities or expenditures such as fuel and groceries.”He states that Lebanese citizens aren’t well informed about e-commerce and digital entrepreneurship isn’t well integrated in the Lebanese culture. The founder also states that LebMall.com has been facing challenges in the apparel department. LebMall.com imports clothes for women in containers from Turkey.During the importing process, they pay shipping taxes on these containers fromTurkey to Lebanon, as opposed to peoplewho bring clothes fromTurkey in vans or suitcases without paying taxes. 4. Competition as a Challenge: Johnexpresses that thebiggest problem that e-commerce, specificallyhis company, faces is the competition that imposter stores set by selling knock-off products and fooling customers. Challenges andOpportunities for Digital Entrepreneurship… 293