Women-owned businesses represent an important and growing part of the e-commerce market, yet many remain underserved by existing services providers. Addressing this gap offers significant potential for the postal sector at a time when it is seeking to strengthen its position in e-commerce.
While women comprise half of the world’s population, they still face persistent barriers limiting their ability to fully participate in the e-commerce market. Global research shows they still trail men in access to the Internet, as well as access to banking services, with 700 million of the 1.3 billion unbanked being women. Furthermore, women small business owners also lack access to the information and networks they need to start-up and help their businesses thrive. The exclusion of women from e-commerce is costing the economy billions.
The postal network – through its global reach and provision of logistics, financial, and digital services – has the potential to help close these gaps. By reaching underserved women entrepreneurs, postal operators can broaden their customer base while enabling greater participation in e-commerce. (....)v