Online Marketplaces

Online marketplaces are a type of e-commerce platform where products or service information is provided by third parties. It is often known as an electronic marketplace. Whether it is a website or an app, online marketplaces facilitate shopping from various sources however it does not own any inventory, their business is present to other people’s inventory to a user and facilitates its transaction. This is one of the major appeals of online marketplaces as they profit from charging a commission from each transaction with either a percentage or a flat fee. Some of the best widely known online marketplaces are eBay, Amazon, Etsy, Alibaba, Rakuten and so much more. It is also known that online marketplaces can be dated back since 1995 when eBay and Craigslist were founded. In addition, marketplaces are growing at a very rapid speed as analysts predicted that it would account for 40% of the global online retail market in 2020. 

There are some big advantages of an online marketplace and the reasons vary as businesses would rather sell via online marketplaces as that it is an additional source of revenue. Furthermore, this allows companies to internationalize its business and cut marketing costs. In addition to this, online marketplaces are a great way for customers to compare prices between brands and generate trust between their brand and customers. Customers would most likely purchase from an online marketplace as it provides a wide range of options. The future of your business’ success on an online marketplace is to focus on your niche as giving the customers what they want via online would also enhance their customer experience. 

The world’s biggest online marketplaces are on a rapid upward trajectory as 50% of all e-commerce sales take place online like Amazon and eBay. According to Foot (n/a), marketplaces contribute $1.7 trillion to the global economy each year and in the United States alone, Amazon accounts for an estimated 44% of the country’s e-commerce market share. Moreover, if you’re looking into getting into the online market to increase sales, setting up on a new marketplace is a great way to increase and boost your exposure as you may want to expand your brand worldwide. 

The emergence of digital discrimination has often made shopping online requiring a leap of faith. There are also challenges when it comes to online marketplaces, one of them being that it is harder to overcome information when you can’t hold a certain product. Secondly, online sellers can be arguably new to the business and over time reviews and feedback from customers are extremely crucial as it has allowed e-commerce sellers to build up reputations. Various websites have the seller’s discretion over whom they do business with on the basis of looks or even just a name. Although most marketplaces have more or less rigid rules of acceptance when it comes to sellers, their system isn’t as simple as we think. With search engines, marketplaces have some products that do stand out above others depending on algorithms. 

There are different types of marketplaces and each marketplace is unique as it offers different services, catalogues, public image and cost for retailers. There are five main types of online marketplaces according to Saleslayer, there are on-demand, managed, community-drive, SAAS, and decentralized. Firstly, on-demand is known to be one of the most common marketplace services as it offers instant response to users’ demands like Uber or Deliveroo. Managed on the other hand is a type of B2C and B2B e-commerce marketplace that manufacturers and distributors offset their products in a platform managed by a third party; which also manages the sales and sellers’ commissions, Amazon and Rakuten are considered the most used marketplace among customers and retailers combined. Moreover, community-driven is engaged with smaller sellers and artisans who personally manage their sales, deliveries and customer service, like Etsy. SAAS is free and open software that attracts small businesses who want to build their website inside a bigger platform; this requires more technical knowledge and maintenance effort as it may not be entirely free. Lastly, decentralized uses a P2P (peer-to-peer) system that allows anyone to sell and buy anything without third parties being involved. This could be concerning as it can be used as a platform to also sell illegal merchandise. 

Many shoppers use online marketplaces as their search engine, this way it allows your company to make a presence across channels. The increased digital visibility will make customers more confident in buying products online. In addition to this, your clientele who knows your brand will continue recommending it and you may end up getting a new demographic of users and new sales opportunities. Furthermore, adding sales and distribution platforms to your e-commerce strategy would go on with ease thanks to online marketplaces as they can store and ship your products however you like. 

If you are looking into using this strategy with online marketplaces, make sure to study and research the types and think about which one would suit your company and products best and would likely be more profitable. Online marketplaces enable you to operate around the clock, any time constraints and problems with international trading hours would be removed. Therefore, this allows new opportunities for overseas sales thus, providing new trading partnerships with supplies. In conclusion, whether you’re getting ready to launch your product through e-commerce or have been selling online, online marketplaces should definitely be considered as a part of your strategy as it can be relatively painless to get started with this business model. Although it may seem daunting at first, once you start to experience the potential of selling through e-commerce on online marketplaces you’ll probably never look back.

