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Tag: E-Commerce

  • Global giants eye Vietnam e-commerce logistics market

    Global giants eye Vietnam e-commerce logistics market

    The world’s largest container shipping line Maersk and U.S. express delivery company FedEx are seeking to enter Vietnam’s e-commerce logistics market. Ditlev Blicher, regional managing director for Asia-Pacific, A.P. Moller – Maersk (Maersk), was in the country this week, three months after the Danish company spent US$3.6 billion on acquiring Hong Kong firm LF Logistics.

    He said with LF Logistics’ expertise in omnichannel orders, Maersk would have a better position in the global e-commerce market, including Vietnam. He said that his company plans to offer business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) delivery services.

    Hoan Dang, head of omnichannel order fulfillment at Maersk Vietnam and Cambodia, said with the acquisition of LF Logistics, his company could join hands with e-commerce platforms to handle goods orders in the Vietnamese market.

    FedEx is integrating its services with e-commerce platforms to enable online retailers to use them without leaving them. Hardy Diec, managing director of FedEx Express Indochina, said e-commerce would continue to flourish in Vietnam.

    Earlier this month, his company opened a new $2-million operations center in Hanoi’s Bac Tu Liem District. Vietnam will be one of the top 10 countries for FedEx in terms of trade volume growth over the next five years.

    Vietnam will achieve the highest growth in the digital economy in Southeast Asia between 2022 and 2025, a report by Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company have forecast. Its digital gross merchandise volume will likely reach $23 billion in 2022 and $32 billion by 2025.

    According to global firm Allied Market Research, Vietnam’s express delivery market is expected to be worth $4.88 billion by 2030 after growing at 24.1% annually, with the growth of e-commerce being one of the main drivers.

    Logistics firms are expanding their services and lowering prices.

    This month Lazada Logistics announced it would start offering omnichannel deliveries for online shops.

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  • Vietnam collects $231 mln in taxes from online platforms

    Vietnam collects $231 mln in taxes from online platforms

    The Finance Ministry said online platforms including Facebook and Google have paid VND5.59 trillion (US$231.6 million) in taxes from 2018 to August this year.

    In a report sent to the National Assembly, the ministry said the tax was paid by cross-border and e-commerce platforms, with Facebook and Google contributing the most, at VND2.099 trillion and VND2.115 trillion, respectively.

    They were followed by Microsoft with VND714 billion.

    Last year’s collection of VND1.591 trillion was 39% more than in 2020.

    From the beginning of 2018 until the end of this August, tax authorities collected VND1.082 trillion in taxes from organizations and individuals earning income from doing business online, including VND261 billion collected last year and almost VND521 billion in the first eight months of this year.

    The ministry launched an electronic portal and a mobile application (eTax Mobile) in March for foreign suppliers to declare, register and pay taxes.

    So far, there have been nearly 70,000 transactions made through the portal and app, with more than VND308 billion of tax collected.

    Of this, $22.2 million was paid by 30 major foreign suppliers including Microsoft, Facebook, Netflix, Samsung, TikTok and eBay.

    In order to manage and avoid tax revenue losses in the digital platform business, the finance ministry is working to complete relevant legislation.

    At the end of August, the ministry submitted amendments to Decree 126 issued in 2020, stipulating that e-commerce platforms have to provide information, declare and paying taxes on behalf of sellers.

    The ministry also proposed amending a number of special regulations to ensure a consistent legal basis for the management of e-commerce platforms.

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  • B2B e-commerce platform Buy2Sell reaches 1 mln hits

    B2B e-commerce platform Buy2Sell reaches 1 mln hits

    According to statistics for Buy2Sell’s Google Analytics in 2021, the platform recorded over half a million visits and 140,000 registered users.

    In 2020, the platform reached about 400,000 visits and 56,000 registered users. In two years, it has recorded one million hits and more than 200,000 registered users.

    According to Buy2Sell’s importation data for the second semester of 2021, Buy2Sell Vietnam imported more than $22 million of goods through their global network of suppliers. These goods are destined for large local buyers using the platform. The most popular items are wine, nutritional food and cosmetics.

    “We are in a growth phase. Our revenue stream provides Buy2Sell steady capital. Currently, we have received interesting offers from large investors. However, we are very humble right now in speaking about evaluation. Our focus is to deliver value, quality of service, brand influence in the community and efficiency. E-commerce is our primary goal,” Harry Morant, Buy2Sell CEO, shared.

    While most people use Google and other search engines to locate products, businesses did not have the same capabilities in the past. However, this is changing thanks to the increasing number of B2B eCommerce marketplace platforms. Now more than ever most businesses, large or small, heavily rely on B2B E-commerce marketplaces.Buy2Sell was established in 2015 and belongs to the group LLHP PTE LTD, Singapore.

