eCommerce Today and Beyond

By Joachim Sebastian, CEO & Founder of Everpeaks,

Malaysia Economic Overview

Malaysia was at a crossroad when the economy was hit by the pandemic. The World Bank had in June 2020, in the Malaysia Economic Monitor - Surviving the Storm, reported that Malaysia’s economy is projected to contract by 3.1%. It also reported that in Q1 2020, growth slowed to just 0.7% with efforts to flatten the curve of the pandemic through a series of movement control orders and with deep uncertainty regarding growth prospects severely constraining economic activity.

The pandemic has resulted in an unprecedented crisis with the future being difficult to ascertain leaving the Government to intervene to ensure that the economic fundamentals remain strong.

World Bank projections suggest that the global recession in 2020 will be the deepest in eight decades, despite the unprecedented policy response. Growth in the EAP region is expected to slow sharply in 2020 to its lowest rate since 1967.

With this scenario and the pandemic showing no signs of early recovery, part of the economy fueled by the consumers takes a different turn.

Global eCommerce Trends

Consumer behaviours and purchasing habits are definitely changing and many of these new ways will remain post-pandemic. They will also continue to learn, connect and play via digital means. Embracing digital commerce is more out of necessity than choice.

These new consumer behaviours will transform the industry’s future. People are embracing technology more than ever! As consumers respond to the pandemic in a variety of ways, companies need to quickly adapt to these digital adapters as quickly as possible.

These rapid shifts bring upon very important implications to retailers, logistics companies, warehousing facility owners and also delivery companies, for sure. From Statista.com’s statistics and market data on eCommerce, it is reported that 40% of the world’s internet users have purchased products online, which amounts to more than 1 billion online buyers.

This growth triggers a perfect time to include eCommerce developments into your business to ensure growth by taking advantage of these emerging trends in the eCommerce industry. That said, we believe that the eCommerce business will continue to grow beyond 2020. As shopping habits everywhere are affected, what does that mean for the future of eCommerce businesses? DHL shared these key trends observed in a study by retail technology company Stackline:

Forbes (https://bit.ly/343rqfw) reported that traditional retail sales have declined but eCommerce has seen a 129% year-over-year growth in U.S. and Canadian orders as of April 21st, with an impressive 146% growth in all online retail orders.

Most, if not all, brick and mortar stores have taken their businesses online to survive the pandemic. As a result, U.S. eCommerce sales will hit a projected $709.78 billion in 2020, or about 14.5% of total U.S. retail sales, up from $601.65 billion, or about 11% of total retail sales, since 2019. Looking at these numbers alone, retailers need to consider working towards eCommerce presence if they don’t already have and opportunities to traject their businesses with the right partners should very well be on their mind already.

How do we address these changes?

The changing economy calls for keeping up with emerging eCommerce trends to cut through the noise, get noticed and attract customers. How do companies prepare their modus operandi to include personalised eCommerce experience for their customers?

Everpeaks® has strong partnerships with global leaders in the eCommerce industry with them being the only SouthEast Asian Amazon Service Partner Network Member, the only Malaysian eBay Channel Partner and the Malaysian Community Partner for Payoneer.

At Everpeaks® we have a three-pronged strategy towards the making of your company’s eCommerce partner - Consult, Manage and Fulfil. Consult - We analyse the market landscape and make sure businesses ask the right questions to determine the right business model for the development of their business.

We will build and validate the right strategic approach and help plan and shape these developments from start to finish. Manage - We offer a unique service to be able to run all aspects of your export eCommerce platform. This can include stock management, pricing and promotions, visual merchandising and marketing.

We provide performance based management of your branded store on Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Shopify and more! Fulfil - We handle your shipping and customer service requirements. From storage of goods, pick and pack, as well as global fulfilment, and returns management, we cover your export eCommerce fulfilment needs. All you need to do is to ensure supply of goods. A few perspectives in making sure all of the strategies work though - more of a fundamental that can’t be ignored.

It is our firm belief that we need to own the customer relationship by establishing a direct communication with the end customers. Every company has their own database of target customers somewhat via customer data, email enquiries, social media and such. You might want to think of ways to create a personalisation tool to create a positive experience with a personalised product offering for example, instead of the one size fits all messaging.

And to put it all together is to create a very strong positioning of social commerce. As social media has now become an important part of our lives and it’s influence growing, social commerce is also becoming gradually important as a marketing channel. Consumers nowadays use social media to learn about products and brands.

This is one very important avenue for you to build and maintain relationships that deepened loyalty and trust. Beyond 2020 Nothing is for certain. But what’s clear is that it is an industry that is ever changing and the trend that is constantly shifting. One potential that we clearly see is the increase of shipping and fulfilment centres globally with it getting smarter and more automated.

eCommerce businesses cannot succeed with only having great products - great marketing is a quintessential part of eCommerce. Outsourcing your eCommerce business and investing in a full service agency helps to ensure that your team concentrates on other critical areas.

At Everpeaks®, we help brand owners overcome barriers of talent, execution, experience and performance in generating sales from around the world. As an accredited performance driven eCommerce managed services provider, we work hand in hand with our customers to ensure revenue and positioning of your company within the industry.

We also believe that the next big thing will be Manufacturer to Consumer (M2C) eCommerce business that is opening up new opportunities. With Fulfilment By Everpeaks® (FBE) business model, we are your right partner to move forward with.

The rise of manufacturers selling directly online is changing how customers shop and do business. The ability to sell directly to consumers comes with benefits for both manufacturers and consumers. Check us out and let’s have a chat. For more information please go to: https://www.everpeaks.com/