Tag: Ecommerce

The internet and social media transformed the way we do business where conducting transactions online has become the ‘new normal’ for buyers and sellers. However, there are manufacturers and distributors who are still reluctant to list their products and services in online marketplaces which is now a necessity due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pandemic may have forced some companies to set up their own e-commerce operations or sell their products in marketplaces. But most marketplaces they know are designed for retail and are not capable to handle business-to-business transactions. Purchasing officers want the best prices for their procurement requirements, but you can’t attract them with rebates, vouchers, or free delivery.

We’ve been talking to manufacturers and distributors who shared with us the common reasons why they remain reluctant in getting listed in online marketplaces. Below are their common responses:

• They don’t want to upset their existing clients.
• They have a tight-knit distribution channel.
• They already have a dedicated sales team.
• They are afraid of the competition.
• They don’t want to disclose prices.
• They think it’s costly.

They don’t want to upset their existing clients. Some manufacturers would argue that they don’t need online marketing because they already have a strong business relationship with their clients for the long term. They think that disrupting the process might break that relationship. Marketplaces, on the other hand, can improve that relationship by providing more transparency and efficiency.

They have a tight-knit distribution channel. Like the relationship manufacturers have with their customers, they also have a close relationship with their logistics provider that runs like clockwork. Marketplaces can be configured to select which logistics provider they prefer and can offer tools that can provide more efficiency in the supply chain. While B2C marketplaces have a few logistics partners, B2B marketplaces are more flexible and can be integrated with any logistics partner selected by the supplier.

They already have a dedicated sales team. Sales representatives are a channel for customers – but it’s not the only channel. Distributors can easily expand their reach by bringing their business online. And even before potential customers would meet with sales rep, they will do some research online.

They are afraid of the competition. Marketplaces are a great tool for competitor research. Manufacturers shouldn’t be afraid to be compared with their competitors. Buyers now are more informed and will be able to tell which suppliers have the best products with better prices.

They don’t want to disclose the prices. B2B companies have a different pricing model which can vary for each customer. Unlike retail marketplaces like Lazada or Shopee where prices have to be shown, B2B marketplaces are better at handling wholesale pricing and can be negotiated.

They think it’s costly. Traditional marketplaces can be costly because they rely on commission and transaction fees. Modern marketplaces are shifting to a subscription model that provides suppliers better tools at a lower cost.

This article was written by Jeff Clarenz Turla, Co-founder and CTO of Burket.

Burket (business + market) is a platform to connects buyers and suppliers, digitizes procurement, and facilitates business-to-business (B2B) transactions.

Singapore – Ox Street, a Singapore-born sneaker-focused marketplace, has expanded its presence to Malaysia and the Philippines to connect with its rapidly growing base of buyers across the region. This comes as the e-commerce secures successful funding from a bridge round bringing its total funding to above US$1M. 

Ox Street is as niche as it gets, choosing sneakers as its main product, and going in the direction of resale for its sellers, while a bidding process for its buyers. 

Commenting on the expansion, its CEO and Founder Gijs Verheijke (pictured) said, “Our journey in the last 18 months has been extraordinary, and our launch in Malaysia and the Philippines marks the start of our further expansion in the region. The priority is to continue to keep Ox Street’s Asian credentials in order to help us grow our market share in the region. Our core focus is its product and service-driven approach which is apparent in our success to date.”

Following its recent expansion, consumers on Ox Street can buy and sell on the platform in more than eight markets across the region. Sneaker brands sold on Ox Street include Nike, Air Jordan, Yeezy, and Adidas.

The company believes the demand for its platform is credited to the rise of Gen Z Asian investors, collectors, and fashion-conscious consumers, who are reaching their peak in terms of spending power.

“They are breaking down all negative connotations often linked to re-sale, reinventing the fashion and luxury sectors,” said the company in a press release. 

“We are the only regional player in the space with a mobile app, and one that is design and UX driven in their product. All this is making a difference to create a modern and go-to brand for our Asian audience. We have built a trusted platform for buying and selling the best limited-edition sneakers and we look forward to a positive and successful 2021,” added Verheijke.

Singapore – E-commerce Shopee in Southeast Asia and Taiwan has unveiled its 2021 roadmap for brands on its in-app mall, Shopee Mall, during the platform’s inaugural Shopee Brands Summit 2021. It revealed two new major programs to further bolster brands’ consumer reach. 

