Retail News CRM

Tag: E-Commerce

  • KKday Launches E-commerce Travel Platform in Thailand

    KKday Launches E-commerce Travel Platform in Thailand

    KKday, a leading E-commerce travel platform in Asia offering localized travel across the globe officially launched in Thailand today, bringing unique and authentic tour experiences abroad to Thai tourists looking to travel independently and explore other cities around the world through organized excursions.

    Established in 2014, KKday is a Taiwan-headquartered company offering over 6,000 experiences, in 25 different categories, in 174 cities and 54 countries worldwide.

    After recently launching in Singapore, the Thai branch of KKday will appeal to the growing number of FITs (Free Independent Travelers) in Thailand in search of fun activities and memorable sightseeing trips on holiday. Whilst FITs book their own flight and accommodation, they look to online travel experts with local knowledge to book unforgettable travel experiences that give them genuine insights into a destination; discovering local culture and heritage, hidden gems and off-the-beaten-track adventures and sampling incredible food and activities along the way.

    Ming Chen, CEO of KKday, who was at the launch in Bangkok, believes city break tours will appeal to the Thai market. “Thais are renowned for their warm welcome to tourists visiting their country and this openness extends to a genuine interest in other cultures and a love of travel. Asia is home to some spectacular cities and I envisage that KKday members in Thailand will want to soak up the atmosphere and truly experience city breaks in Taiwan, Korea and Japan which are all popular vacation destinations for Thais; exciting cities like Taipei, Seoul and Tokyo. I am pleased to be launching KKday in Thailand and with the huge growth of E-commerce within the country, an online travel experience platform fits perfectly with what the market wants and how consumers behave here.”

    Hassle-free and competitively priced, KKday is easy to browse, read reviews and book online; the ideal travel companion for the digital Y Generation of under 35s who are primarily booking with KKday. In 2017, the travel trend for Gen Y tourists is all about experiential vacations and immersive getaways rather than finding some far-flung undiscovered destination or simply ‘being’ a tourist abroad.

    Today’s travelers want get a more organically native feel for a place that is less ‘touristy’ and is far more interactive and experienced-based. KKday taps into this quest for localized, customized travel.

    The launch of KKday in Thailand is aimed at expanding the platform which already has a presence in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Korea and Singapore. A branch in Thailand will build on KKday’s already 7 million plus page views per month, Facebook fan base of over 600,000 and membership that exceeds 300,000. Promotions are also on the horizon with relationships being established with some big-name brands in Thailand too.

    Expansion is part of the future strategy of KKday with two rounds of funding in 2015 and 2016 totaling $11.5 million led by Singapore-based venture capitalists, Monk’s Hill Ventures and AppWorks, the largest start-up accelerator in Asia.

    In Thailand, KKday has partnered with DTAC Rewards, Eatigo, Tourkrub, Show DC (Lotte) and Nokscoot.

    Celebrating its debut in Thailand with an exciting campaign, #KKvacay rewards one lucky winner and a friend will win a holiday in either Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore or Taiwan!

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  • Anchanto empowers merchants and enterprises with cross-border e-commerce

    Anchanto empowers merchants and enterprises with cross-border e-commerce

    Anchanto, the leading e-commerce logistics and selling platform, announced today the launch of SelluSeller – a one-stop platform that enables merchants and enterprises to sell on various e-marketplaces across Asia. Headquartered in Singapore, Anchanto developed the highly innovative platform as the most suitable tool which will empower sellers to cut across geographies and access global marketplaces to list products outside of their own country. Within the first month of launch of SelluSeller, Anchanto has had four major customer wins – Lazada, Bluebell Group, DKSH and PayTM.

    SelluSeller was officially launched at the Asia E-commerce Dialogue 2017, an industry forum hosted by Anchanto in Singapore which saw the participation of key stakeholders from the e-commerce and logistics industry from around the region.

    “Over the last five years, we have seen a rapid growth in online marketplaces, each portraying its individual strengths appealing to different segments of sellers across markets and product categories. We realised a critical factor which held an opportunity for us to provide a solution to these sellers to seamlessly list products and manage inventory across all channels with the ease of one single platform,” said Vaibhav Dabhade, CEO, Anchanto. “Sellers are also looking for simple platform to sell their products regionally in to Southeast Asia and India on cross-border model. SelluSeller is design and built for cross-border listing and shipping from day one,” he added.

    “The response from industry within the first month of limited launch has been encouraging. We are confident that SelluSeller will bridge the gap perfectly for enterprises, brands and retailers who want to be on e-marketplaces, merchants who want to expand geographies and make the whole process of selling online a fulfilling experience,” Dabhade further added.

    On the SelluSeller platform, sellers can manage prices and promotions, maintain a single common inventory with also comes with an order system, analytics and full-payment reconciliations. Sellers will be able to sell to these marketplaces whether they are a small home-operated seller or a major seller who sells on all the prominent marketplaces in Asia.

    The seller can choose to use any of Anchanto’s Global Fulfilment Network and e-commerce B2C fulfilment which will fully integrate with SelluSeller and provide them with preferred fulfillment rates. This will be further connected to the firm’s broad network of warehouses spread across the region.

    With the launch of SelluSeller, Anchanto will be establishing itself as a leading player in the e-commerce logistics SaaS industry that is focused on the development of its e-commerce selling and logistics platform.

