Barbados Postal Services

The Barbados Postal Services started offering its services as early as 1663 which makes it one of the oldest postal services. It joined the UPU in 1967. In 1984 Barbados Postal Services negotiated their first Express Mail Service (EMS) agreement to the USA and the UK. As of today the Post counts 19 offices around the Island Nation and offers door to door delivery to over 90,000 households. Barbados Postal Services is also affiliated with the Caribbean Postal Union and the Conference of Commonwealth Postal Administrators (CCPA).

E-Commerce Context:

Although being a small market, the Barbados e-commerce landscape is rather an advanced and active one. Card payment providers are available through local banks and Paypal, although the fees are on the high side averaging 4% and above. There are 2 bottle necks that are impacting further development of E-commerce in Barbados:

1. A 2% tax for foreign exchange transactions and authorizations render foreign payment providers and or export sales less competitive.
2. Local Banks are still requiring high levels of security deposits of up to 20% over a year, which is a great cashflow challenge for SMEs.

Beside these difficulties, the market is very much B2C oriented and local consumers are offered various payment methods and a next day delivery for most of the locations on the Island thanks to the Postal Parcel services and their 19 offices.

Local E-Commerce Champions (Alexa Ranking)

Global E-Marketplaces Presence of local sellers (Benchmark with Thailand)