One of them is the ‘Regional Champion Brands Programme’, a by-invite program that will comprise 16 brands who will receive priority support from Shopee in the areas of marketing, innovation, and insights. These brands will also receive exclusive access to Shopee’s campaigns and new feature launches, as well as dedicated support to further grow their business.  

Meanwhile, the second program is the ‘100 Million Dollar Club’, which will challenge brands to achieve USD100M in gross merchandise value (GMV) within the year. The first ten brands to unlock this milestone will be rewarded with special perks, including privileged access to exclusive business insights, increased campaign exposure, media support, and more. 

During the summit, Shopee’s leadership team also revealed its targeted plans to further empower brands on the platform. As a start, Shopee looks to scale its mega shopping events and brand collaborations to boost brands’ online visibility and help them capture new consumers. Shopee also shared that it will be scaling up its Shopee Premium offerings and campaigns and expanding its assortment to include more premium fashion and beauty brands. 

To help fast-moving consumer (FMCG) brands, on the other hand, to capture a growing segment of online grocery shoppers, Shopee will be ramping up Shopee Mart, its one-stop shop for groceries and personal care products.  

Shopee will also continue to improve its in-app engagement tools to allow brands to continuously connect and engage with existing consumers. For instance, Shopee most recently upgraded its Shopee Live feature to support co-streaming. 

Meanwhile, to encourage more frequent purchases and further deepen brands’ understanding of consumers’ purchasing habits and preferences, Shopee has also introduced the Brand Membership program to increase consumer retention by rewarding shoppers with loyalty points when they shop from brands’ official stores on Shopee Mall. 

When it comes to its data-driven tools, Shopee said it’s constantly upgrading to further assist brands in tracking, analyzing, and optimizing their store performance.

According to Shopee, orders have grown by 10 times since launching Shopee Mall. Similarly, the ongoing impact of the pandemic on retail traffic has also driven more brands to expand their online businesses, with the number of official stores on the in-app mall doubling in the past year.

In his welcome address, Chris Feng, chief executive officer of Shopee, said, “Shopee Mall is an integral part of our business, and we have a strong track record of helping brands to transit, grow and succeed online. Today, Shopee Mall houses more than 20,000 international and local brands, a four-fold increase from when we first launched in 2017.”

“As opportunities in Southeast Asia’s digital economy continue to flourish, we are committed to strengthening our support for brands to boost their online presence, drive sales and serve consumers better. We will also continue to innovate our platform, services, and features to meet the ever-changing needs of our consumers, delivering a seamless and fun shopping experience,” added Feng.

Singapore – For the first time, Amazon will be hosting a seller summit in Southeast Asia for small and medium-sized enterprises, which will be a two-day complimentary virtual event. 

The event, which carries the theme ‘Start Local, Go Global’, will focus on empowering SMEs to develop strategies and skills and reach more customers locally and globally. It will be held on January 28 and 29, 2021 at 10 am onwards, Singapore Time. 

Amazon said the summit was brought about by the increase of preference for digital-first shopping among consumers. The event will be discussing the impact of e-commerce trends and how local businesses can sell online on Amazon’s 18 markets to expand internationally. 

Singapore’s Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing will grace the virtual event on the first day as the guest of honor. He will be joined by leaders of Amazon Singapore, industry experts, and local business owners selling on Amazon Singapore.  

The event aims to make online cross-border selling more accessible to SMEs by equipping them with the insights and resources to address rapidly evolving consumer demands and expectations. 

“Supporting small and medium-sized businesses has been a fundamental part of the work we do at Amazon and we are excited to continue expanding our support for sellers in Singapore and Southeast Asia,” said Henry Low, country manager of Amazon Singapore. 

“I believe that everything big starts with something small. With our growing resources and support for local sellers here, we want to empower them to seize the huge opportunities in selling online and across shores — helping them start local, go global. The Amazon Southeast Asia Online Seller Summit 2021 is another milestone for us to bring more sellers online, support their growth journey, and connect them with customers everywhere,” added Low. 

The Summit will also include one-on-one sessions with third-party service providers such as the logistics and payment companies from Amazon’s Service Provider Network, to share best practices for businesses to bounce back quicker from the impact of COVID-19 and expand their retail presence. 

Participating SMEs can also access professional training courses and programs to sell with Amazon, with workshop sessions hosted all throughout the summit.

Manila, Philippines – In the Philippines, no one has yet braved to give top e-commerce platforms Shopee and Lazada a run for their money, but that just might soon change. 