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  • Vietnamese prefer overseas sites for online shopping

    Vietnamese prefer overseas sites for online shopping

    Local consumers say global giants like Amazon and eBay offer a wider range of products and better return policies. Vietnamese online shoppers spend significantly more on overseas purchases than they do domestically as they believe international e-commerce platforms offer better products and service quality, a new report has said.

    The report, from the Vietnam E-commerce Association or VECOM, said that many global retailers like Amazon and eBay have made it easier for Vietnamese consumers to buy online.

    “Meanwhile, a majority of Vietnamese e-businesses, especially small- and medium-sized companies, have yet to make significant investments in market research catering to consumers,” said the report.

    Local online shopping sites are less competitive in terms of product diversity and quality, return policy, and order placement costs, the report highlighted.

    “I shop on both eBay and Amazon,” Quoc Hung, a reader said in a comment. “I can just send a product back if I don’t like it.”

    Most Vietnamese online businesses don’t offer free delivery and free return, another reader pointed out.

    Chinese online retail giant Alibaba is also attracting more Vietnamese customers. Internet company OSB, Alibaba’s authorized agent in Vietnam, said the company’s customer base in Vietnam has expanded to 500,000 after sharp increases over the past three years.

    The online shopping trend is growing rapidly in Vietnam, where 30 percent of the population will be buying goods and services over the internet by 2020, according to the Vietnam E-Commerce and Information Technology Agency.

    The agency, run by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said revenue from online retail is expected to account for 5 percent of the country’s retail market in 2020, up from only 2.8 percent in 2015.

    Vietnam’s e-commerce market, which has one of the world’s fastest growth rates, jumped 37 percent in 2015 to around $4 billion, based on government statistics.

    The growth rate is about 2.5 times faster than that in Japan, based on some estimates by industry experts.

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  • Lazada Dominates Ecommerce Activity in Southeast Asia For Now

    Lazada Dominates Ecommerce Activity in Southeast Asia For Now

    Southeast Asia’s ecommerce sector may not yet get as much attention as China. But as recent ecommerce estimates suggest, online B2C spending Southeast Asia is set to grow by double digits through at least 2020, making the region a key area of interest for retailers and marketers.

    For now, much of the ecommerce activity and web traffic in Southeast Asia is dominated by one large ecommerce retailer—Lazada Group. In fact, Lazada’s control of the region’s ecommerce sector was enough to entice Alibaba as a suitor; the China-based ecommerce giant purchased a controlling stake in the company last year for $1 billion.

    According to data from SimilarWeb cited by ecommerceIQ, Lazada properties drew the largest number of page views among B2C retail sites in Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam in December 2016.

    Take, for example, SimilarWeb’s figures for Thailand, where Lazada claimed almost 41 million monthly page views during the month. That was more than 16 times the number garnered by JIB.co.th, the second-place finisher.

    Ecommerce has yet to really catch fire in markets like Thailand, where eMarketer estimates retail ecommerce sales will make up just 1.7% of total retail sales this year. But companies like Lazada are betting that growth in internet use will create a new class of consumers looking to make digital purchases. eMarketer projects that retail ecommerce sales in Thailand will hit $5.7 billion by 2020.

    However, Lazada’s long-term success in the region is far from assured. US ecommerce heavyweight Amazon has reportedly been eyeing a launch in Southeast Asia with Singapore sometime in Q1 2017. The moves could kick off a heated battle between Amazon and Alibaba’s proxy for both market share and customers as the region’s ecommerce spending expands.

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  • Zalora CEO denies Indonesia exit rumour

    Zalora CEO denies Indonesia exit rumour

    Zalora Group CEO, Parker Gundersen, has denied rumour that says the company is selling its Indonesia operation to local firm Mitra Adiperkasa (MAP Group)

    Last week, there was a  speculation that Zalora was withdrawing from Indonesia following a share acquisition of Zalora Philippines by Ayala Group.

    “The rumour that we are selling off our business in Indonesia is certainly not the case. And we announced a deal that’s actually very exciting – an investment from Ayala Corp into Zalora Philippines – which is in no way a signal of a retreat from the country, but more of a commitment,” Gundersen told this portal.

    But why did the rumour surface in the first place? Had there been actual talks about possible investments from MAP Group?

    Gundersen declined to comment. Right now, he said, discussions with MAP are only related to how Zalora could continue adding more brands from MAP’s large portfolio. The two companies have been working together with MAP as a supplier.

    “We are not retreating from Indonesia nor the Philippines,” stressed Gundersen.

    In 2016, Zalora sold its businesses in Thailand and Vietnam to conglomerate Central Group. When news about stake sale in Zalora Philippines and rumour on Indonesia exit emerged, it led to a speculation that Zalora had continued its retreat from the region. Gundersen denies this narrative, saying that the Philippines share sale was very different to what it had done in Thailand and Vietnam.

    “Our investors looked at the operations in Thailand and Vietnam (like they always do, regularly), and decided that it did not have the best outlook. Whereas in the Philippines is very different because we remain the majority. It just made sense to us to have a local partner in the Philippines,” he explained.

    Will Zalora implement the same partnership strategy in Indonesia, as it has now with Ayala? It is always a possibility that the company would always explore, Gundersen said.

    Indonesia, in particular, is a massive market for e-commerce, with high social media and smartphones usage, coupled with growing income. Gundersen reiterated that Zalora is committed to bring more brands – local, international, and in-house – that are more relevant for its Indonesian customers.

    The company is also on the lookout for ways to improve its services, particularly in payments, a sector which Gundersen called “very interesting” to watch.

