As per this strategic partnership, Central Group will help Grab to expand its business in Thailand

Thailand’s largest shopping mall and department store operator, Central Group, is planning to invest US$200 million in ride-hailing giant Grab, says a Bloomberg report, citing people aware of the development. The investment will go into the Grab’s company’s Thai unit.

As per this strategic partnership, Central Group will help Grab to expand its business in Thailand.

Headquartered in Singapore, Grab is the largest O2O mobile platform in Southeast Asia, providing everyday services, including food and package delivery, mobile payments and financial services, in addition to taxi hailing. Currently, it operates in Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia.

Also Read: The culture of Echelon is the biggest draw for both speakers and participants alike

Since launch, Grab has secured US$7.1 billion across 21 investment rounds, from the likes of Hyundai Motor company, Yamaha Motor Company, and Microsoft. The latest funding came from Japanese financial services company Tokyo Century Corporation early this month. The money would be going into Grab’s car rental arm, Grab Rentals.

Central Group consists of a variety of diverse investments in various corporations, including the retail, property development, brand management, hospitality, and food and beverage industries. A few hours ago, Central Group teamed up with JD.com to start a digital wallet platform to promote cashless payments in Thailand.

Called Dolfin Wallet, this wallet will go live in two to three months. The platform, which settles payments by reading QR codes on smartphones and other devices, will be run by Central JD Money, a subsidiary of Central Group and the JD.com joint venture Central JD Fintech Holding.

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Employee engagement is crucial for a company’s success

Companies that have a high percentage of highly engaged employees consistently outperform their competitors.

Engaged employees are highly involved, enthusiastic about their work and personally invested in the success of the company. They take ownership of their work and are the driving force for innovation and performance in most organisations.

Employees are a primary source of competitive advantage for your company.

However, Human Resource (HR) managers are under pressure to prove that they can make a difference – their contribution is more difficult to quantify than other departments.

More often than not, when businesses perform poorly, HR gets the first budget cut.

This is despite the strong positive relationship between employee engagement and performance.

Therefore, to prove how HR managers can greatly affect the bottom line, managers should show how engagement is linked to performance.

Here are some examples that HR managers can cite when explaining the importance of investing in their employees.

Increased Productivity and Innovation

These days, it is getting easier to copy other people’s products and more difficult to maintain a technological advantage.

However, employees remain one of the key factors in an organisation’s arsenal that cannot be replicated.

Read Also: How NOT following my dreams enabled me to build a startup with 3.2 million users

Employee engagement is the driving force behind the value of an organisation and its competitive advantage.

A highly engaged workforce is more productive, more innovative and more likely to succeed in today’s competitive business environment.

Studies have shown that an increase in employee engagement by a mere 10 per cent can increase profits by US$2,400 per employee per year due to their above-average productivity.

Turnover Costs

A highly engaged workforce also reduces turnover costs, where they are 87 per cent less likely to leave an organisation.

According to the US Department of Labour, it costs about a third of a new recruit’s salary to replace an employee who left their job.

For example, it could cost up to US$20,000 in training expenses and lost productivity to replace an experienced employee earning an annual salary of US$60,000.

For highly-skilled jobs such as managers or directors, costs could even scale up to 150 per cent of the position’s annual salary.

Turnover costs does not stop at training and lost in productivity – 57 per cent of Singapore companies believe that employee turnover has a serious negative effect on organisational performance.

High turnover rates dampen the overall morale amongst employees as they are burdened with additional work until the new recruit is fully on board.

Read Also: What I learned about management from scaling one of Southeast’s Asia fastest growing Series B startups

To wrap up, employee engagement can no longer be ignored by organisations and is one of the key drivers behind the success of a business.

Without the proper direction and care from the company’s leadership, this competitive advantage over your competitors can be easily lost and hard to recover.

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Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

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Whether it is keeping family close, or learning how to say ‘no’, this advice will help tremendously during the entrepreneurship journey

It is coming close to 3 years since I quit my consulting job and decided to take the plunge into entrepreneurship. No one really prepares you for what is going to take when you’re running a startup, trying to create a business from ground up, and taking on a mammoth task like building a social network of your own.

All of your insecurities have a way of surfacing in your most vulnerable moments, and the many, many times that things go wrong, you can’t help questioning yourself. What was I thinking? Am I qualified to be a ‘founder’? What if this fails?

Six months of ideating, nine months of building, one year of testing and improving and we’re now close to finally launching.

Last week I thought to myself, what?! Has it been three whole years and I haven’t even launched yet? But when I sat down to write our milestones over this period, I felt much better — and quite proud of our journey.