    Vietnam stands to benefit as the B2B E-commerce market with the highest growth rate in Southeast Asia, reaching $13.2 billion in 2020, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 43 percent by 2025. Buy2Sell plans to build a faster and more user-friendly platform and expand its sales, marketing, and technology teams to drive rapid growth.

  • Behind e-commerce giant Lazada’s success in pandemic-hit year

    Behind e-commerce giant Lazada’s success in pandemic-hit year

    In light of its proud achievements in 2021, Lazada Vietnam expects more breakthroughs in 2022 to bring more value for their customers and partners.
    Lazada hit impressive milestones in 2021, with remarkable profits, site traffic and record number of orders and new sellers on the platform, and step-by-step attracted consumers and partners across the country.

    Looking back on a breakthrough year, Lazada Vietnam’s leaders shared their experiences in surviving the pandemic, thereby continuously creating more value for customers, users as well as business partners.

    An amazing digital migration

    The pandemic has posed many challenges, but it has also pushed businesses to adapt the digital transformation. Ladaza Vietnam’s CEO described this amazing “digital migration” of Vietnamese businesses as an “astonishing wave”.

    Since October 2021, the number of new sellers joining the platform has increased by about 30 percent per month. According to the recent report: “E-commerce in 2021: Adapting and quickly overcoming obstacles from Covid-19”, in the first 11 months of the year, sellers from non-urban areas accounted for 40 percent of all new merchants on Lazada.

    The percentage of new sellers from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City also increased by 29 percent and 31 percent, respectively. Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) recorded the highest increase, followed by fashion, home furniture and electronics. James Dong, CEO of Lazada Vietnam and Thailand, believes this is a good sign for Vietnam’s fastest growing momentum.

    James Dong, general director of Lazada Vietnam and Thailand. Photo by Lazada Vietnam
    James Dong, CEO of Lazada Vietnam and Thailand. Photo by Lazada Vietnam

    To support sellers, Lazada has shortened the listing process, and integrated business management solutions with real-time charts. The platform has also implemented marketing, promoting transportation process, ensuring on-time, non-contact, non-cash delivery to reduce risks of Covid-19 contamination for buyers and sellers.

    During the peak of the pandemic in HCMC, Lazada shortened the sales registration process to three hours for fresh food suppliers, and reduced the delivery time. These solutions helped reduce the risk of spreading infections, stabilizing food prices, and meeting urgent consumption needs.

    Moreover, Lazada’s “three Easy” (3Es) strategy including “Easy to buy – Easy to sell – Easy to deliver” has yielded achievements. “The benefit and safety of customers and business partners are always the top priority of the platform,” according to the CEO.

    “The practical test” for the supply chain

    Vu Duc Thinh, Chief Logistics Officer of Lazada Vietnam, described the supply chain situation during the epidemic as “terrible”. For more than four months, transportation, sales, and trading activities were almost frozen. The flow of raw materials, goods production, distribution and transportation were all interrupted.

    “Without goods, sellers fail to conduct business. Without duct tape, sellers can’t pack their goods. Even after tackling those difficulties, if shipping units shut down, buyers won’t receive the goods,” Thinh explained.

    Overcoming obstacles, Thinh and the Lazada Vietnam logistics team made several efforts to adapt in order to maintain operations and maintain item flow. Epidemic-prevention solutions at working sites were quickly deployed to ensure the safety of employees and customers.

    Vu Duc Thinh, logistics director of Lazada Vietnam,
    Vu Duc Thinh, Chief Logistics Officer of Lazada Vietnam. Photo by Lazada Vietnam

    “We all work from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day. At the end of the day, we usually evaluated the effectiveness of our work and make adjustment for the next day,” said Thinh.

    Looking back at 2021, Thinh is proud that Lazada is one of the few e-Commerce platforms in Vietnam to maintain its supply chain during the pandemic. The logistics system completed the target from the beginning of the year. Some indicators exceeded expectations. Efforts to ensure smooth operations not only helped business remain stable, but also meet the increasing demand of consumers. That contributed to maintaining growth for Lazada, ensuring jobs and stable income for all staff.

    “The ability to adapt with a long-term vision for sustainable development is Lazada’s strength. Lazada has focused on technology and logistics since the early days of development and the importance of this strategy is proved,” Thinh stated.

    Besides logistics, Lazada has carried out many marketing activities to help the community overcome the challenges in the past year.

    Nguyen Thi Thuy Hang, Chief Marketing Officer of Lazada Vietnam, said the marketing team always set their KPIs as the peace of mind, optimism and comfort of users and the community. Lazada has flexibly approached and interacted with customers via many activities.

