These are the slides for a talk that Dale Mulert gave on 11 January 2020, at the Hygieia Gym in Singapore

1. Managing the complexities
and launching a successful
eCommerce entry into
Southeast Asia
Talk at the Hygieia Gym
Singapore (11 Jan 2020)

2. Confidential
1. Southeast Asia: Market Opportunities
2. Ecommerce challenges in the region
3. Managing the complexities
AGENDA
Talk at the Hygieia Gym
Singapore (11 Jan 2020)

3. Confidential
SEA: Market of opportunities
Source: Google, Temasek Holdings, 2016
SEA positioned
for massive
eCommerce
growth
Size of Southeast Asia’s Ecommerce
Market
In Billions, USD
www.specommerce.com
Talk at the Hygieia Gym
Singapore (11 Jan 2020)

4. Confidential
SEA population is massive
Data source: worldometers, Sep 2018
(based on latest United Nations estimates)
2x bigger than the
USA
Bigger than the EU
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
Southeast Asia USA EU
Southeast Asia
USA
EU
510
364
657
(Regions)
(millions)
Population (Sep 2018)
www.specommerce.com
Combined population of Southeast Asia makes it the world’s 3rd largest market
Talk at the Hygieia Gym
Singapore (11 Jan 2020)

5. Confidential
SEA market of opportunities
Source: Google, Temasek Holdings 2016
5 key systemic factors driving exponential ecommerce growth in SEA
www.specommerce.com
Talk at the Hygieia Gym
Singapore (11 Jan 2020)
Talk at the Hygieia Gym
Singapore (11 Jan 2020)

6. Confidential
• Indonesia is expected to comprise 52%
of eCommerce in SEA by 2025 (vs 31% in
2015), driven by large middle-class
population, increased access to internet,
and growth of tier2/3 cities, where
access to organized retail is limited
• Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand and
Malaysia will all be sizeable
markets,ranging between $8-11 billion
• Singapore eCommerce will be >$5
billion, larger than the 2015 casino
industry (~$4 billion)
SEA market of opportunities www.specommerce.com
By 2025, each SEA country to generate at least $5 billion ecommerce revenue
Source: Google, Temasek Holdings 2016
Talk at the Hygieia Gym
Singapore (11 Jan 2020)

7. Confidential
SEA market of opportunities
Source: Bain & Company
www.specommerce.com
Of the 150 million digital consumers in SEA, two-thirds already shop online
Talk at the Hygieia Gym
Singapore (11 Jan 2020)

8. Confidential
BIZ CHALLENGES FOR SEA www.specommerce.com
1. Unbanked Customers
2. Logistics Infrastructure
3. Localisation: Multiple languages, currency, taxes
4. Staffing Talents
5. Changing Consumer Purchasing Habits
Talk at the Hygieia Gym
Singapore (11 Jan 2020)

9. Confidential
SEA: E-Payments
Source: KPMG
www.specommerce.com
Financial inclusion for Southeast Asia’s “unbanked”
657
million
population
73% percent
“unbanked”
37 percent
banked
In Southeast, 73% of
the population do not
have access to credit
cards and internet
banking services
Talk at the Hygieia Gym
Singapore (11 Jan 2020)

10. Confidential
SEA: E-Payments
Preferred payment mode across three SEA nations
Source: eMarketer,2017 and iPrice Group 2017
Cash on Delivery is
still the most popular
payment option in
Southeast Asia
www.specommerce.com
Talk at the Hygieia Gym
Singapore (11 Jan 2020)

11. Confidential
SEA: LOCALISATION
Catering to diverse markets can make or break your global sales
75% of shoppers are more
likely to purchase products
with information in their
native language
92.2% prefer to shop and
make purchases on sites that
price in their local currency
www.specommerce.com
Talk at the Hygieia Gym
Singapore (11 Jan 2020)

12. Confidential
STAFFING
Shortage of skilled workforce
Strong need for senior talent
especially for C-level and
senior development roles
• Median age of working population is
less than 30, which means lack of
experience
• 50% of Asian employers (46%)
report hiring difficulties
• In Indonesia, only 10% of the total
employees are highly skilled
• Technical jobs are the hardest to fill
www.specommerce.com
Talk at the Hygieia Gym
Singapore (11 Jan 2020)