    “Definitely the space that we want to watch – anything that can help make it easier for our customers to make a purchase we want to be involved. It’s still early days but definitely we want to monitor close,” Gundersen said, when asked about a possibility to partner with local fintech companies.

    Indonesian e-commerce industry has grown in two-digits annually over the past five years, according to a number of reports. This year, e-commerce transactions in the country are expected to reach $45 billion from an estimated $30 billion in 2016. While the opportunities are abundant, the competition is fierce.

    A few months earlier, local firms Berrybenka and SaleStock were reported to have laid off hundreds of their employees. While smaller firms are gasping for breath, giants like MatahariMall.com and Lazada are steadily marching forward. Last year both companies received major funding from global investors, with MatahariMall snatching $100 million from Mitsui (and at least another $25 million from Matahari Department Store) and Lazada pocketing $1 billion from Alibaba.

    Experts have projected that competition will start to sharpen even further – especially if US giant Amazon decides to enter Indonesia – and will force smaller firms to consolidate.

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  • Online fashion brand Zalora to exit Philippines; Indonesia next

    Online fashion brand Zalora to exit Philippines; Indonesia next

    Southeast Asian fashion ecommerce company, Zalora, has been in the process of shutting shop in a few Asian countries. The company had retreated from Thailand and Vietnam last year, and is pulling out from Philippines and Indonesia.

    Launched in 2012, the Rocket Internet backed online shopping company was functioning in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia, and New Zealand, managed by Global Fashion Group, which was developed by Rocket Internet to handle all its online fashion businesses across the world.

    In Philippines, 49% of Zalora’s parent company, BF Jade E-Services was bought by one of the oldest real-estate companies, Ayala Group, and the remaining stays with Rocket Internet. BF Jade E-Services owned and operated Zalora in Philippines and the deal is currently subjected to approval from the Philippine Competition Commission.

    e27 also states that the fashion ecommerce company is in talks with retail giant MAP Group for a similar acquisition or investment in Indonesia. MAP group operates more than 1,900 retail outlets in Indonesia and has been experimenting with e-commerce as it launched its MAP e-Mall last year. A merger or acquisition with Zalora could mean that it gets access to the online fashion giant’s ecommerce expertise, as per media speculations.

    Romain Voog, CEO, Global Fashion Group said in a statement, “We are proud of how Zalora Philippines contributed to the development of e-commerce and fashion in the Philippines. This partnership with Ayala will allow us to further strengthen the leadership position of Zalora Philippines, as we invest more into delivering the best online fashion shopping experience for Filipino consumers.”

    In April last year Zalora sold its Thailand and Vietnam businesses to fashion retailer Central Group which also had been wanting to foray into the online ecommerce business. As reported by Forbes, the move was made to streamline its services in light of slowing output and the high cost of customer acquisition in Southeast Asia.

    Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, Chairman and CEO, Ayala Corporation also added, “We see the potential of e-commerce in the country and believe that the Ayala group can benefit and add tremendous value to Zalora. With resources in banking, real estate and telecommunications, the investment presents new opportunities for Ayala to generate synergies throughout the e-commerce value chain.”

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  • FedEx to bolster its e-commerce business in Asia

    FedEx to bolster its e-commerce business in Asia

    FedEx will expand its global e-commerce business in an effort to compete for the growing number of packages shipped to consumers from China and Japan, executives said Monday.

    The company, which in 2014 acquired Bongo International, a company that helps shoppers purchase goods from foreign retailers by automatically adjusting currencies, and customs and shipping costs, by location, is rebranding the business as FedEx CrossBorder. The company plans to expand its services to merchants in China and Japan by next June, said Chip Hull, vice president of the newly named division. The company already consolidates shipments for global e-commerce retailers in the U.S., Europe and Peru.

    Asia “is the second-largest region from an export perspective in the cross-border space, on par with Europe, and is growing at a faster rate,” Hull said. As global e-commerce grows at double-digit rates around the world, “Asia is certainly the 800-pound gorilla in the room.”

    FedEx’s international e-commerce efforts have come as other companies are investing in helping retailers with international online-shopping services. United Parcel Service acquired i-Parcel around the same time that FedEx bought Bongo, and Pitney Bowes acquired Borderfree last year. Deutsche Post AG’s DHL also offers international e-commerce services.

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  • Global e-commerce: How to win with shoppers in China

    Global e-commerce: How to win with shoppers in China

    With a population of roughly 1.3 billion people, China offers unprecedented growth opportunities for retailers looking to conduct business internationally. China’s National Bureau of Statistics reported last month that online retail sales in China grew 26.2% in 2016 to $752 billion. That’s more than 40 percent of all online sales around the world.

    The e-commerce experience in China is on a scale like no other. From shopping on Alibaba’s Tmall.com storefronts to the immense participation in mobile commerce, consumers in China have high expectations from retailers when it comes to the online shopping experience.

    For retailers looking to break into this competitive international market, here are some tips to win with online shoppers in China and succeed in the world’s largest e-commerce market.

    Invest in the mobile shopping experience

    According to research firm TNS Global, a typical Chinese mobile user spends roughly 30 minutes a day shopping on his/her phone. China is also the world’s largest smartphone market, accounting for 30 percent of the global market. Retailers should make sure their mobile experience is top-notch and localized for shoppers in China.

    The mobile checkout experience, in particular, is important. How important is mobile? According to eMarketer, mobile sales are projected to reach nearly $1.5 trillion globally by the end of 2019. China is driving a huge part of that growth, with mobile sales accounting for nearly half of all of China’s e-commerce sales.

