eCommerce may be a recent phenomenon for the people of Burma, but the industry has made progress, especially in retail sales, real estate, and automobiles.  Internet penetration is primarily driven via smartphones.  Nearly 40 million of the country’s total population of 55 million use a mobile phone, and 80 percent have access to smartphones, which helps expand adoption of mobile payment platforms.  Social media networks like Facebook and Instagram serve as quick and cheap tools to market and sell retail products.  However, following the coup, slower connections and service disruptions negatively impacted access to mobile payment systems and online platforms, while mobile data prices doubled.