ONLINE shopping has become the trend in Malaysia. Convenience and better prices on selected products are among the factors cited for this.
Towards this end, Singapore outfit Shopee (shopee.com.my) was established in December 2014 to give an organised platform for customer-to-customer (C2C) sellers who used social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Mudah, etc, to sell their products.
At the time, there weren’t many online shopping platforms that could provide the kind of end-to-end trading facility including payment gateway, security and delivery. Thus, Shopee quickly became popular. A month after its establishment, it made its Malaysian debut.
FINDING A NICHE
Shopee Malaysia regional managing director Ian Ho says the company wants to be different from other online marketplaces and find a niche in which it can excel. He says the platform combines the authenticity of a marketplace with payment and logistical support, making online shopping easy, secure and fuss-free.
“With Shopee, sellers have a complete platform to connect to their potential customers,” he says.
In a span of just two years, Shopee has established a presence in seven countries — Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Taiwan. It has more than 50 million users installing its app, four million of whom are from Malaysia.
These countries combined give 100 million listings in 20 categories and there are more than three million sellers on the Shopee platform.
MEETING DEMAND
With the success of its C2C concept, Shopee has flexed its wings from C2C to business-to-customer (B2C), offering the same concept of selling but to bigger brands like Nestle, Watsons, Oppo, and more.
Ho says this gives vendors a bigger presence in the market.
“Whether they like it or not, the Digital Age is here. Sellers need to have an online presence to survive. But instead of building their own mall, they can just place their products on our shelves with millions of ready potential customers and service logistics,” he says, adding this frees them from the “headache” of setting up and running their own online mall.
MOBILE NICHE
For Shopee, mobile is the future of online shopping and this is where it is building its platform around. When it started, the mobile market was already mature and people were comfortable shopping with their phones.
“We started with mobile app, and our site only came in a year later as it makes sense to do it on mobile,” says Ho.
Users can download the Shopee app for free on both the iOS and Android platforms.
Ho says the Shopee app is tailored specifically to suit mobile users. “People use mobile phones to communicate and take photographs. For sellers, it is very convenient to simply snap photos of their products and upload them along with the product description,” explains Ho.
He says Shopee tries to emulate what buyers would experience in real malls, where they can ask the shops about the products in real time.
“For buyers, there’s a chat function which allows them to communicate with the sellers without revealing their personal contact number,” he says.
Safety is another factor and Shopee doesn’t compromise on this. “We only release payment to the sellers once buyers receive their products and are satisfied with them,” says Ho.
ONLINE SHOPPING TREND
Malaysians are becoming more tech-savvy and are shopping online. The online penetration rate of 67 per cent in Malaysia has contributed 19 per cent to the country’s e-commerce growth.
It is now sharing second place (with Indonesia) in terms of e-commerce retail contribution after Singapore, which holds 24 per cent. On Shopee’s platform, Taiwan, Indonesia and Thailand have a high number of transactions, considering their size.
“Malaysia has shown significant growth as well, as shown through our various campaigns,” says Ho.
He adds that the company recently did a survey with more than 7,500 respondents and found that the most important factor influencing Malaysians’ online purchasing decisions were discounts and flash sales. Free shipping came in second, followed by Lowest Price Guarantee programmes that reward shoppers if they were to find a lower price on another platform.
Ho says Shopee’s strategy is to enable buyers and sellers to enjoy all cost-savings from online shopping.
“We’ve been working closely with Pos Malaysia for more than a year now. We provide free shipping up to 5kg for Peninsular Malaysia and 1kg for Sabah and Sarawak for purchases of more than RM30 per transaction,” he says, adding it has received positive feedback from users.
Next is the zero commission strategy. “Shopee does not charge any percentage of commissions to our sellers, nor do we charge them for product listings. Therefore, they can also give the best deals to customers,” says Ho.
If a customer can find another place that offers cheaper products than Shopee’s, the company will refund the difference.
Besides that, having sales campaigns work for an online mall like Shopee. “We have Shocking Sale, which features selected and limited items at shockingly low prices every 9am and 5pm. This campaign has been proven successful among Malaysian shoppers as many products are sold out within minutes,” says Ho.
“Also, we allow buyers to chat directly with sellers, a feature that you don’t often see in other e-commerce platforms. Not only does it save time for buyers to enquire further about certain products, they can also negotiate with the sellers, for example to give a special price for bulk purchases.
“Our refund policy also protects buyers in case they are not satisfied with the items received,” Ho says.
CELEBRITY PLATFORM
Since its Cahaya Raya campaign, Shopee has also introduced various celebrity official shops like Anzalna Nasir, Mira Filzah, Izzue Islam, Fouziah Gous and Yana Samsudin. They promote their own brands which include fashion, beauty and health supplements.
“We also conduct close monitoring of the products sold on Shopee to prevent fake items from coming on board. We have a dedicated team for this to ensure customers have the best shopping experience with Shopee,” says Ho.
For the next three years, Shopee aims to reach out to more buyers and sellers outside urban areas.
“We will be engaging more retailers and become their preferred e-commerce partner,” says Ho. “Ultimately, we want to be the preferred online shopping destination in the region in terms of convenience, product choices, lowest price offerings and best shopping experience,” he says.