    Mobile payment apps, like WeChat Pay and Alibaba’s Alipay, are examples of the types of payment options consumers want. These two payment options use data and analytics to personalize the mobile shopping experience and are currently the two biggest players in the Chinese marketplace. According to the UPS Global Pulse of the Online Shopper study, 73 percent of online shoppers in China say the most important option when checking out online is having a variety of payment options in addition to a credit card.

    Understand duties, local taxes and the implications for consumers and your business

    According to the UPS study, consumers in China rank duties and taxes as their second most important international shopping issue. Miscalculating duties and taxes, or simply not making them available early enough in the checkout process, can be detrimental to a retailer’s success. For online shoppers, not having a clear understanding of the duties and taxes they are responsible for can be a reason for picking one retailer over another.

    In April 2016, as part of an effort to encourage Chinese citizens to purchase goods domestically rather than internationally, the Chinese government changed the tax rules, making purchasing luxury goods overseas more expensive for import. For retailers, changes to tax rules can cause major roadblocks in their e-commerce strategies. This makes is absolutely critical to show currency conversions and total shipping costs, including duties and taxes, during checkout to reduce cart abandonment.

    There are solutions available, like UPS i-parcel, which take the complexity out of cross-border e-commerce, making it easier and more flexible for retailers to localize the shopping experience. This technology provides all of the information that consumers need to make purchasing decisions up-front—including localized duties and taxes, shipping options, delivery times, and local currency and payment options.

    Win over loyalists by focusing on quality

    Online shoppers in China rank product safety and quality as the top reasons for buying goods from overseas sellers. In fact, 40 percent of Chinese luxury goods purchased in the first half of 2016 were made across borders, according to a report by ContactLab and Exane BNP Paribas Research.

    Retailers looking to win over shoppers in China should make product quality a top priority, especially with the rise of China’s more mature or “rational shopper” as dubbed by research firm Nielsen. These consumers, which make up 40 percent of urban online shoppers in China, keep quality top of mind and will search high and low while paying a premium for highly sought-after items.

    Quality in the online shopping experience extends beyond the products themselves. Chinese consumers expect retailers’ packaging, delivery and shipping options to reflect the quality of the item they are purchasing. For retailers looking to do business in China, it’s important to partner with a logistics provider that has the global shipping and logistics expertise to deliver on heightened consumer expectations.

    Don’t be left behind

    The biggest risk for retailers looking to grow through international e-commerce is not targeting shoppers in China.

    Success begins by partnering with an experienced logistics provider that understands the expectations and behaviors of Chinese consumers and can help deliver a shopping experience that converts these consumers to your customers.

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  • Singapore-based ecommerce enabler Shopmatic is striving to get Indians sell their wares online

    Singapore-based ecommerce enabler Shopmatic is striving to get Indians sell their wares online

    It took just one year for Anurag Avula to realise that India is an investment market. “That’s the top learning from India,“ confesses cofounder and CEO of Singapore-based ecommerce enabler Shopmatic, which forayed into the country in January 2016. However, investment for Avula doesn’t mean pumping in millions of dollars. “You need to invest in people, educate them and consult them,“ he says.

    For an ecommerce enabler like Shopmatic–which helps people set up online stores–investment in human resource appears to be its biggest weapon in cracking a market where people are still apprehensive transacting online in spite of a big digital push by the government. Out of an estimated 51 million small and medium enterprises in India, only 10 mil lion are technology ready, according to a recent Google-KPMG report.

    “The opportunity is massive,“ says Avula, adding that the fledgling startup is not confining itself to small enterprises. The target could be anybody. Take, for instance, an aunty that makes pickle, a mom that bakes cake, a student that gives guitar tuitions, a working professional who is also a photographer, or a retired uncle who can offer math tutions.

    “While everybody wants to take their business online, they need a lot of handholding to overcome latent barriers,“ he reckons, informing that the startup has tied up with Confederation of All India Traders, representing over 6 crore merchants.

    From providing free domain names to templates for building stores, to uploading pictures and text, enabling payment and shipping with domestic and international partners, and even helping list on Amazon and eBay, Shopmatic is pushing the envelope to accumulate as many users as possible. Last November, it launched a mobile app GO that enables sellers to build online sites using their mobile phones in just 2 minutes. “We are already clocking over 50,000 downloads, just weeks after launch,“ he claims. While for a first-time merchant who is tentative about the online world, GO is the best option as it helps recruit newbies into the digital world for free; for others Shopmatic offers a subscription model of $20 per month.

    But why would a seller listed on a marketplace or with a page on Facebook page want a bespoke online store? Shenaz Bapooji, chief marketing officer of Shopmatic, contends there are reasons aplenty.

    Some players are tired of parting with high commissions and playing second fiddle to `other brands’ on a marketplace.For them, Shopmatic offers best value.Others consider social media as a catalogue service but have trouble getting closure because the mediums are not ecommerce enabled. There is another category, points out Bapooji, who have built sites through other ecommerce platforms but are switching to Shopmatic as they need to hire experts to manage their sites. “Indians are eager to embrace digital but are waiting for someone to show the way,“ she adds.

    Industry analysts attest to massive business possibilities in making Indians come online. “What is positive about Shopmatic is that it is taking a `handholding’ approach,“ says marketing expert Jessie Paul. When we say `go online’ in India, most businesses would translate that to sell on Facebook, Flipkart and Amazon or more recently on Paytm. They are not likely to look at a specific tool to achieve this and are unlikely to consider a standalone online property, as that requires a lot of brand-building and trust.