Fast Forwarding Digital Adoption Amidst The Pandemic

Before the pandemic, businesses and companies alike were afraid to dip into digital transformation and adoption. This was due to the potential challenges that business owners will reasonably face. 

The main challenges include:- 

– The Lack of Funding: Smaller businesses and startups still lack the necessary financials to implement good and functional software needed to better business processes, customer experiences and overall company culture. 

– The Lack of Resources and Machinery Experience: The lack of employees with experience in digital software management and outdated processors that are hard to work with. 45% of executives don’t think their company has the right technology to implement a digital transformation. (PwC)

– Cybersecurity: With billions of data exposed on the internet, the vulnerability of exposed data is fearful for businesses as there are high risks for data leaks and breaches to happen, thus, a digital crisis in happening. 

But ever since the implementations of national lockdowns and the emerging culture of working from home, businesses were forced to transition online and make the best out of the situation. Hence, digital adoption essentially boomed over the pandemic and the advancement of technology was also pushed to further enhance in order to cope with the overwhelming demand for better business processors. Ever since the pandemic, 89% of all companies have already adopted a digital-first business strategy or plan to do so. (IDG) 

The detailed changes are:- 

– Consumer Demands & Consumption: Online websites and marketplaces emerged in abundances in order to allow the now stay-at-home consumers to access shopping and daily consumption for entertainment via a digital route. Many businesses and brands also upgraded their digital platforms and social media sites to garner sales and convert leads in order to stay afloat. 

– Omnichannel Usage: All in one app/website, product/ service browsing, payment processing as well as providing customer feedback. More brands and businesses also opted for this option on their website or app in order to improve tracking of sales for their products and services and also ultimately lessen physical contact. 

– Social Commerce: Over the past few months, more people were forced to perform commercing online via social media sites like Facebook, Instagram and even Twitter. Though social commerce has already existed and was already in practice, we can’t deny that more consumers gained trust in online shopping platforms and sellers through social media platforms amidst the pandemic.

What will digital adoption look like in 10 years, with the impact from the pandemic? 

  1. Advancement of technology focusing on better cybersecurity.
    As more people adopt digitalisation into their business processes, we cannot deny that a lot of business owners are worried about the vulnerability of their exposed data to hackers and potential threats. This is essential as now, many are focusing on advancing their technology, whereas cybersecurity has remained rather stagnant. 
  2. Digital transformation and adoption will need to become more accessible.
    As bigger companies are able to attain better and more advanced technology, hence leading to better business and customer solutions in the long extend. While compared to smaller businesses and startups, with big competitors gaining more speed, it will be harder for them to attain advanced technology and improving themselves in terms of financial gain and business leads.

To conclude, digital adoption will only continue to move forward to improve the lives of consumers as well to improve business solutions, but it is up to us to keep up with the changes and use it to bring advantages for ourselves, without harming others and better the society. 

You Don’t Need to Collect Personal Data

The collection of personal data has been an occurring concern in the 21st century, especially with the advancement of technology, many internet users have put a lot of consideration in protecting their personal data and constantly improving in methods to prevent data breach and the leak of private data. 

But have you ever thought on why companies and businesses collect data in the first place? 

Before that, let’s take a look on the 4 types of data that are collected by businesses alike: 

– Personal data: includes personally identifiable information such as social security numbers and gender as well as non personally identifiable information, including your IP address, web browser cookies, and device IDs (which both your laptop and mobile device have).

– Engagement data: details on how consumers interact with a business’s website, mobile apps, social media pages, emails, paid ads and customer service routes.

– Behavioral data: transactional details such as purchase histories, product usage information, and qualitative data.

– Attitudinal data: consumer satisfaction, purchase criteria, product desirability and more. 

Data is usually collected by directly asking it from the customers (survey forms etc.) or indirectly tracking with tracking technologies from websites, social media pages etc, sites with high consumer activities.