We’ve worked with 9 interns, 11 full time employees, nine different agencies, and two freelancers, all of whom have helped us build Dysco. We’ve hosted over 12 events, facilitated over 30 lakhs of business, engaged with over 10,000 people online and offline, posted over features, acquired more than 2000 users and advertised 50-plus opportunities. We have an average of three minutes spent on our website and over 7000 views on our most read post.

Anyone who has been on a similar journey will know the highest highs and the lowest lows come so frequently that no rollercoaster can prepare you for those adrenalin rushes or gut punches.

But for those of you who are considering embarking on such an adventure, here are 15 lessons I’ve learned and would like to share; some truths that have made me a substantially less stress-prone and much, much happier entrepreneur.

1. Everything takes time

And much more time than you originally planned. If you don’t spend time on it, you’re probably not thinking about it thoroughly enough. In India, things take at least twice as long as you probably expect. The younger, more naïve version of myself thought we’d launch in 1 year and be profitable in 3. It’s now been 3 years and we’ve still not formally launched… and only recently mapped out a monetisation strategy. Just saying.

2. Get familiar with the P word

An obvious and often heard one. You will pivot and pivot again and pivot again. Some pivots fail and some help bring you to more pivots. Our pivots with Dysco kind of seemed like a natural path — like tree branching out into an array of little branchlets.

Also Read: What I learned about management from scaling one of Southeast’s Asia fastest growing Series B startups

But not all pivots have that result. Can I say pivot any more times?

3. Don’t try to know everything about everything

Some things you should educate yourself about or learn how to do yourself. Others you should leave to the experts or specialists in their fields.

Figure out which of the two categories things fall in. It doesn’t mean you’re not trying hard enough, it means you’re being efficient. I’m not a techie and don’t think I can learn to be one — I familiarised myself with key concepts but turned to experts to make informed tech decisions.

4.First impressions count

First experiences count more. This may not apply to everyone but investing in strong branding and good design can take you a long way. Especially if what you’re building isn’t revolutionary and unheard of, but combines elements of products and services that people are already familiar with.

No one would spend their valuable time creating profiles on one more social network if it looked boring and felt unprofessional.

5.Your friends, family and acquaintances will be your biggest strength

They’ll be your advocates, your first users, the links to your first clients and your biggest critics.

Although very often strangers will support you much more than people you know. Don’t take it to heart, just take it in your stride.

Random people who were interested in communities, platforms, culture and creativity offered me so much support and useful advice — stuff that people in my personal network probably didn’t know or care too much about. This is coming from an extra-introvert.

6.Be open and honest about your journey and struggles.

Sounding human is much better than sounding perfect. People are more willing to test your product, wait patiently while you fix bugs, and be a part of your focus groups if they know you’re in the process of figuring things out.

Anyone successful appreciates humility, honesty and knowing that you’re facing the same struggles that they faced. They’ll happily guide you in whatever way they can (write to me if this post tugs on your heart & pocket strings!)

7.Offline engagement is better than online engagement

No one really knows what’s going on behind screens. Meeting your potential audience, customers and users face to face is better — always. Especially at the start of your journey.

10 people offline is worth more than 100 likes online. Real people convert to real business much faster and for longer than online interactions which are probably bots anyway. People I met even at small and intimate events have been the most loyal supporters of Dysco, and have gone on to work on collaborations, events and campaigns with us.

8.Don’t wait till it is perfect.

You can keep aspiring for perfection, but put out all your work in progress anyway. It shows your growth, your journey, gets you feedback and helps build your next stronger/better/improved version of your product.

Everyone’s afraid of where and how to begin — but you can keep improving your logo, your web design, your social media presence and it’s bound to evolve over time. Don’t keep waiting to put yourself out there.

9.Maintain all relationships, don’t spoil them when things get rough

When you’re working closely with someone, whether it’s a collaborator or a client, you’ve invested time in building a meaningful relationship.

Sometimes things get heated and don’t go down well. It’s okay to stop working together, but try to make sure you don’t let things get ugly. A few months later it probably won’t matter that much if working relations ended respectfully.

You could both use each other at some point down the line. Be polite, be nice and don’t do/say things you might regret later.

10.Worrying about copycats is a waste of time

The biggest companies and brands copy each other — it is just the way the world works. People can and will steal ideas. They will take inspiration. They will try and do what you do, if it seems like it has potential.