    However, the Achilles heel for Shopmatic could be lack of awareness.Unlike more aggressive rivals such as GoDaddy, which has been aggressively advertising on TV, Shopmatic has been under the radar. Avula concedes awareness might be an issue but doesn’t believe in going all guns blazing.

    “It is tempting to put a big burst of money behind TV, but it’s not always possible,“ he says. Shopmatic is instead opting to be efficient about its presence online, by on-boarding `non-digital’ audiences through road shows and market storming activities that help spread awareness.

    “Other companies don’t enable the ecosystem for selling online like we do,“ he claims, adding that he believes in playing a smart and longterm game. “India is a priority market for us and will stay so,“ he signs off.

  • Last Mile Fulfilment Asia returns for the third edition from 2 to 3 March 2017

    Last Mile Fulfilment Asia returns for the third edition from 2 to 3 March 2017

    Last Mile Fulfilment Asia (LMFAsia), the region’s premier trade show for the retail, ecommerce, logistics and parcel industries, returns with the third edition on 2 to 3 March 2017. Themed “Go Global, Deliver Local”, the event aims to drive and strengthen a borderless fulfilment process, where in-market industry players fortify their business locally whilst expanding their foothold in the region through perfecting the last mile beyond borders.

    Amidst a backdrop of economic uncertainties today, Southeast Asia ecommerce market continues to grow to 16 times and will reach $88 billion by 2025 . The two-day conference and exhibition, organised by SingEx Exhibitions will deep-dive into the need to tap on the potential growth of ecommerce, and optimise the cross border fulfilment and delivery processes.

    The multi-track conference component of the trade show will focus on evolutionary topics such as turning fulfilment challenges into opportunities, designing cross-border fulfilment solutions across Asia. In recognising that the last mile of the fulfilment process costs almost 28 per cent of total cost of moving goods , achieving cost efficiency through innovative logistics solutions will be key to amplify the ecommerce market that is already expanding at rapid speed in the region. According to Frost & Sullivan, the global B2B ecommerce market alone will reach US$6.7 trillion by 2020. The 2017 conference will feature a new track “The Future of ecommerce is B2B ecommerce”, in which industry speakers from renowned retail, ecommerce and logistics leaders will share keynotes, highlighting the potential wins of adapting a successful B2C model into the B2B segment to conduct ecommerce business in a similar fashion.

    Separately, the exhibition component of Last Mile Fulfilment Asia will offer a convenient business matching platform for innovative companies to meet potential business partners, and showcase products and technologies that add value in the delivery chain. There will be three thematic zones dedicated to specific solution categories ranging from last mile, fulfilment centres, warehousing to automation.

    Adrian Sng, general manager of SingEx Exhibitions said, “Industry giants from China and US are pursuing significant ecommerce market shares in Asia and it will be a challenging year with headwinds affecting many in the fulfilment business. In order for companies to gain a competitive edge, there is a need to leverage technology to advance and conquer the last mile. This year’s overarching objective will be to bring this to the forefront. Through our focused strategy of curating trade events in emerging markets and industries with high-growth potential, Last Mile Fulfilment Asia will be a driving force for change that will see ecommerce and the fulfilment business playing a much more significant role in the region.”

    Charles Brewer, chief executive officer of DHL eCommerce, who will be sharing during the conference on leveraging opportunities presented in cross-border ecommerce, acknowledges the game-changing benefits last mile fulfilment will bring. “Perfecting logistics is the key to delivering the best ecommerce experience and a great chance to deliver a smile in the last mile. I am looking forward to sharing and connecting with other ecommerce players at the conference to discuss latest trends in this very exciting industry.”

    Joseph Yuen, board chairman of the Hong Kong federation of ecommerce and managing director of China Post Trade Development Company Limited, will also be speaking during the conference on paving the way into doing business in China through “11.11” case study. “Technology brings businesses closer to each other and around the world, but successful cross border ecommerce does need a mastery in the difference in culture, trade practices, government policy and others. On this note, Last Mile Fulfilment Asia 2017 provides a great opportunity for industry stakeholders to catch up with the latest trends and solutions in cross-border ecommerce.”

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  • Online shopping in China grows 26.2% in 2016

    Online shopping in China grows 26.2% in 2016

    Online retail sales in China reached 5.16 trillion yuan ($752 billion) in 2016, representing 26.2% growth from 2015—more than double the growth rate of overall retail sales, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics, the agency charged with tracking economic data. Total retail sales amounted to $33.23 trillion yuan ($4.98 trillion) in 2016, up 10.4% year over year.

    While consumers made 15.5% of their total retail purchases online, the percentage was a bit lower for physical goods, at 12.6%. Overall sales of tangible goods amounted to 4.19 trillion yuan ($610 billion). The remaining nearly $145 billion in retail purchases was of digital goods, such as music and videos.

    The report guarantees China will further extend its lead over the United States as the world’s largest online retail market. U.S. e-retail sales totaled $341.7 billion in 2015, according to the U.S. Commerce Department, and is on track to grow at around 15% in 2016 to around $393 billion. The U.S. Commerce Department will report fourth quarter 2016 and full-year U.S. online retail sales on Feb. 17.

    Helping fuel China’s growth in online retail sales was the rapid integration of stores with online channels, the National Bureau of Statistics says.