Raffy Tulfo, one of the country’s most popular broadcast journalists and public affairs personalities, has launched his own e-commerce platform. 

Officially unveiled in December through a digital press launch, Tulfo’s platform ‘Idol Shopping Network’, shortened as ISN, aims to create a marketplace where the safety of both buyers and sellers are of utmost priority.

According to a report by Manila Bulletin, ISN is actually owned by Tulfo’s kids, where Tulfo and his wife are just acting as ‘support system’ to the business.

Idol Shopping Network’s logo. Screengrab from YugaTech.

Despite only standing in as a ‘supporter’, it seems the new e-commerce platform is set to embody Tulfo’s branding of ‘safe’ and ‘lawful’ transactions. 

Tulfo is mostly known as a hard-hitting, no-holds-barred commentator and champion of the poor who has several public service programs under his belt – long-running radio program WANTED SA RADYO (Wanted in radio) and noontime newscast IDOL IN ACTION – both of which have Tulfo acting as a mediator for any grievances and complaints of injustice from the public. 

Tulfo during one of the live broadcasts of his radio program on his YouTube channel.

According to Manila Bulletin, the broadcaster shared that while he himself hasn’t experienced any inconveniences or fraud with shopping platforms, he has received many e-commerce-related complaints on his radio show and television program.

“For example, customers would order peanuts but they would receive popcorn. Problems like that,” said Tulfo. 

In November, the Philippines’ Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) revealed that a total of 14,869 complaints have been made against online shops in 2020, where ninety percent involve the more familiar platforms Shopee and Lazada. 

With ISN putting a premium on safe transactions, Tulfo said the platform would run a one-of-a-kind system that would ensure products are safe from the seller down to the rider and buyer. 

A report by Philstar shared the said process. In an exclusive interview, Tulfo revealed that ISN will be both lenient and strict to sellers – the e-commerce platform welcomes sellers with zero capital, where sellers only need to put out their goods, provided the merchandise passes quality control standards by ISN. 

Tulfo said merchants will be well-screened, where the selection process will be “long and strict,” where rather just simple photos, products must be seen live by ISN.  

To further ensure the process is a hundred percent safe, a little effort will also be required by customers. Tulfo shared that customers must sign a contract agreeing to be videoed and photographed while opening the package from the courier. They will also be asked to sign a document stating the product is the right one and is sent in good condition, and if otherwise, the customer need not pay for the order.

Tulfo shared that his long-term plan for ISN is to subsidize a school out of its profits, where earnings will go to such basic expenses as employee pay, maintenance, and others.

Upholding the character of fairness he is most known for, Tulfo promises that he will welcome buyer complaints on his own ISN’s products. 

Malaysia – 2020 was a challenging year. Across the board, people have had to adapt to new styles of working, adapt to new business strategies, and even changed industries. It would be easy to write off 2020 as a ‘bad year’, but I believe that’s the wrong way of looking at things. In fact, there is a case to be made for 2020 being one of the most important periods in the evolution of digital marketing, all over the globe. Let’s look at the facts.

1. As a direct impact of the lockdown in the pandemic, specifically called Movement Control Order (MCO) in Malaysia, there has been a surge of online activity that was unprecedented. Everyone staying at home with no recourse for outside entertainment meant that users were highly more inclined to spend time online. Think about what that means in terms of your online audience, and compare it with the online audience of, say 2019.

2. With MCO, suddenly there are more people on social platforms than ever before. When users used to consume digital media when they were at home pre-COVID, now entire nations can (and do) consume digital media throughout the whole day. And it doesn’t end at media consumption. Over the course of 2020, users have also taken more decisive action to leverage digital platforms to fulfill consumer needs.

3. Where there have previously been large pools of users that were either unfamiliar or untrusting of e-commerce and online shopping, those groups have largely been converted. Where there was once a common mistrust, there are now entire generations of new believers.

4. Think about it, now your parents or grandparents have become somewhat accustomed to the online shopping process (at the very least, they understand how to browse and then ask for their children’s help with the purchasing process).

5. To illustrate the above point, Facebook recently reported that Southeast Asia as a whole has undergone an approximate 5 YEARS worth of digital ‘education’ in just one year of 2020. This means that what would have originally taken 5 years of digital education to achieve this size of audience with media consumption and e-commerce familiarity has only taken a year because – that’s right – new users have taken the initiative to educate themselves on how the process works. This in turn means great news for all digital marketers.