    By offering discount vouchers, Lazada has encouraged shopping. For loyal customers, the platform has provided the “Voucher club” package with many benefits like collecting vouchers with a total value of up to VND850,000 and VND50,000 a month.

    Nguyen Thi Thuy Hang, marketing director of Lazada Vietnam
    Nguyen Thi Thuy Hang, Chief Marketing Officer of Lazada Vietnam. Photo by Lazada Vietnam

    “Incentives can solve cost-related problems, but it needs more factors to really share with the community,” said Hang. That is why in 2021, Lazada’s shoppertainment (shopping and entertainment) activities were heavily invested. Hundreds of livestream episodes were performed every day with diverse content, meeting entertainment needs via LazCook, LazMusic, LazGetfit, LazLearn, LazHome, LazPlay…

    According to statistics from Lazada Vietnam, during the peak days of its Shopping Festivals, the platform created more than 400 livestream episodes per day, attracting a 5-6 times increase in viewership compared to weekdays. SuperShow, a music festival, also reached tens of millions of views on its platforms.

    Total orders during the Nov. 11 shopping festival nearly doubled. Customer numbers increased 1.5 times over the same period last year. On the 12.12 Super sale day, sales from LazLive increased seven times. The SuperShow hit 26 million views, contributing to a 20-fold increase in sales.

    “Technology is expected to be the key to enhancing the user experience. This year, we will apply more modern technologies, accompanying users in the shopping experience on the Lazada platform,” Hang shared.

    “The best person is not necessarily the most suitable one”

    In terms of recruitment and training human resources, Van Thi Hong Hanh, Chief People Officer of Lazada Vietnam, said the success of Lazada last year was thanks to its young, adaptive, proactive and creative staff.

    This platform set out a competency framework consisting of seven criteria as the foundation for personnel, recruitment, training and career development decisions and plans. The criteria include problem-solving ability; creativity and improvisation; communication – coordination; business knowledge; management capacity – group leadership; corporate culture creation; awareness – change management.

    Van Thi Hong Hanh, human resources director of Lazada Vietnam
    Van Thi Hong Hanh, Chief People Officer of Lazada Vietnam. Photo by Lazada Vietnam

    During the pandemic, Lazada has implemented the “Covid Care 2.0” program, ensuring the health of both employees and the community. Working from home, getting fully vaccinated, providing protection kits, and supporting Covid-19 infected employees were quickly implemented. Many programs were also implemented to motivate, connect and honor outstanding individuals and groups.

    In 2021, Lazada’s workforce rose by 20 percent in comparison to 2020. According to HR Asia magazine, Lazada was named “Asia’s Best Place to Work” for three years in a row due to a range of policies and initiatives with a people-centric strategy. In addition, at Best Choice Awards 2021, the platform was named “eCommerce platform of the year”.

    “What makes Lazada so outstanding is that we don’t get distracted by short-term financial goals or transient statistics. Instead, we always strive for long-term, more sustainable growth by constantly improving the customer experience and extending our brand partners and sellers,” James Dong emphasizes.

  • Shopify and JD to create world’s largest cross-border e-commerce market

    Shopify and JD to create world’s largest cross-border e-commerce market

    For entrepreneurs, there are many exciting moments in the journey to celebrate: first product, first sale to a happy customer (who isn’t a family member), first marketing campaign. But entrepreneurship is a daily effort—to build a brand, to expand the business, to attract even more customers. That’s why we’re so passionate about making it easier for independent brands to succeed, and now that success doesn’t have to be limited to their town or even country. Commerce is global, and we’re giving merchants, of any size, the tools to show up wherever their customers are.

    With a population of 1.4 billion, China is home to the world’s largest ecommerce market, estimated to be worth $3.3 trillion by 2025*—that’s more than five times larger than the US ecommerce market**. In fact, over half (52%) of all retail sales in China in 2021 were predicted to come from ecommerce alone***. Despite this enormous potential, China has often remained inaccessible to independent businesses and upstart entrepreneurs abroad. Regulatory and logistical barriers, as well as complexities related to pricing, duties, and translations, can be daunting to deal with for all but the largest of brands.

    A partnership between Shopify and JD.com means that we’re unlocking the world’s largest ecommerce market for merchants by giving them access to one of China’s leading ecommerce marketplaces. By letting merchants easily list their products on JD’s cross-border ecommerce platform JD Worldwide, this new sales channel opens access to JD’s 550 million active customers in China who are shopping for authentic, high-quality products from brands all over the world.

    “Altuzarra is excited to leverage the Shopify and JD.com partnership,” said Shira Sue Carmi,  CEO of Altuzarra, the namesake label of fashion designer Joseph Altuzarra. “Given Joseph’s Chinese heritage and the great momentum we are seeing with our business overall, we see tremendous opportunity for Altuzarra in mainland China and are thrilled to be able to explore it easily and seamlessly through Shopify’s new JD Marketplace channel.”