    “We expect New Retail, a new form of [online-to-offline sales] promoted by Alibaba and supported by Chinese authorities, will shape the retail landscape for China going forward. Earlier in 2017, Alibaba announced the privatization of Intime Retail Group, which we believe would be a test case for its New Retail strategy. Also, other partnerships between physical stores are Alibaba and Sanjiang, JD.com Inc. and Yonghui Supermarket,” Esme Pau, an analyst at research company Fung Global Retail & Technology, tells Internet Retailer.

    Sales in stores grew 7.8% in 2016, a sizable jump from 5.5% growth in 2015. Specialty stores selling specific brands grew 4 percentage points faster than in 2015, but supermarkets and department stores lost market share, growing about 1.5 percentage points more slowly than in 2015.

    The government agency reported that Chinese consumers bought more premium products in 2016, including sporting goods, sport utility vehicles and electric automobiles. For example, sales of mobile devices grew nearly 12% in 2016. Online sales of food in China went up 28.5% in 2016 over the prior year, clothing sales increased 18.1% and sales of other goods rose 28.8%, the National Bureau of Statistics reported.

    The growth in online and offline retail reflects a still-healthy Chinese consumer economy, despite a slowdown in recent years. China’s gross domestic product grew by 6.7% in 2016, overtaking India, which registered a 6.6% increase in GDP, as the world’s fastest-growing major economy, according to the data released recently by The International Monetary Fund.

    Chinese consumers are fulfilling some of their demand for premium products by buying imported goods online. The number of Chinese consumers who purchased overseas products on Tmall Global, an online marketplace for imported goods, more than doubled in 2016, according to Tmall Global operator Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Amazon.com Inc., one Alibaba’s main rivals in China, reported earlier that as of the end of August 2016 Chinese consumers had placed more than 10 million orders on the cross-border e-commerce shopping area of Amazon.cn, which launched in 2014.

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  • Players continue to come and go in Vietnam’s ecommerce

    Players continue to come and go in Vietnam’s ecommerce

    In Vietnam today there are three popular e-commerce models: C2C (which connects customers to customers), B2C (business to customer) and Marketplace (which provides a platform to process transactions).

    In the pure C2C model, similar to classified advertisements which connects the buyers and the sellers only in terms of information, chotot.vn remains the most prominent.

    However, to Vietnam’s e-commerce, buyer’s trust and delivery have been the issues, and supplying information seems not enough. Many companies provide a platform with third-party services such as shipping or payment.

    Among this group, Sendo.vn, owned by tech giant FPT Group, is a prime example. Recently Zalo of VNG Corporation, a technology company, also ventured into this market. But the name that has received the most attention recently was Shopee, a company started by Singaporean tech company Garena.

    After nearly two years in Vietnam, this company has been downloaded two million times on mobile and processed 10,000 orders per day. Customer base and volume of orders have been growing 20 per cent per month.

    In the B2C group, after the departures of Lingo.vn, and Deca.vn earlier, and while Adayroi.vn of property giant VinGroup has not made any breakthrough and Lotte.vn remained an unknown, Tiki.vn has continued to be the leader.

    Founded in 2010 as an online bookstore, Tiki.vn has expanded into other fields such as cosmetics and electronics.

    According to Tran Ngoc Thai Son, chief executive officer of Tiki.vn, book sales accounted for 70 per cent of the company’s revenue in 2014, but that ratio is only 30 per cent today with the rest of revenue coming from other fields. Now, Tiki receives 15,000 to 20,000 orders per day.

    Even though Cdiscount.vn, the online shop of Big C supermarket which was acquired by Thailand’s retail giant Central Group, was closed and merged with Zalora, the e-commerce space remains attractive to other retail companies.

    Not long after Korea’s Lotte Group entered Vietnam’s e-commerce with the Lotte.vn website, Japan’s biggest retailer Aeon also arrived with aeoneshop.com at the beginning of the year.

    Finally, in the Marketplace group, Lazada.vn has seen no match with its 30 per cent market share (by revenue) in Vietnam’s online retail market.

    Fierce competition

    The race will intensify in the coming months, because up to now no company has made a profit in e-commerce in Vietnam, so they will compete fiercely for larger market share. The prizes await the final winners of this race.

    Alexandre Dardy, chief executive officer of Lazada Vietnam, said Lazada will focus on attracting more brands to do business on its website in 2017. Its goal is to attract 10,000 companies, triple the current number.

    As for Tiki.vn, the focus will be on sustainable growth. In 2017, Tiki.vn will continue to invest heavily in fulfillment, a service in which sellers just need to send their products to Tiki’s warehouses and let Tiki handle marketing and sales. Currently the company has two warehouses in Ho Chi Minh City and one in Hanoi, with total area of 10,000 square meters.

    Meanwhile, although arriving late, traditional retail companies are always considered strong contenders. While Lotte.vn focuses on cosmetics and fashion that are the strength of Korean brands, aeoneshop.com targets electronics and baby products carrying Japanese brands. Currently aeoneshop.com owns a chain of large modern retail stores from shopping centers to convenience stores.

    In addition directly owning four shopping centers in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, Aeon bought 30 per cent stake in Fivimart and 49 per cent share of Citimart in 2015, and now indirectly owns 18 Fivimart stores in Hanoi and 66 mini-shops in Ho Chi Minh City.

    In essence, the race between purely e-commerce companies and traditional retail companies in Vietnam has not seen the clear winners, and purely e-commerce firms currently have an edge. However, with the determination of retail companies to expand online, the competition will be exciting to watch in 2017.