6. As marketers, in order to sell, you need a market to sell to. For digital, understand that your audience is limited to users that are on the digital platform. To grow your potential audience, an education process must happen to educate users about their ability to conduct purchases online. There is an overwhelming increase in demand for online consumption, and the supply of services is struggling to keep up. The climate is still fresh.

7. So what does this mean for you? Don’t worry, a rising tide raises ALL ships.

8. If you are a small business owner, you can pivot extremely fast in order to scale. You have an expanded audience to collect data and learnings from, and with the right automation tools deployed strategically, you can grow your business at an accelerated rate than you would have been able to just this time last year. Use this knowledge as leverage that you have an exponentially bigger audience to sell now vs. just a year ago.

9. If you are a larger scale marketer for bigger brands, you should also rejoice, as the digital market is bigger than ever, with so much more to play for. There is a bigger slice of the pie to corner, assuming you are willing to experiment with new strategies and pivot as you go along. With the power of scale, your analytics tools will be more important than ever in leveraging the mass amounts of data available. This is the time to run mass A/B testing and test out different audience sets as there is more data than ever, and there is a key opportunity here to actually help shape the market in these early days.

10. Come 2021: NOW is the time to make big, bold moves on digital. This is the time for taking bigger risks, and collecting learnings while the new digital climate is still fresh. For those that refuse to adapt…the market will not wait for you.

This article was written by Fadli Azali of iProspect.

iProspect is a digital marketing agency part of the Dentsu Aegis Network in Malaysia. It delivers integrated marketing campaigns such as performance marketing, search engine optimization, website, and app development, content marketing, as well as social media, and CRM.

The rapid acceleration of e-commerce during the pandemic has created a perfect storm for fraud detection. There are more people online, more new people online, and money is coming from new places. All of these factors can make traditional fraud detection prone to false positives and false negatives, even if the actual rate of real fraud doesn’t change, leading to a rise in fraud cases. During the circuit breaker period in Singapore, for example, the Singapore Police Force reported that they received at least 1,175 reports of social media impersonation scams in the first six months of 2020, compared to only 83 cases during the same period in 2019. 

When there is a surge in new data, old data is often not enough to evaluate and authenticate identity accurately. While traditional data sets are still a vital piece of any fraud prevention approach, companies should also look to fill in newly created gaps with more real-time, predictive and intent-based options.

New scenarios that aren’t accounted for

Many traditional models are based on behavior patterns that have been completely and perhaps permanently disrupted by COVID-19. Many methods of fraud detection rely on aggregated data from past behaviors. These methods usually follow two models. Organizations establish their own risk thresholds and structure their analysis around that, or they rely on machine learning to establish a new baseline of individualized behaviors that they would deem normal. 

However, these methods can no longer work in the new normal. First, an organisation’s risk thresholds must be adaptable as new customers stream in and current customers change their habits. Additionally, machine learning models are less reliable because the baseline is not as stable as it used to be.

According to a study by Facebook and consulting firm Bain & Company, online retail penetration has expanded across all categories, seeing at least a 1.4 times increase from 2019 to 2020. Increase in the groceries category nearly tripled, achieving a 2.7 times growth as more people shopped online due to the pandemic. Bulk purchases and purchases of unusual items that fall outside of typical buyer profiles have become more common, and people are also using new technologies to transact such as Google Pay, PayPal and Apple Pay. Many countries in Asia like Singapore and Japan have also been receiving government aid, thus making spending still possible from new sources.

When people stop behaving the way they usually behave, fraud detection can be significantly impacted. New customers may be flagged as fraudulent, while fraudsters might go undetected due to a surge in unusual activity that obscures their fraudulent deeds. 

Here are three best practices for upgrading fraud detection online.

1. Detect Fraud with the Right Data

With an increasingly crowded online marketplace due to new customers and new activities, one source might not be enough to determine if the activity is real or fraudulent. Companies should beef up on data that proves details like customer behaviour, location, and spending are accurate. For example, someone might have an official residence in Tokyo, but may be spending time in Osaka during the pandemic. A person may have decided to travel for the first time in several months after having been sheltered for some time. These are very real behaviours that would look suspicious to fraud detection systems based on older or more static data. 

Companies should find data that can help prove or disprove assertions about an individual. Some data partners offer verification of location by mobile phone, for example, or share recent online spending habits or home rental information. If someone has looked for houses for rent in a certain area, they may end up purchasing items and sending them to their new rental address. 