13. Confidential
SEA: Strong offline buying habits
Southeast Asian consumers love visiting shopping malls
In Singapore, consumers are just minutes away from a
shopping centre.
In SEA, visiting a physical store is still perceived as part of
the leisure of shopping
Over 60% of people research online before buying in-
store, while 27% research in-store before buying
online.
INSERT MALL
IMAGE
www.specommerce.com
Talk at the Hygieia Gym
Singapore (11 Jan 2020)

14. Confidential
SEA: offline –online buying habits www.specommerce.com
Pureplay online brands setting up shops in malls
In Singapore, online brands HipVan and Naiise have
opened flagships stores
Zalora opening pop up stores across Southeast Asia
Other online retailers in Singapore such as Reebonz,
Love Bonito and Ohvola have opened short-term stores
in mall to cater to shoppers who want to touch feel
and try products before buying
INSERT MALL
IMAGE
Talk at the Hygieia Gym
Singapore (11 Jan 2020)

15. Confidential
MANAGING THE COMPLEXITIES www.specommerce.com
1. Understand Your Current State
2. Customer’s Buying Behavior
3. Your Current Supply Chain
4. SEA’s Logistics Challenges
5. Online Strategy
Talk at the Hygieia Gym
Singapore (11 Jan 2020)

16. Confidential
Understand Your Current State www.specommerce.com
Golden rules to succeed in Southeast Asia
STRATEGIZE
BUILD
IMPLEMENT
ORGANIZE
FOLLOW
1. Know your market and set your business ambitions
2. Map your target audience’s consumer journey
3. Understand the logistical and supply chain challenges for the region
4. Build a shared ambitious but reachable goals with your key partners
5. Structure your trade terms for eCommerce
6. Identify gaps in your channels and create value for the consumer
7. Have the right internal teams or partners in place to manage your
operations
8. Follow, measure and track your eCommerce KPIs
Talk at the Hygieia Gym
Singapore (11 Jan 2020)

17. Confidential
Customer’s Buying Behavior
© 2018 Singapore Post Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Understanding the customer buying behavior
 50% of ASEAN’s population is under 30 years of age
 High mobile and internet penetration
 Growing affluence
 SEA consumers still like visiting malls
 Over 60% of people research online before buying
in-store, while 27% research in-store before buying
online.
www.specommerce.com
Talk at the Hygieia Gym
Singapore (11 Jan 2020)

18. Confidential
Your Current Supply Chain
© 2018 Singapore Post Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Reviewing your current supply chain – optimizing for eCommerce
• The traditional supply chain management is
ineffective in managing e-commerce
• Customers service is more important that ever.
• Customers expect purchases to arrive at record
speed with free or low-cost shipping.
• Offering returns and doing returns management
right – according to a UPS survey, 88% of
consumers will check on the seller’s return policy
and 15% will forgo a purchase if they don’t
understand or are not able to locate it.
www.specommerce.com
Talk at the Hygieia Gym
Singapore (11 Jan 2020)

19. Confidential
SEA’s logistics challenges
© 2018 Singapore Post Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Southeast Asia’s logistics challenge
• Southeast Asia’s fragmented supply chains & scarcity of
supply chain professionals
• Diversity of consumers in Southeast Asia
• Varying customs and tax duties from country to country
• Fragmented payment landscape – cash on delivery is still
the most popular payment option in SEA
• Business need to review their current supply chain and
identify how to configure to be able to deliver on current
and future business strategies
www.specommerce.com
Talk at the Hygieia Gym
Singapore (11 Jan 2020)

20. Confidential
Online Strategy
© 2018 Singapore Post Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Business fit for online: consider your approach
1. Marketplaces 3. Omnichannel2. Branded .com
Inexpensive and quicker to launch.
Marketplaces are becoming the
new department stores, enabling
consumers to buy online ,
providing more convenience and
value than ever
Requires greater upfront
investment. Enables businesses
to connect directly with
consumer and build brand loyalty
Fully integrated shopping experience
that unites user experience from brick
& mortar to online / mobile browsing
and everything in between
www.specommerce.com
Talk at the Hygieia Gym
Singapore (11 Jan 2020)