You will find dozens of similar products and services in the market the longer you’re working on something. Just focus on making yours the best version it can be, and execute it fast. Keep inventing and innovating and others will always be a step behind.

Also, know the difference between ‘inspiration’ and plagiarism. Don’t be a copycat yourself — there’s no point in doing something that’s already being done very well and by plenty of others. Unless you’re offering something radically different, substantially better, or appealing to a new demographic, it is unlikely that you will take over a highly competitive or saturated market.

Differentiate yourself from the get go.

11.Focus on your niche, your market and your specific audience

Growth will come in its time and you will eventually scale into new global markets when you’ve captured the former. Planning for global domination is daunting, often unnecessary and frankly impossible from day one.

Your time, efforts and resources are much better spent on winning and delighting a smaller audience that keeps coming back. Not that we’ve reached global domination or even close, but I often panicked about achieving the impossible.

Taking things step by step helps you plan both better and smarter. Now I’m breathing better and sleeping deeper.

12.Don’t say yes to every tempting offer or catchy opportunity that comes your way

Think about whether it really fits within your core mission and offerings, and if it’s dragging you off your primary path?

Quick money or big money is attractive, but time spent there might not add any value to your main product, and could reduce returns in the longer run. I still struggle with this one, and my eyes light up when a popular brand reaches out for a partnership. But I’m learning to say no if opportunities don’t align with my objectives at the moment.

13.Be open minded

About ideas and feedback especially. You’re not building a business where you are your own only customer. You need other people’s opinions and perspectives to help design something that others will want and be willing to pay for — so don’t be offended if they challenge your preconceptions.

Also Read: How NOT following my dreams enabled me to build a startup with 3.2 million users

Hear it and mull it over — and implement it if you see relevance. If you’re a founder or entrepreneur, your baby feels very close to heart. That doesn’t mean there’s no room for improvement or modifications; but trust your gut instinct at the end of the day.

14.You don’t have to know how to monetise from the very beginning.

But don’t wait for too long before sitting down to think about it either. You can burn through cash, energy and resources at an exponential speed once you’re in the deep end and fully invested in making your dream a reality.

Make sure to step back, even stop and evaluate your business strategy and goals before powering on and on. After a year of testing, we just took a few months to plan our future — it didn’t make sense (and was quite demotivating) to keep spending money unless we figured out how to make it back, with returns.

15.Find the right people to work with, even if it takes time, trial and error

I can’t stress enough how much time we’ve lost settling for people who weren’t right for a role, or not picking the right partners to help us build our product and services. Compromising in the short term is not worth it in the long run.

In our case, we definitely couldn’t build Dysco all on our own. We needed the help of many others with the skills and knowledge to transform our ideas into reality. Finding really strong partners and team members can make or break the success of your business.

And here’s a bonus number 16 — if your startup doesn’t work out as planned, don’t think of it as a failure but a genuine, rewarding and incredible investment in your future, your growth and in your learning

There is nothing like real life experience, and that can compete with an MBA from a top-tier institution (as others have told me).

This list is far from comprehensive, and I have plenty of anecdotes, horror stories and semi-inspirational quotes to share if you’d like to know more. I’ve learned the most from other people, irrespective of their field or industry — so if you have any thoughts or comments, do comment or message me.

I’d love to hear from you! Write to me at khrisha@dyscoapp.com or follow me on Medium, where this article was originally published.

—

Photo by Artem Bali on Unsplash

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Starting with over 21 franchised and leased hotels, OYO’s current footprint includes presence in Metro Manila, Tagaytay and Cebu

OYO to invest US$50M for Philippines expansion [press release]

Southeast Asia’s budget hotels aggregator OYO Hotels and Homes has announced its launch in the Philippines.

Starting with over 21 franchised and leased hotels, OYO’s current footprint includes presence in Metro Manila, Tagaytay and Cebu as it plans to grow to 10 cities by 2020.

OYO Hotels would be franchising and leasing assets while transforming them into quality living spaces.

The company has also committed an investment of over US$50 million over the next few years in the country, and aims to generate over 1,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Smart spending-tracker gini secures US$1.6M

gini, a Hong Kong based smart spending-tracker, has completed its seed round with a US$1.6 million investment from both international institutions and Hong Kong-based Vectr Ventures, the early stage fintech venture capital firm.

The funding will support a global roll-out plan, with gini aiming to be compatible with over 3,000 overseas banks in 60 countries by the second half of 2019 — starting with over 60 banks across Hong Kong, France, Switzerland and the UK currently available.