At the same time, companies shouldn’t rely too heavily on trend data for forecasting. Probabilistic modelling is most accurate in a stable environment, where past data is likely to predict future behaviour. As trends as recent as March are no longer relevant, companies need to forecast using new types of data. People might now be unemployed, shifted houses, started  ordering more meals online, or taken up new hobbies. With old probabilistic models, all of these factors would be flagged.

Intent-based data solves this problem with more real-time information such as recent search data. Intent data doesn’t care about past averages or norms, rather it is directly reflecting real behaviour that would either support or contradict current behaviour being evaluated. If someone spends time searching for car rental options for a weekend drive, that context can help predict additional related purchases that may otherwise seem anomalous. Or, it could flag a purchase in a specific location that doesn’t match with their intended use.

2. Update Outdated Rules

Identities associated with private VPNs have often been flagged. With remote work or hybrid work situations becoming a permanent trend in Asia Pacific, it’s no surprise that people are turning to making connections online and having to share computers at home. They may increase their use of different browsers or a private VPN. Or if they’re concerned about fraud, they may use a VPN to obscure their location. 

Meanwhile, with many seniors now banking and shopping online for the first time, simple identity verifications that have long been put in place like log-in page timeouts, CAPTCHAs and setting strong passwords are major hurdles to winning new customers. It’s better to find authentication options that rely on other data that can work in the background, and allow for simpler processes.

3. Keep An Eye on the Future

Many companies are creating innovative solutions to help keep people safe online, while also making it easier for them to transact and move freely. Rather than keeping different passwords and security questions handy, people should be able to be trusted to be who they say they are online, just like they are offline. This only happens when privacy-compliant data works together to offer the same level of trust and efficiency as a driver’s licence or a passport would offline.

Self-sovereign identity is one innovation, based on blockchain technology, that could dramatically improve fraud detection and customer experience. It would allow people to manage their own digital identity in a safe way and share it with companies they transact with as needed. 

Similarly, data consortiums that safely combine insights to create a bigger, more accurate picture of customer behaviour can help boost confidence and reduce the need for cumbersome hurdles such as log-ins and the like.

What COVID-19 has shown is that digital behavior is still evolving. Many industries saw three to five years of forecasted growth in only a few months. Industries like telemedicine and online grocery shopping will need to move quickly to secure their own businesses as they deal with new adoption just as many long-standing online businesses will need to make updates. Creating a fraud detection strategy that takes advantage of new innovations is the key to success.

The author is Nguyen Nguyen, Vice President, Partner Development & Technical Services of ADARA. ADARA is a permissioned data and verified identity tech company that provides internet marketing services, including digital marketing, programmatic advertising, search, identity and verification, or stopping fraud.

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San Francisco, California, USA – Marketing technology company Kenshoo has announced its acquisition of market intelligence company Signals Analytics, which entails enhanced accelerated e-commerce adoption for their clients in the midst of the pandemic.

As businesses are facing the need to rapidly transform engagement from physical to digital, there is a rise in the emergence of disruptive direct-to-consumer models and increased sensitivity to consumer privacy. Through the establishment of an AI-powered platform that connects internal and external data sets to surface insights across the entire marketing value chain, Kenshoo will empower enterprise clients to make stronger predictions and unleash their growth potential.

“Given the exponential growth we are experiencing in performance marketing, specifically around e-commerce, Kenshoo sees firsthand how brands make decisions to bring products to market online. The channel discussion is changing from media platforms to distribution types—direct-to-consumer or retail—and we are relied upon to support those decisions,” said Kenshoo CEO and co-founder Yoav Izhar-Prato.

He also added, “We looked for a powerful platform that best captured holistic consumer and market insights by connecting external data sets layered with cutting-edge, advanced analytics capabilities, and we found both in Signals Analytics. With a proven record in curating and augmenting external data and utilizing unique assets in artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) to infuse decisions with relevant, actionable insights for very prestigious brands, the team wowed us.”

Through the acquisition, the combined company assets will help create a connected knowledge graph across brand, consumer, product, campaign, publisher, and market data silos. This then allows consumer insights and analytics teams to streamline trend analysis in order to identify white space opportunities; provide marketers the ability to build more effective strategic plans, and give social, retail, and publisher partners access to broader cross-channel intelligence to generate value.

