Why Customer Relationships Decide Who Survives in Nepal's E-Commerce Market
By Saraj Dhakal · August 15, 2026
Most CRM playbooks assume saved cards and one-click reorders. Nepal's market doesn't work that way. Roughly 80% of orders are still cash on delivery, which means a phone call to confirm the order, a driver who actually finds the address, and — if you want any of it to compound into a repeat customer — a single customer record that follows a buyer across eSewa, Khalti/IME Khalti, and cash. Miss that last part and every channel looks like a first-time customer, forever.
A cautionary tale. Sastodeal was one of Nepal's largest e-commerce players and, during the pandemic, reported real growth in orders from outside Kathmandu Valley. It still didn't survive the economic slowdown that followed. Fast top-line growth without a retention strategy is fragile — it papers over the fact that the business never learned who its repeat customers actually were.
What works, based on the businesses that lasted:
- Confirm COD orders by phone before dispatch — it cuts fake and abandoned orders.
- Merge every payment method into one customer profile — eSewa, Khalti, card and cash should point to the same person, not four disconnected logs.
- Track return rates per customer, not just per SKU — serial returners are visible early if you're looking.
- Personalize based on order history. Foodmandu already does this successfully in the Nepali market — proof the model works locally, not just in theory.
The takeaway: in a market built on trust and cash, every order — COD or digital — is either a first step toward a relationship or a missed one. The brands that treat it that way are the ones still standing after a slow year.
Sources: NepTechPal, Simpaisa, The Kathmandu Post, ResearchGate, Invest For Impact Nepal (Foodmandu case study).