respect. Without a vibrant IT sector, it is difficult for e-commerce to develop. It is important as the strength of Vietnam and Kenya in this factor demonstrate. The strategy includes measures to develop IT services in Myanmar including both hosting services and professional services. It also includes measures to improve awareness and skills in IT related to e-commerce. UPU postal reliability. Vietnam, India and Lao perform well on this measure, contrasting with Zambia and Pakistan that lag behind. Pakistan, Kenya and Bangladesh and Indonesia also perform relatively well. Excellent courier services may in part substitute for an unreliable postal service, and Myanmar has recently enabled such services to develop with market entrants transforming the market. The strategy contains measures to develop postal and courier services, and should lead to improvement of Myanmar’s position in this respect. Other factors. These factors explain some differences in performance between countries, but other factors will influence penetration including cultural factors and government support for e-commerce. Nevertheless, leading performance in all these factors will support the development of e-commerce. Conclusions Overall, therefore, gaps are present when Myanmar is compared with those countries with higher consumer e-commerce penetration, and in some cases with countries that have a lower level of penetration. The strategy should aim to eliminate these gaps as far as is possible over the next five years. With the support of the measures in the strategy, Myanmar therefore should aim to achieve performance levels close to those of Kenya by 2025 with an interim position being set by Zambia. Both these countries, like Myanmar, have a large rural population with some major cities and a population working to a large extent in the agricultural sector. Mineral extraction is also of importance. Therefore, the strategy should aim for a penetration of consumer e-commerce, as measures by those who have used the internet to buy something online in the past year amongst the population 15 years of age or above, from its current level to around 10% by 2025. 71