Malaysia: Consumer engagement key to e-commerce growth

• Jun 24, 2019

DEVELOPMENTS in digital technology and a higher penetration of smartphones are enabling merchants to better engage their customers. This will give them a greater opportunity to build brand loyalty.

In a panel discussion at the recent Alibaba Business School Asian reunion, Lazada Malaysia chief operating officer Kevin Lee urges merchants to make use of relevant tools to enhance their interaction with consumers.

“Penetration of smartphone in Malaysia is skyrocketing and that is such a huge opportunity for engagement. For us, this is important because we are creating reasons for customers to think about lazada,” says Lee.

In recent times, the e-commerce platform has launched several programmes such as games and live shows to engage with customers. And Lee notes the success of some of these programmes in building interaction with the market.

In other more advanced e-commerce markets such as China, merchants are already using various tools to bridge gaps with the consumers, giving rise to the term shoppertainment – a tactic that engages customers through an entertaining in-store shopping experience.

With more and more tools coming on stream, retail stores are no longer just about transacting goods and services for money. In China, for example, live streams have become a key component to engage with customers and build a following and have been credited for increased sales for merchants.

“There’s so much interaction now from something that was transactional before,” Lee says.

Additionally, the use of data enables merchants to engage specifically with audience in certain sub-segments. This targeted engagement will help drive success for marketing efforts and build a stronger relationship with customers.

“We are driving opportunities for merchants with engagement tools on our platform. This is a new way of thinking about it. Maybe in China and more developed markets, these efforts have become very obvious. The Malaysian market is very transactional. But we are moving more towards engagement,” he adds.

However, he notes that there is also a need to further educate consumers and merchants to tap into this new trend.

While awareness efforts have previously focused on educating consumers and merchants on how to go about doing e-commerce, they need to now

move towards getting people

to understand the impact of

content engagement.

“While you can’t teach people the specific steps to be creative, you can tell them why it’s important. But people need to jump on this and see how they can increase engagement and interaction of content and how to monetise that,” he adds.

Notably, Alibaba Group has been crucial in the growth of e-commerce in China. And the group has been trying to duplicate its success in other countries. It has been investing in building relevant ecosystems to further support the growth of e-commerce in the region.

But it notes that customers’ shopping behaviours have been different across markets, making it a challenge to directly duplicate its success in China. Also, merchants have not been able to effectively use the tools provided by the e-commerce giant.

“So without a suitable ecosystem, it will be hard to reach the full potential of the Alibaba platform. We need many of the entrepreneurs in the region to be a part of the ecosystem. Only with strong support from partners and by getting feedback, can we finetune operations in different markets,” it says.

The Alibaba Business School Asian reunion brought together

its eFounders fellowship and Alibaba Netpreneur Training Programs graduates over a time of sharing and networking. The

event saw the participation of over 200 entrepreneurs and industry personnel from across South-East Asia.

The training programmes are part of the Alibaba Group’s education effort to empower entrepreneurs from emerging markets to leverage the power of digital economy to create economic development.

“Through our initiatives, our aim is to inspire entrepreneurs to create inclusive and sustainable digital ecosystems in their home countries and encourage collaborations across the region, while sharing the ecosystem’s benefits of bringing small businesses, entrepreneurs and other previously disadvantaged groups into the mainstream economy,” says Alibaba Group vice president Brian Wong.

Source: https://www.thestar.com.my/business/smebiz/2019/06/24/consumer-engagement-key-to-ecommerce-growth/#cQ69Iv618rKu7QrV.99