    Compared to the 12 months typically required for foreign brands to begin selling in China, JD’s streamlined channel, JD Marketplace, will allow Shopify merchants in the US to get started in as quickly as three to four weeks. To support merchants in their effort to begin selling into China, the channel will provide:

    • Expedited onboarding to help merchants sell quickly
    • Logistics that handle end-to-end fulfillment from JD’s US warehouses directly to consumers in China, leveraging JD.com’s China-US cargo flights, 1,300+ warehouses and 200,000+ delivery personnel in China
    • Smart price conversion to local currency based on foreign exchange rates, typical category pricing, as well as VAT and Consumption Tax
    • Intelligent translation of product names and descriptions

    “Bringing together two world-class commerce platforms—Shopify and JD.com—is a major step in solving cross-border commerce for merchants,” said Aaron Brown, Vice President at Shopify. “The future of commerce is commerce everywhere—and that starts by removing barriers to entry to one of the most important ecommerce markets in the world.”

    “JD.com is thrilled to partner with Shopify,” said Daniel Tan, President of JD Worldwide. “We believe that the partnership will unlock the huge potential of the Chinese market for brands outside of China. At the same time, it will increase cross-border commerce by leveraging our global supply chain abilities, simplifying what has traditionally been a very complicated process.”

    The JD Marketplace sales channel is part of a larger strategic partnership between Shopify and JD.com that aims to help solve cross-border commerce challenges across product sourcing, selling, and logistics for merchants in the US and China. The sales channel will be available to Shopify’s US merchants starting today, January 18.

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  • Amid pandemic, e-commerce reigns supreme

    Amid pandemic, e-commerce reigns supreme

    With Covid-19 forcing people to stay at home and spend time online, e-commerce has been thriving.

    When Tet, the Lunar New Year, was a month and a half away e-commerce platforms had already achieved a strong increase in revenues during their December-12 promotion program. Lazada said sales doubled from the same period in 2020, while the number of sellers was up by 2.5 times. Shopee also reported a strong rise in sales during the event, with most of the orders being for skincare products and house decorative items.

    But Dec. 12 was not the only occasion when e-commerce sites recorded such strong sales: In 2021 they also had major promotions for Oct. 10, Nov. 11, Black Friday, and Cyber Friday.

    Tiki saw sales soar nine times from normal days on Nov. 11.

    According to the ‘e-Conomy Southeast Asia’ report released last November by Google, Temasek and Bain & Co., Vietnam’s Internet economy is expected to grow by 31 percent to $21 billion in 2022.

    Tran Tuan Anh, executive director of Shopee Vietnam, said, “the digital transformation process has been shortened thanks to the pandemic.”

    The report said eight million new digital consumers had been added between the start of the pandemic and the first half of this year, 55 percent of them living in non-metropolitan areas.

    “Stickiness of adoption remains high as digital consumption has become a way of life,” it said, pointing out that 97 percent of new consumers are still using online services and 99 percent said they intend to continue using them in future.

    Some 30 percent of digital sellers believe they cannot make it through the pandemic without digital platforms.

    Lazada Vietnam CEO James Dong said at an event held recently that the pandemic has stimulated millions of new customers to experience online shopping for the first time.

    “E-commerce has really transformed from a side channel to a core part of the growth strategy of brands and sellers”.

    Because of the pandemic, e-commerce sites started to sell food and groceries during the social distancing period.

    According to a study by Malaysia’s iPrice Group last September, online groceries are the only category to achieve steady and consistent growth since the beginning of the pandemic.

    Google searches related to online grocery stores increased by 223 percent in the second quarter of 2021 and 11 times in July compared to May, when stringent social distancing restrictions were in place in some provinces and cities.

    What next?

    iPrice points out three trends in its forecast for Vietnam’s e-commerce market this year.

    The first is the personalization of the shopper experience, with consumers needing e-commerce businesses to help them find the products they need, offer coupons and streamline the supply chain to shorten delivery times and ensure product quality.

    The ‘Personalization Pulse Check’ report in 2018 by Accenture Interactive, an Irish multinational professional services company, had found that 91 percent of consumers were more likely to shop with brands that recognize, remember and provide them with relevant offers and recommendations.

    The second trend is the rise of cashless payments.

    For the first time in 2021 cash payments saw the risk of being dethroned as the most common method of payment in Vietnam after decreasing to only 42 percent of payments from 60 percent in 2020, the ‘Southeast Asia, the Home for Digital Transformation’ report by Facebook and U.S. consulting firm Bain & Company said in November.