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  • Vietnam E-commerce well placed to meet growth targets

    Vietnam E-commerce well placed to meet growth targets

    Last year, e-commerce revenues increased to $5 billion, accounting for about three per cent of the total retail trade and services revenue.

    It has become an indispensable extension for businesses as a rapidly growing country with growing Internet connectivity deepens its global integration process.

    The development of multi-channel businesses that combines physical stores with an online presence has become an inevitable trend.

    Viet Nam has a gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of more than six per cent per year. Internet connectivity is growing by 50 per cent plus every year. Online marketing revenues in the country increased from US$26 million to nearly $330 million in the 2010-2015 period.

    It is not surprising that with these advantages, the nation’s e-commerce market has witnessed the entrance of large players in the last few years.

    The Vingroup officially stepped into e-commerce in 2015 with its Adayroi trading floor. Earlier, several savvy entrepreneurs had launched online shopping websites that became popular, like sendo.vn, nguyenkim.com, tiki.vn, zalora.vn and lazada.vn.

    The South Korean Lotte Group also entered e-commerce market in Viet Nam last year with its lotte.vn website. It was followed soon by Japan’s largest retailer Aeon, which launched aeoneshop.com at the beginning of this month.

    Given their brand prominence and their large story systems, aeoneshop.com and lotte.vn are expected to offer stiff competition to sites like lazada.vn and tiki.vn that currently dominate the domestic market.

    Tran Trong Tuyen, general secretary of the Viet Nam E-commerce Association, told the Hai Quan (Customs) online newspaper recently that in the past, it was important for businesses to open their stores at a good location, but the situation has changed with 40 million Internet users having the option to buy things online.

    “If retail companies do not invest properly in e-commerce, they will gradually lose customers,” Tuyen said.

    The newspaper also quoted Trinh Van Hoa, director of the Nguyen Kim E-commerce Centre, as saying that the centre studied customer’s shopping habits and understood that they were looking for multi-business shopping facilities.

    Its focus on providing the most convenient shopping solutions for customers has seen the company grow rapidly in recent years, she said.

    The growth of the company, accordingly, also increased several times compared to the previous years, she said.

    Impressive figures

    E-commerce revenues in Viet Nam reached $4.07 billion in 2015, a 37 per cent year-on-year increase. It also accounted for about 2.8 per cent of total retail trade and services revenue.

    Last year, e-commerce revenues increased to $5 billion, accounting for about three per cent of the total retail trade and services revenue.

    The popularity of Online Friday, a mega sales event held every December, has soared, with last year’s sales of VND664 billion, triple that of the previous year.

    These figures show that the nation is well placed to meet its e-commerce targets. The 2016-2020 e-commerce master plan envisages $10 billion in business-to-consumner (B2C) turnover by 2020, accounting for five per cent the country’s total retail sales.

    Despite the rapid growth and enormous potential, the e-commerce market share of Vietnamese enterprises was still modest, Tuyen remarked.

    He said that even though famous names like Tiki and Sendo had millions of users and tens of thousands of orders per day, they were limited to the national scale, and although e-commerce revenue in 2015 was five times that of 2012, the Vietnamese market, had yet to match world leaders.

    In the US, e-commerce transactions accounted for five per cent of total retail sales, and it was 9-10 per cent in China, and about three per cent in Viet Nam.

    Shopping trends

    Market research firm Nielsen recently released the results of an online survey covering 63 countries

    It found more than six out of ten (64 per cent) Vietnamese consumers purchased fashion products online.

    More than half the Vietnamese respondents said they purchased books, music and stationery products (51 per cent) and 47 per cent said they bought travel products or services online.

    Four in 10 respondents (40 per cent) said they purchased personal-care and beauty products online.

    About one-fourth (26 per cent) said they placed online orders for babies and infants; an equal number ordered meal-kits or restaurant deliveries and one-fifth ordered packaged groceries online.

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  • Australian E-Commerce Looks to China for Global Growth

    Australian E-Commerce Looks to China for Global Growth

    Chemist Warehouse is geared up to target its online Chinese consumer market this weekend, by supporting the Melbourne Chinese New Year 2017 Festival with a Tai Chi Masterclass Series in Southbank, to celebrate the Year of the Rooster.

    In 2015, the pharmacy chain announced its plans to directly target the burgeoning demand for Australian complementary medicines in China, via its e-commerce website hosted on online retail giant Alibaba’s Tmall platform, projecting $88 million in sales in 2016 via the offering. in China.

    A part of Alibaba Group, Tmall Global is an e-commerce platform developed for international sellers to access Chinese consumers. China’s online shoppers interested in products from a specific country can go to an online country pavilion and access the country that way.

    The strong demand for high quality Australian products in China was one of the factors which drove Swisse and Blackmores to be one of the highest performing Australian brands during Alibaba’s 11.11 Singles Day last year, China’s largest e-commerce shopping event.

    The Pharmacy Guild of Australia, along with other Australian health and wellbeing suppliers, have been asked to attend China’s inaugural Health Product Expo in Qingdao in March this year, which is expected to attract over 60,000 visitors, 7,000 of which are industry buyers.

    Through online shopping, Australian products have found a lucrative channel into the economic powerhouse of China.

    Woolworths set up shop on Tmall Global a year ago, aiming to tap burgeoning Chinese consumer demand for Australian food and grocery products.