“We are Hong Kong-based, but the plan was never to launch an app only for the Hong Kong market,” said Co-founder CEO Raymond Wyand. “We live in a globalised world. Ultimately, our goal is to build a truly worldwide financial marketplace, to service not just a user’s home market but make managing money across markets accessible and easy for anyone to do. This new seed round allows us to start making that vision a reality.”

Kinestral raises over US$100M led by SK Holdings [press release]

Kinestral Technologies, the developer and manufacturer of Halio, a smart-tinting glass product for buildings and homes, today announced that it has closed Series D funding of over US$100 million led by SK Holdings, one of the largest conglomerates in South Korea.

Current investors 5AM Ventures, Alexandria Real Estate, Capricorn Investment Group and Versant Ventures also participated in the round. This investment will allow Kinestral to expand manufacturing, sales, and installation of Halio smart-tinting glass to meet rapidly growing global demand.

Halio looks like natural glass in its clear state and tints automatically or on demand to neutral gray shades to stop the unwanted intrusion of both glare and solar heat, while giving users privacy. Halio responds in seconds to changing light conditions. It tints uniformly to a virtually limitless number of tint level options. It can also be integrated with building management and home automation systems as well as cloud-based devices.

AI startup Clootrack raises US$500K funding [press release]

Bangalore-based AI startup Clootrack Software has raised US$500,000 in seed funding round led by Indian Angel Network. The round also saw participation from IAN Fund, Unicorn India Ventures (existing investor), SEA Fund and Malabar Angel Network.

Anthony Thomas, Global CIO, Nissan Motors and Salliel Gupta have led the round on behalf of IAN with Anthony joining the company board. IAN investor group also includes Kris Gopalakrishnan (Co-founder, Infosys).

Founded in April 2017, Clootrack is an AI-driven data analytics platform that discovers and measures brand perceptions in real time. It does this based on analysis of customer conversations in various online media and customer care tickets. Clootrack discovers brand perception elements in an unsupervised manner from text conversations.

The company runs on proprietary deep learning algorithms based on proven mathematical models and has two pending patents.

PH venture capital, private equity players form investment industry association [press release]

Leading venture capital and private equity players in the Philippines have come together to create an investment industry association that will act as a unified voice representing professional and institutional investors in the Philippines.

Called the Venture Capital and Private Equity Association of the Philippines (VCAP), this non-stock, non-profit corporation was the brainchild of ICCP SBI Venture Partners, Navegar, Endeavor Philippines, and Kickstart Ventures, Inc. with support from Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura, Sayoc & de los Angeles Law.

“VCAP is the first of its kind in the Philippines. It is a forum to promote a greater understanding of the roles VC and PE play in economic growth, to foster the growth of entrepreneurship and innovation, to encourage foreign investments into the VC and PE sectors in the Philippines, as well as to facilitate interaction and collaboration amongst its members,” said William Valtos Jr., VCAP Chairman and President and ICCP SBI Venture Partners Senior Managing Director.

VCAP’s mandate includes building linkages with similar associations in other countries, raising the profile of the VC and PE asset classes, serving as a platform for potential dialogue on regulatory and policy issues affecting venture and private equity investments in the country, and promoting professional development of the member firms and employees.

The formation of VCAP will give local and foreign investors an accessible forum for sharing market information as well as discussing policies and practices which are of concern to VC and PE institutions and professionals, according to Honorio Poblador IV, VCAP treasurer and Navegar managing partner.

 

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The fourth batch of Plug and Play Indonesia accelerator programme includes seven startups from outside of the country

The Indonesian chapter of US-based accelerator programme Plug and Play has announced the 20 startups that have been shortlisted for its fourth batch.

In addition to startups that are based in Indonesia, the current also included seven startups from Singapore, India, and the Philippines.

These startups are set to join a three-month programme that will end with a demo day.

The startups are:

Instamoney
The startup build payment infrastructure that enables users to transfer money “quickly and effectively” at scale.

Emvazo
The startup provides “economical and convenient” cross-border online money transfer solutions.

CoinHako
Based in Singapore, cryptocurrency wallet CoinHako has operations across Southeast Asia and hosts a portfolio of multiple cryptocurrencies paired with local currencies.

Also Read: Plug and Play Indonesia brings in 17 startups into its 3rd batch

PayOK
The startup aims to simplify personal finance by offering consumer behaviour insights. In addition to monitoring and visualising their spending habits, users can also get relevant promotions at merchants.

Magpie
Philippines-based Magpie is a digital payments platform that enables financial institutions to create experiences from mobile-based invoice collection to text message-based payments using their APIs.