    The final trend is that of environment-friendly consumption.

    Consumers have become aware that the products they use not only need to be of good quality but also safe for health and do not leave negative impacts on the environment.

    The report by Facebook and Bain said environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors now count as among the top reasons for consumers to switch brands in Southeast Asia.

    “People are willing to pay more for a product that is sustainably and responsibly sourced, although some product categories are more sensitive to ESG factors than others,” it said.

    According to iPrice, it is hard to predict if sustainability and eco-friendliness will become the main trend in 2022, but it certainly has importance in e-commerce in the future.

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  • Alibaba looks abroad as China growth slips

    Alibaba looks abroad as China growth slips

    China’s Alibaba has told its investors that overseas e-commerce would be a key focus as it looks for new sources of growth after a difficult year at home.

    Earlier this month, Alibaba Group Holding restructured its e-commerce business into separate China and international divisions, with the latter to be led by Jiang Fan, head of Alibaba’s flagship Taobao and Tmall marketplaces.

    Alibaba Deputy CFO Toby Xu, making his first major public remarks since being named this month to take over as CFO, said that international e-commerce “will become one of the key growth drivers”, adding that 57 percent of revenue for Cainiao, Alibaba’s logistics unit, comes from overseas.

    Earlier in the two-day investor event which ended Friday, Alibaba said it had set a target of $100 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) for Lazada, its e-commerce service for Southeast Asia.

    Lazada generated $21 billion in GMV from September 2020 to the same month in 2021, the presentation showed.

    Outgoing CFO Maggie Wu said that In the future, the company will break down the category into four sub-categories – China commerce, which includes its major domestic-facing e-commerce platforms; international commerce, which will include Lazada, AliExpress, and other overseas-facing sites; local-based services, which will include its food-delivery service Ele.me and its mapping service; and Cainiao, its logistics division.

    There was also a nod to social welfare, with four of seven investment categories outlined by Xu related to initiatives such as rural revitalization and China’s aging population.

    CEO Daniel Zhang, meanwhile, pledged to slash emissions from Alibaba’s supply chains and transportation networks by 50 percent by the end of the decade.

    Missing from the presentation was any mention of Ant Group, the financial services firm that is 33-per-cent owned by Alibaba.

    Last year, Beijing intervened at the last minute to abort a planned $37 billion listing of Ant. Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma subsequently slipped from the public spotlight and Chinese authorities began a year-long regulatory clampdown.

    In November, Alibaba slashed its annual revenue forecast for its current fiscal year, from an initial growth target of 29.5 percent to between 20 and 23 percent.

    The company has been facing stiff competition from rivals including Pinduoduo, which has won over consumers in rural China, and ByteDance-owned Douyin, which has grown in China’s booming live-streamed e-commerce sector.

  • Visa’s Amazon spat shows power is shifting to retailers in fee battle

    Visa’s Amazon spat shows power is shifting to retailers in fee battle

    Amazon’s latest spat with Visa shows big retailers, armed with a growing array of payment options, are gaining the upper hand in their power struggle with card providers, but it’s not a crisis for the payment company.

    Amazon said last week that it would stop accepting Visa credit cards issued in the United Kingdom from Jan 19, 2022, saying that despite technology advancements the fees on such transactions remained high or in some cases were rising.

    While Amazon may yet back down on the UK front, where the company accounts for less than 1 percent of Visa’s credit card volume, according to an estimate by Piper Sandler analysts, the dispute is a bad sign for the card industry. Some analysts said it could presage a fight in the much bigger US market.

    “Amazon is treating this dispute with Visa as an experiment,” said Piper Sandler analyst Christopher Donat. “Our biggest concern is that Amazon seeks concessions from Visa in other geographies.”

    Visa Chief Financial Officer Vasant Prabhu told Reuters in an interview on Friday that he expected a resolution. “We’ve resolved these things in the past and I believe we’ll resolve them in the future,” he said. Amazon declined to comment.

    Credit cards dominated a third of North American e-commerce spending in 2020, according to payments giant WorldPay, but mobile payment options like Venmo and ‘buy now, pay later’ (BNPL) financing plans are chipping away at their market share.

    While alternative payments have been growing for years, the pandemic accelerated a downward trend in credit card applications boosting the popularity of BNPL financing, especially among younger consumers.

    Credit cards’ share of North American e-commerce spending declined 7 percent last year, according to WorldPay, while BNPL’s share increased 78 percent, making it the fastest-growing form of payment.

    In August, Amazon partnered with BNPL provider Affirm to offer an installment financing option on US Amazon purchases.

    “Credit cards are still dominant players for non-cash transactions, but they need to be aware of the growing competition,” Chris Dinga, a payments analyst at GlobalData, wrote on Friday.