    Australia’s largest supermarket retailer engaged with Chinese e-commerce company eCargo Holdings, to build and manage a Woolworths store front the Tmall platform, selling rougly 80 products including Woolworths’ Select and Woolworths Gold milk powder, Swisse vitamins and Devondale milk powder.

    In April last year, one of our largest cosmetics online retailers Adore Beauty, backed by Woolworths (who have 25 percent stake in the company), announced its expansion into the Chinese market by selling its beauty products through Tmall.

    Adore Beauty’s Tmall offering features 50 products, including six popular Australian brands that are currently not available in China, namely Lanolips, Alpha-H, ELEVEN, asap, evo and Skinstitut.

    As off last year, cross border e-commerce in China now favours cosmetic imports, with the tax rate, if the purchase is above 100 yuan, now set at 32.9 percent, compared to 50 percent previously.

    Kate Morris, founder of Adore Beauty says the Chinese market is an exciting and huge prospect for the company, especially in light of China’s demand for our high quality Australian products.

    On a broader perspective, the company recently told us that 2017’s growth strategy is to expand its footprint globally, with China being an important part of that vision.

    Adore Beauty now offers thousands of products to more than 150 countries and territories via its Borderfree e-commerce platform.

    Which Australian products are most popular in China?

    According to Startrack, the most popular Australian product categories in the Chinese market are supplements, dairy, honey, food, skincare and cosmetics, maternity and baby products.

    Why sell to China?

    “China’s middle class is booming. And they want to buy Australian products. Aussie produce is considered clean, green, authentic – Australian retailers are already meeting this growing demand,” says Startrack. 

    According to the e-commerce and parcel delivery company, here are the six most important factors why China is such a great economic powerhouse for our e-commerce industry:

    • China’s middle class is booming
    • Chinese incomes are rising
    • Chinese consumers are shopping more than ever before
    • And most importantly, they want to buy Australian products

    Wine is another up and coming e-commerce market fro Australia to coin in on, in the Chinese market. According to a new report that came out yesterday from the Australian wine industry, our local wine exports are seeing major gains in the Asian market due to changes in our free trade agreement with China.

    If we go back three years, this time, Australia was losing major market share in the global wine industry, mainly to New Zealand and Chile. The reason being, these countries had a free trade agreement with China, but Australia did not.

    Things have changed, and with that has come rapid revolution of the Australian wine market. In 2016 the value of our wine market grew by 7 percent to $2.2 billion, driven by big increases in bottled wine. Exports to China grew by 19 percent to $ 875 million, which overtook the US as our most important wine export market.

    Online wine retailer Vinomofo looks set take advantage of this, with plans to launch into the Chinese market by 2018, which will follow its US launch planned for 2017.

    Following the success of their launch in New Zealand six month ago, the company launched in Singapore last month, which it says will help set it up for its big US expansion, and then China.

    “We’ll start in English, but we will then localise the content. We’ll have plenty of leanings from our Singapore launch, and learning how to operate in a different country. As a startup launching in a different country, we’re always aware that we have to assume that we’re pretty dumb and we have to learn hard about all these things,” Andre Eikmeier, Vinomofo’s co-founder and joint chief executive, told us at the Singapore launch.

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  • Alibaba boosts Q4 revenue by 54%

    Alibaba boosts Q4 revenue by 54%

    Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group reported a 54% increase in revenue for the quarter ended December 31.

    Revenue for the quarter reached 53.25 billion yuan ($7.66 billion). This was mainly attributed to the strong growth of its China e-commerce retail business and Alibaba Cloud division, as well as the consolidation of newly acquired businesses (mainly Youku Tudou and Lazada).

    “Our robust December quarter demonstrates the strength of the Chinese consumer and Alibaba’s ability to create value across our vast ecosystem,” said Daniel Zhang, Chief Executive Officer of Alibaba Group.

    The Alibaba chief said the 11.11 Shopping Festival showcased Alibaba’s expertise at integrating commerce, entertainment and social engagement.

    “We are driving the age of ‘New Retail,’ which leverages big data and innovation to provide a seamless online and offline experience for nearly half a billion mobile monthly active users. This retail transformation will make it even easier and more efficient for brands and retailers to engage with these consumers anywhere, anytime,” he said.

    For fiscal year 2017, Alibaba expects revenue to increase 53% year-over-year. “With three quarters of the year coming in ahead of expectations, we are adjusting up our 2017 fiscal year revenue guidance from 48% to 53% year-over-year growth,” said Maggie Wu, Chief Financial Officer of Alibaba Group.

    She disclosed that the company generated $4.9 billion in free cash flow on a non-GAAP basis during the quarter, which enabled it to continue investing in growth areas such as cloud computing (115% revenue increase year-over-year), digital media and entertainment (273% increase year-over-year), and other innovation initiatives (61% revenue increase year-over-year).

    Meanwhile, revenue from core commerce jumped 45% year-over-year to $6.71 billion.

    The Taobao marketplace added 43 million monthly active users (MAU) from September, with relevant content in the app reportedly continuing to drive mobile user growth. Small, on the hand, had another record breaking 11.11 sales with a record $17.4 billion in gross merchandise volume (GMV) settled through its own payment platform Alipay, 82% of which was generated from mobile.

    The company disclosed that its “New Retail” strategy will enable it to tap into the entire $4.8 trillion retail sector in China by eliminating the distinction between online and offline commerce. It also bared plans to partner with brick-and-mortar retailers in different verticals through equity investments and deeper operational integration.