Now let’s get into why personal data is collected: 

1. To Improve Customer Experience

The reviews of products helps a business to determine which product should be recommended to which user, helps modify content in order to better consumer content and engagement.

2. To Improve Marketing Campaigns

This is to help companies understand how consumers are engaging with and responding to their marketing campaigns, and adjust accordingly. This highly predictive use, gives businesses an idea of what consumers want based on what they have already done. 

3. A Means of Securing More Sensitive Information

Marrying data from a customer’s interaction with a call center, machine learning algorithms, and tracking technologies that can identify and flag potentially fraudulent attempts to access a customer’s account. 

But ultimately, can you provide a personalized experience without collecting personal data, and how is it possible? 

The answer is through personification. 

Personification is the “delivery and optimization of relevant digital experiences based on an individual’s inferred membership in a customer segment and their immediate circumstances rather than their personal identity,” said by Andrew Frank, VP Distinguished Analyst with Gartner for Marketing Leaders.

Based on Andrew Frank’s research, it is the idea of using less of the data that GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation)  is focused on (personal identity, etc.) and more of the data that determines what the person is looking at, is doing at the time or other kinds of ways they might be interacting that don’t really have anything to do with their identity. The kind of information that can be more telling about what their intent might be at a given time.

Now is the perfect time for your business and company to practice personification and come up with new techniques in order to provide the best user and customer experience for your consumers and your brand. 

‘Face’ Payment: A New Way of Checking Out

Facial Recognition Payment or FRP, is essentially making a payment with face recognition technology. FRP is currently widely implemented in China, with the use of a WeChat e-wallet or Alipay account, you can link your existing account to stores available with this service and check out the payment process with scanning your face. There is also news on this technology being implemented in a store in LA, USA and also in Denmark. FRP is definitely on the rise of payment technology, but how does it actually work? 

According to Alipay’s FRP (Facial Recognition Payment), 

1. The user taps Pay with Face Recognition on the screen of the device. 

2. The device scans the face and recognizes the user.

3. If you are a first time user, you will need to key in relevant data like phone number and associated payment accounts used in payment. But if you are a returning user, all you need to do is verify your payment account and confirm payment. 

4. Your payment is complete! With relevant information like payment amount and account associated with payment will be shown on the device. 

Even though this cut-edge technology is efficient in easing the payment process and also succeeding in lessening physical contact, especially amidst Covid-19 pandemic, many users are concerned with the exposure of data and privacy invasion as to the lack of security regarding the information shared during payment. Below are some key concerns according to research:

1.  No consent was questioned for. 

Users were asked to scan their face immediately after tapping the ‘make payment’ button but not whether if they want to proceed with the process at first. 

2. Users are not able to understand how exactly is the process of facial recognition carried out. 

A genuine concern of users is that anyone with a user’s phone number could buy something and associate their own face with the account linked to that specific phone number.

3. An easy breach of data and privacy. 

Your data is essentially exposed to the public and it is not explained that facial recognition is secure enough to protect user data. 

As for now, FRPs are still unfamiliar and foreign to the public’s eye. It is indeed a fairly new technology and with the concern of user data protection and privacy, FRPs indeed still have a long way to go. Unless someone comes up with a better plan in protecting users in the process as well as enhancing the payment process, FRPs may be the biggest breakthrough in technology yet. 

Podcast: On Resilience, Timing and Zero-Waste Living

Malaysian model, host and TV personality Melissa Tan is a passionate Eco-Warrior who advocates for Sustainable Living and #zerowaste habits for everyone. She forms part of The Green Guerrilla; a green collective in Malaysia that celebrates and shares sustainable ways of living. In this episode, Melissa shares her transition from corporate companies to the entertainment industry. She shares her story and what it was like competing in Asia’s Next Top Model. Melissa talks about zero-waste living and shares some tips on how you can start reducing and recycling waste.

Podcast: On Starting an E-commerce Business with Your Spouse

This episode of podcast features the power couple behind BloomThis. Founders, Giden Lim and Penny Cho, reveal their journey of starting an e-commerce business together and how they made it work! They talk about their background and how it shaped and contributed to their successes today. They share advice to young entrepreneurs who want to start up consumer businesses that deal with fast perishable products.