    “BNPL is gradually being adopted by retailers as they see higher conversion and growth opportunity by providing it to their customers,” Dinga wrote, adding high credit card fees could accelerate BNPL adoption by retailers.

    Some analysts said past disputes suggested Visa may have to blink before Amazon, such as when U.S. restaurant owners stopped taking Amex cards in the 1990s, leading Amex to reduce its fees.

    “Visa may need to follow American Express’s example,” Evercore analysts said in a research note.

    Still, Visa has survived such fights and few other merchants have Amazon’s heft, said Prabhu.

    “Even a very large retailer like Amazon represents a relatively small portion of our payment volume,” he said.

    And Visa is not wedded to credit cards as the primary transaction source, he added.

    “If a merchant wants to offer credit in a different way, we’re agnostic. We will do both. The buy now, pay later business has been a positive for us.”

    Visa has been partnering with BNPL providers, including Sweden’s Klarna.

    Retailers also benefit from credit card issuers offering their customers cash rebates and rewards programs to encourage them to spend more than they otherwise would.

    Prabhu said he expected credit card spending to pick up now that borders are opening and affluent customers are spending more on travel, entertainment and eating out.

    And Amazon also needs a partner for its own co-branded credit card. The company is considering replacing Visa on US co-branded credit cards with either Mastercard or American Express, suggesting its UK fee dispute could be a negotiating tactic, said analysts.

    “It’s not necessarily a good idea for merchants to restrict consumer choice,” said Prabhu. “Amazon will have to think about that, too.”

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  • Carousell Group raises US$100 million for SEA rollout

    Carousell Group raises US$100 million for SEA rollout

    Carousell Group, the leading classifieds group in Greater Southeast Asia, today announced that it has secured an investment of US$100 million to accelerate its leadership in the region, and to reimagine the classifieds experience with a focus on convenience and trust, to make secondhand the first choice.

    This round of funding, led by STIC Investments, a leading Korean private equity that invests across Asia, marks a significant milestone that will bring Carousell’s valuation to US$1.1 billion. The investment will power the group’s ambitions to redefine commerce for secondhand goods and automobiles in an increasingly digitally savvy, affluent and sustainability-conscious region.

    “The pandemic has shown us that our mission to inspire the world to start selling and buying secondhand is more relevant than ever. People in the community are using our platforms to make more possible for each other—through shared passions, making ends meet, affording what they need, or simply because it is more sustainable. We believe that the accelerated adoption of digital experiences is an opportunity for us to double down on our recommerce efforts with a focus on convenience and trust, to unlock step-change growth in our community,” said Quek Siu Rui, Co-founder and CEO of Carousell. “STIC’s investment is a validation of our mission and strategic direction. We’ll deepen our investments in recommerce across more categories and markets, and will continue to seek opportunistic acquisitions in scaling up.”

    “We have been monitoring Carousell as one of the leading platforms in Greater Southeast Asia, and are excited to partner up with a significant stake in its growth story,” said Jason Cho, Managing Director of STIC Investments.  “Carousell continues to achieve tremendous user growth as they transform the recommerce market, adding new features that are focused on creating trusted marketplaces and enhancing overall user experience.  We are highly confident that Carousell will be at the center of the secondhand economy in this region at a time when an increasing number of socio-economic and environmentally conscious consumers are shifting towards a circular economy”. As part of the funding round, Mr. Cho will join the Carousell Board of Directors.

    Since its founding in 2012, the Group serves a community of tens of millions of users across eight markets in Greater Southeast Asia under the brands Carousell, Mudah.my, Cho Tot and OneKyat. Carousell’s pioneering mobile-first approach reignited the classifieds space, making selling and buying easier and proving to be an essential one-stop shop across all categories.

    “We have grown way beyond categories like fashion, electronics and general goods,” said Siu Rui, “As the region becomes more affluent, people want to enjoy the finer things in life. We are looking at authentication capabilities for higher-value products, including luxury goods and cars. Our goal is to make transacting in a secondhand marketplace as convenient and trusted as any e-commerce platform so that secondhand can truly be the first choice.”

    This year alone, Carousell has piloted a Certified Mobiles programme in Singapore, offering a 12-month warranty for used mobile phones to offer users a like-new experience at secondhand prices, and launched integrated shipping with PosLaju (the Malaysia national postal service) to provide contactless transaction options for sellers and buyers during the Movement Control Order. Carousell Auto Group, which was formed earlier this year to leverage its regional leadership position in car classifieds, has in a short period rolled out a Certified Autos programme in Malaysia that achieved the largest inventory of certified cars in the country, with other key markets to follow

    “We are grateful and privileged to have investors, teammates and users who believe in our mission and our journey in building a meaningful and enduring company,” Siu Rui added.

