(From left) Lazada Malaysia chief marketing officer Andrew Gnananantham, Tan, Hafsah, Azizan and Hans-Peter posing for a photo prior to a panel discussion on eCommerce drivers for 2018.
KUCHING: Leading eCommerce platform, Lazada Malaysia, is confident that eCommerce will maintain, if not surpass the precedent for our country’s development towards the fourth industrial revolution.
In fact, Lazada predicts that more than two million new customers will adopt online shopping in 2018, with a 30 per cent increase in the frequency of shopping online monthly, further catalysing the nation’s overall eCommerce growth.
According to Hans-Peter Ressel, chief executive officer of Lazada Malaysia, 2017 was a phenomenal year for the eCommerce industry, especially for Lazada Malaysia.
“We fine-tuned our logistics systems with impactful innovations, introduced #EveryoneCanSell for our sellers – enabling them to grow their online businesses, increased our assortment to 100 million SKUs and tripled our offerings to customers through the introduction of renowned brands.
“We are all fired-up for the grand finale of our Online Revolution shopping spree, from 12.12 to 14.12 (12 December to 14 December), and we look forward to revolutionise the online shopping landscape in Malaysia in 2018, and beyond,” he said in a statement yesterday.
At a panel discussion Hans-Peter Ressel, together with Nicole Tan, Country Director of Facebook Malaysia; Nor Azizan Tarja, Group Chief commercial Officer, Pos Malaysia Berhad; and Datuk Dr Hafsah Hashim, Chief Executive Officer of SME Corp, observed several eCommerce drivers for 2018.
Amongst them was Small and Medium Enterprises’ (SMEs) great role in pushing digital boundaries, as SMEs in Malaysia have already begun their journey towards playing an integral part in Malaysia’s digital transformation.
In fact, 1,900 SMEs have already participated in the recently launched Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ) to market their products internationally, expanding their reach from 30 million to 600 million global customers.
This figure is expected to double in 2018 to 4,000. Additionally, programmes such as #EveryoneCanSell, which Lazada is a part of, is set to increase the number of SMEs establishing their businesses online to 45 per cent by empowering them with trainings and solutions at every stage.
Meanwhile, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is constantly proving its expertise in delivering personalised and interactive shopping experiences.
Innovation in fulfilment centres and logistics warehousing systems are significantly reducing delivery lead time for local and international shipments.
In fact, there are claims that as much as 85 per cent of customer interactions will be handled without a human by 20202. Together with behavioural-driven advertisements that provide relevant and compelling personalised shopping experiences for Malaysians, AI will allow for more effortless and swift customer care experiences.
Additionally, the integration of Online to Offline (O2O) Shopping Experiences will also revolutionising the way customers shop.
“While more customers are getting used to buying items like books, shoes and electronics online, a majority of spending still takes place in brick and mortar outlets. A 35 per cent increase in offline brands establishing an online business is expected in 2018 – enabling multiple touch points for customers to make a purchase.
A foreseeable trend is for businesses to provide customers with multiple payment options in addition to the convenience of picking up/dropping off their items at selected service providers for an integrated and seamless multi-channel online shopping experience.