21. Confidential
Marketplaces in SEA
© 2018 Singapore Post Limited. All Rights Reserved.
SEA, a market of marketplaces
www.specommerce.com
Talk at the Hygieia Gym
Singapore (11 Jan 2020)

22. Confidential
Launching on Marketplace
© 2018 Singapore Post Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Why you should consider marketplaces?
Southeast Asians spend 140 minutes
shopping online, almost twice as much
time as Americans in eCommerce
marketplaces
Marketplaces in SEA are maturing with
more global brands using them as an
online sales channel
Source: Google, Temasek Holdings 2016
www.specommerce.com
Talk at the Hygieia Gym
Singapore (11 Jan 2020)

23. Confidential
Launching your dot.com
© 2018 Singapore Post Limited. All Rights Reserved.
www.specommerce.com
The case for building your own eCommerce website
 Establish, build loyalty and maintain full
control over your brand when you launch
your own independent eCommerce
website.
 You don’t have to compete directly with
your customers in your website
 Retargeting is more streamlined with direct
access to your own customers on your
website.
Talk at the Hygieia Gym
Singapore (11 Jan 2020)

24. Confidential
The Omnichannel Experience
© 2018 Singapore Post Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Fully integrated shopping experience that connects brick & mortar to
online / mobile browsing and everything in between
 Consumers who engage with retailers on
multiple channels visited a brick-and-mortar
store 23% more often over six months.
 These shoppers are more likely to recommend
this store to others.
 Visibility on more shopping channels resultd
in greater brand recall: Shoppers who
interacted with retailers on four or more
channels spend 9% more in stores, on
average, compared with those who use fewer
channels or just a single one.
Omnichannel shoppers are more
valuable than those who engage with
retailers in one place.
Retailers need to adopt an omnichannel
approach to boost sales and attract a
larger audience
www.specommerce.com
Talk at the Hygieia Gym
Singapore (11 Jan 2020)

25. Confidential
Finding the Right Partner
© 2018 Singapore Post Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Create lean back-end and
supply chain operations that
improve the bottom line and
reduce costs
Drive engagement and
conversions to
maximize profitability
Create customer experiences
that are truly differentiating
and drive loyalty
Increase Sales Lower Costs:
Supply Chain Optimization
Create Personalized
Experiences
Strategic partnerships with key partners who can help:
www.specommerce.com
Talk at the Hygieia Gym
Singapore (11 Jan 2020)

26. Confidential
Finding the Right Partner www.specommerce.com
Ecommerce
Technology Talents
Client Success
Talents
Performance
Marketing Talents
Ecommerce
Operations Talents
Customer Care
Talents
1. Regional
Technology
Deployment
Experience
2. Scalable resources
for onboarding and
supporting major
campaigns
3. Experience in
enterprise level
architecture and
high volume
ecommerce
4. Certified developers
and engineers from
tech startups to
major tech MNCs
1. Brand and Agency
Ecommerce experience
2. Trained in account
management and e-
store maintenance
3. Broad knowledge in
Ecommerce, Logistics,
Fulfilment, Marketing,
Customer Care
4. Knowledgeable in
Analysis and Reporting
5. Experienced in New
Product Introductions,
Peak Period Planning,
Merchandising, Content
Management,
Payments, and latest
developments in
Ecommerce
1. Brand and Agency
Ecommerce Experience
2. Certified Google
Adwords, Display Digital
Marketing Specialists
3. Email Marketing
specialists experienced in
driving loyalty marketing
activities
4. Professional
Photographers
experienced in product
photography
5. Partnership managers
forge marketing
partnerships for brands
1. Brand and Agency
Ecommerce
Experience
2. Monitors thousands of
orders / day across
APAC
3. Monitors Logistics and
Fulfilment KPIs
4. Monitoring &
forecasting of
customer escalations /
returns
5. Peak Period Planning
and execution
experience
1. Ecommerce Customer
Care Experience
2. Ability to acquire product
and brand knowledge to
support customer
enquiries
3. Ability to speak English +
Asian languages and
understand cultural
nuances from each
country
4. Prioritises customer
satisfaction and call
resolution
5. Manage Customer Care
KPIs and reporting
Do you have in-house talents & resources to roll out eCommerce?
Talk at the Hygieia Gym
Singapore (11 Jan 2020)