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  • Amazon: Exponential growth platform

    Amazon: Exponential growth platform

    Pattern recently hosted a virtual round table that focused on consumer behaviors, beliefs and actions when it comes to Amazon Australia. Since entering the Australian market in December 2017, Amazon has seen tremendous growth in both its gross revenue and their consumer following according to our 2021 Amazon Shopper Report.

    Hosted by Pattern Australia’s General Manager, Merline McGregor, our panel discussed the giant’s performance in the market, consumer perceptions and which categories best represent an opportunity to brands wanting to expand their exposure, sales opportunities, and customer following.

    “We know that Amazon is not just a platform to sell products, but also a platform to drive awareness, tell our brand story and even launch new products into the market”, says Hermann Jaaniorg, Senior Marketing Manager APAC for BIC who joined us as a panelist.

    Earlier this year, Amazon released its 2020 results. The company reported over $1.6 billion in gross sales which was more than double the previous year. Although marketplaces currently make up a small portion of online sales, Morningstar estimates that by 2030, 25 percent of the total in Australia will be via Amazon.

    Amazon Australia’s traffic grew by 23 percent in June 2021 over the year prior, driven primarily by Amazon Prime Day. Site traffic data provided by SimilarWeb also indicates that the platform is retaining the gains it made in the last year, with Amazon.com.au’s traffic for May 2021 up 12 percent on the same month a year ago. With 474 million annual site visits, it still trails eBay but is quickly gaining ground.

    Growth of Amazon Prime

    Another pivotal indicator of Amazon Australia’s success is the increase in online shoppers with access to Amazon Prime. In our August 2020 report, 19 percent of online shoppers said they had access to their own or someone else’s Prime account. By May 2021, this figure had jumped to 31 percent with an additional 15 per cent saying they are likely to become a Prime member over the next 12 months.

    “Amazon now has over 200 million Prime members globally and a Prime member will spend around 130 percent more on Amazon than a non-Prime member. In the US, Prime is the top reason consumers shop on Amazon. As more people become members of Prime in Australia, they will spend more of their money on Amazon,” says Dan Richardson, Pattern Australia’s Head of Business Development.

    Indicators of longer-term change

    For anyone selling online, these are the most salient statistics that were highlighted: 24 percent of shoppers expect to buy from different online stores and 20 percent will buy products online that they used to buy in stores. Equally importantly, although we’ve seen a dramatic shift to online spending, 40 percent of respondents don’t anticipate further changes to their ‘new normal’ – this is an 82 percent increase on the response during August 2020 when Australia was in a strict lockdown, and driven by the 60+ age groups.

    Our research demonstrates that the swing towards online has become embedded in consumer behavior. Brands in categories poised for growth including homewares, baby, clothing and skincare would do well to invest further in digital diversification, including marketplaces.

    According to Dan Richardson, it’s simple. “If you’re not on Amazon, get on Amazon. The best time to launch on Amazon was probably three years ago. The second-best time to do it is now.”

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  • Tiki raises $20 mln from Taiwanese investors

    Tiki raises $20 mln from Taiwanese investors

    E-commerce platform Tiki has raised $20 million from telecom operator Taiwan Mobile in return for a 2.7 percent stake in Tiki Global.

    The Series E funding deal values the Vietnamese company at $740 million, with Tiki having secured $94 million in the series within this month alone.

    Before the Series E, foreign investors held a 49.4 percent stake in Tiki. The biggest shareholder among them is Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com with a 18.2 percent stake.

    Tiki had recently raised VND1 trillion ($43.9 million) in bonds with a coupon rate of 13 percent a year.

    The company posted a loss of VND4 billion last year.

    As one of the fastest-growing digital economies in Southeast Asia, Vietnam’s e-commerce sector is expected to be worth $23 billion by 2025, according to the e-Conomy Southeast Asia 2019 report by Google, Temasek Holdings, and Bain & Company.

  • Amazon Australia will now service New Zealand customers as well

    Amazon Australia will now service New Zealand customers as well

    Amazon Australia has broadened its reach in the region, and is now officially offering its services to customers in New Zealand.

    While the online marketplace launched in Australia in 2017, Kiwis have long needed to purchase goods from the US marketplace, according to the business, and will now be able to access faster delivery times from Australia’s warehouses.

    “We are excited to offer Kiwis access to millions of products at great prices,” said Tony Austin, general manager for exports. Delivery will start at NZ$3.20, while parts of Auckland and Christchurch will have the option of expedited delivery for around NZ$7.49.

    This move should help New Zealand brands to access a wider range of the country, if they aren’t able to ship everywhere, by way of listing on Amazon Australia – and will allow more Australian brands to access the New Zealand market.