“Signals Analytics was founded on the premise that more sound, timely market intelligence could improve business outcomes as a critical bridge to fast-moving customers. My co-founder Kobi Gershoni and I recognized that the way to get there was by extracting available market signals from the noise that were often missed given the sheer volume of data constantly generated online,” said Gil Sadeh, Signals Analytics co-founder, and CEO.

“By connecting these signals in a robust, configurable data fabric using patented AI and natural language processing, we have helped some of the world’s most discernible consumer brands accelerate product innovation, improve launch metrics, support marketing teams, and ultimately drive growth. Joining forces with Kenshoo means we can advance our collective mission of enabling smarter, faster go-to-market decisions in the current, highly dynamic digital commerce era,” Sadeh added.

Kenshoo has established its presence in Asia Pacific and Japan back in 2014, with its regional headquarters located in Hong Kong and two satellite offices in Singapore and Japan.

Singapore – Singapore-born e-commerce company Shopmatic has announced the launch of four new solutions and platforms for small-medium enterprises (SMEs) looking to expand into emerging markets.

First on their releases is Shopmatic Chat, which allows SMEs to be connected and sell to their customers via Chat such as WhatsApp, Telegram,  and  Line, among others Via the feature, SMEs will also be able to do their customer interactions via Shopmatic Social on Facebook and  Instagram. 

Meanwhile, sellers can also venture out their marketplace to various marketplaces like Amazon, Lazada, and Shopee through Shopmatic’s MarketPlaces. This then allows sellers to control all of their multiple marketplace presence all through one dashboard by Shopmatic.

Another new solution, Shopmatic Webstore, allows sellers to create a web store ecosystem, complete with all features like payment and shipping integrations, chat and social selling, multiple beautiful templates, and domain name.

Aside from the four platforms released, Shopmatic is also working on a Single Checkout link, to which the sellers can  share across their multiple marketplace presence. This then allows the buyer less interaction with the seller, ensuring improved conversion rates.

“With years of working closely with small and medium business owners and individual entrepreneurs, we understand the unique needs of different sets of customers. We realise that offering a one solution approach for all sellers makes it challenging for some sellers and caters to a small segment of merchants in emerging markets. With the new solution, we are extremely excited that we can now bring in millions of sellers in the emerging markets into the eCommerce ecosystem,” said Anurag Avula, co-founder and CEO of  Shopmatic.

He also added, “We are delighted with the exciting innovations of four different eCommerce solutions and the Single Checkout Link that will enable sellers to be successful easier and faster. We believe this to be game-changing in our continued desire to support sellers with unique and relevant eCommerce solutions.”

The new solutions are available in the Shopmatic platform for a fee of SGD 1 per month of hosting, or SGD 20 for a year of subscription.

Hong Kong – HGC Global Communications (HGC) has launched its retail ICT (information, communications, and technology) solution to cater to the needs of SME retailers in making their digital transformation strategy easier, especially as enterprise activity has been greatly affected by the pandemic.

An initial offering by the network company is making retailers stay connected to their customers, including Whatsapp+ service and automated chatbots for the retailer’s online chat system.

Furthermore, the new offering also aids SMEs in creating their online shop from scratch, including marketplace tools such as inventory management, trade reports, and analysis, as well as support for multiple payment methods.

Lastly, the digital offering allows retailers, more specifically in the catering industry,  to practice electronic point of sale (ePOS) systems. The system supports digital menus, enabling customers to use their smartphones to order and pay for meals. This can reduce the necessary manpower and limit mistaken orders, so restaurants can deploy staff more flexibly and efficiently. 

“SMEs are facing various challenges running their business in the midst of the pandemic. Even so, this presents retailers with an important opportunity to optimize their business operations. HGC strives to stand by SMEs at this critical time. Our Retail ICT solution can efficiently address the difficulties they encounter,” said Joe Cheong, COO for corporate business & enterprise market at HGC.

He added, “With the professional follow-up and support provided by HGC’s consultant teams, as well as our competitive pricing, we can guide them on a journey of rapid digital transformation to achieve significant improvements in operational efficiency. We hope to ease the pressure on SMEs, empowering them to continue running their business and identifying new business opportunities even during the pandemic.”

In addition to the digital marketplace package, HGC also offers retailers a unified communication solution (HGC UC) that combines business voice and mobile communication, plus other value-added services like mobile video conferencing to fulfill the needs of enterprises operating during the pandemic through a one-stop ICT solution.