    It isn’t clear if New Zealand will be able to take part in certain Australian programs, such as the recently announced ‘Amazon Warehouse’ resale platform, or its on-demand paperback printing service ‘Print on Demand’, or if the New Zealand service will be limited to the business’ traditional marketplace offering.

    The service will certainly be able to take advantage of the business’ recently announced Western Sydney robotic fulfilment centre, which is set to “effectively double” Amazon’s operational footprint in Australia.

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  • Alibaba Co-Founders Pledge Shares for Loans

    Alibaba Co-Founders Pledge Shares for Loans

    Alibaba co-founders Jack Ma and Joseph Tsai are reportedly pledging their shares in the Chinese e-commerce giant in exchange for significant loans from global banks.

    The two tech billionaires have pledged their shares to banks including UBS, Credit Suisse, and Goldman Sachs, according to a «Financial Times» report citing company documents.

    The shares pledged were made by offshore companies controlling more than half of Ma and Tsai’s stake in Alibaba – 5.8 percent as of December valued at $35 billion – through the documents did not disclose the number of shares pledged.

    The share-backed loans mark a stark contrast with Jack Ma’s positioning just nine months ago when he was originally due to be a beneficiary of Ant’s listing before Beijing stepped on the brakes for what would have been the world’s largest IPO in history.

    Since then, regulators have ordered heavy restructuring for Ant while Alibaba saw its share prices drop one-third alongside a $2.8 billion fine in April over monopolistic practices.

    Ma and his affiliates currently do not have any loans outstanding collateralized by the company’s shares. Tsai’s outstanding share-backed loans were easily manageable with prudent loan-to-value ratios to provide a substantial cushion against a potential margin call.

  • Tiki raises $43.5 mln via corporate bonds

    Tiki raises $43.5 mln via corporate bonds

    E-commerce platform Tiki has raised VND1 trillion (nearly $43.5 million) over the last three months by issuing corporate bonds.

    Issued from 16 March to June 13, the bonds are non-convertible with a fixed interest rate of 13 percent per annum, one of the highest rates in the local market.

    Over 97 percent of Tiki bonds’ buyers are Vietnamese individual professional investors. Two domestic institutional investors and two foreign investors also bought the bonds.

    Tiki will use the VND1 trillion to increase its working capital, expand warehouses, invest in subsidiaries, and fund advertisement and marketing campaigns, among others.

    After suffering losses in recent years, Tiki still has to spend big to grab market shares from rivals like Shopee, Lazada, and Sendo.

    Tiki reported losses of over VND750 billion in 2018, and more than VND320 billion in 2019.

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  • Indonesia’s Bukalapak aiming for up to $800 million in IPO

    Indonesia’s Bukalapak aiming for up to $800 million in IPO

    Indonesian e-commerce firm Bukalapak is keen to raise as much as US$800 million in an initial public offering (IPO) in August, two people with knowledge of the matter said, the first of two big tech listings in Jakarta this year that will add long-sought luster to the local bourse.

    A mid-year debut could see it become Indonesia’s biggest listing in 10 years and the largest ever for the country by a startup. But those milestones will likely later be overtaken by the planned listing of GoTo – a new company to be formed by the merger of e-commerce rival Tokopedia and ride-hailing and payments firm Gojek.

    Tapping a sharp pick-up in investor interest in Southeast Asia’s rapidly expanding technology sector, Bukalapak, the country’s No 4 e-commerce firm, is aiming to sell 10 to 15 percent of the company and wants a valuation of between US$4-5 billion, the people said.

    A confidential listing prospectus has been submitted to the Indonesia stock exchange, one of the sources said.

    Proceeds from the offering could range between US$500 million and US$800 million depending on investor demand and market conditions, said the sources who were not authorized to speak on the matter and declined to be identified.

    Bukalapak, which said in 2019 it was valued at more than US$2.5 billion, declined to comment.

    The 11-year-old startup which claims to have more than 100 million users has a plethora of big-name investors backing it including Microsoft, Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC, local media conglomerate Emtek, the investment arm of Standard Chartered, and South Korean web portal Naver Corp.

    Bukalapak was originally aiming to raise US$300 million from its domestic listing before looking to merge with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in the United States, but it is now focusing solely on its IPO, one of the sources said.

    The listing, which sources say is set to take place mid-August, is a victory for Indonesia’s bourse which has been conducting an extensive charm offensive to convince the country’s thriving startups to list locally instead of heading to the US.

    Stagnant for many years, Indonesia’s total IPO deal value took a further hit during the coronavirus pandemic, more than halving in 2020 to US$470 million, Refinitiv data showed. So far this year, 15 companies have raised a combined US$125 million via IPOs.

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