Bizhare
Bizhare is an equity crowdfunding platform that enables users to start investing in franchise businesses from US$400. It also distributes financial statements and monthly profit distribution through its e-wallet feature.

BFarm.id
The startup aims to improve livestock farmer welfare by providing end-to-end solution on market access, insight, funding as well as promotions of sustainable agricultural practices and humane animal care.

Bandingin
Bandingin is a price comparison platform for various insurance products.

Vymo
Bangalore-based Vymo is a Gartner-recognised Personal Sales Assistant with the ability to predict, detect, learn, and coach sales representatives to get the best outcomes.

Also Read: 11 startups graduate from Plug and Play Indonesia as the accelerator opens third batch registration

PAL Network
The Singapore-based startup builds dual-layered protocol for financial assets, enabling insurance and finance solution designs in smart contract within minutes. It helps partners to cross-sell relevant insurance products at points-of-demands.

Intello Labs
Gurgaon-based Intello Labs said it has pioneered a “first-in-the-world” app and equipment to test, grade, and analyse the visual quality parameters of agricultural commodities.

ATM Sehat
Anjungan Telehealth Masyarakat (ATM) Sehat is an all-in-one device that for public health promotion, monitoring, and prevention. Users can perform health checks and screening, do live consultation, buy health products, and even call an ambulance using a panic button with just one device.

Intelitaap
India-based Intelitaap provides indoor consumer behaviour analytics platform using sensors, enabling businesses to optimise in-store experience.

RaRa Delivery
A last-mile delivery service for e-commerce businesses that aims to make same-day delivery scalable with asset-light operational model and AI-enabled real-time optimisation technology.

Lacak.io
The platform helps logistics companies track their fleets or drivers’ location, measure each delivery’s performance, and evaluate drivers’ driving behaviour.

Also Read: Plug and Play’s Christian Knipfer describes Taiwan’s strengths in building a startup ecosystem

LogicNesia
A distribution optimisation software for manufacturers and logistics to maximise vehicle drop-in locations, reduce delivery cost, and vehicle utilisation.

Piniship
The startup helps export-oriented companies with cargo delivery scheduling, price comparison, documents procession, and payment transactions.

Aquifi, Inc.
The startup automates repetitive, time-sensitive tasks such as end-of-line and order inspection with proprietary 3D sensors and deep neural networks.

Madhang
Madhang supports small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the culinary sector by providing sales and marketing tools as well as points-of-sales (POS) system.

Redkendi
Redkendi is an online marketplace for meal catering services.

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Mobile Legends e-sports will be the first government-supported e-sports competition in Indonesia

Indonesia’s government launched the country’s first government-backed e-sports competition with Mobile Legends as its main sport, as CNN Indonesia reported.

“This would be the very first e-sports tournament that’s fully supported by the government,” said Giring Ganesha, chairman of the championship, who’s also a local celebrity, in a press conference yesterday.

Also Read: OYO to put US$100M more in Indonesia market

The qualification round of the tournament will be held in eight cities; Bekasi, Solo, Pontianak, Denpasar, Makassar, Palembang, Manado, and Surabaya. Those who go through in the qualification round will be coming to the final round in Istora Senayan, Jakarta, on March 30-31, 2019.

This event is backed by the Ministry of Communication and Informatics, Creative Economy Agency (BEKRAF), and Ministry of Youth and Sports.

“The government fully supports this type of competition as it can also boost our economy as a country and to realise digital economy by 2020. We also aim to support the potentials our gamers have to compete in international arena,” said Moeldoko, the Head of the Presidential Staff Office.

Also Read: Dynamic content in the era of machine learning

Indonesia Esports Premier League (IESPL) has recorded a total of 50 million gamers in Indonesia this year alone, with 60 per cent of them calling themselves e-sports enthusiasts.
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Image Credit: IESPL

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The future of global transportation is bright, but it is also a long way’s off

The future of the transportation network looks phenomenal. Think about it. We have Elon Musk talking about tunnels that could transport vehicles hundreds of miles away at a lightning fast speed. We have cars that do not need people behind the steering wheel. The only question is how long it will take to live this future?

Even if we sideline the time it is going to take, the next big question that pops up is whether the autonomous driving will completely replace the traditional transportation system or create a hybrid transportation system where both machines and humans can coexist.

Before we get into answering these questions, let’s first discuss why self-driving cars will eventually become as popular as their predecessors.

Rising Number of Car Accidents

South East Asia experiences approximately 316,000 deaths due to road accidents every year. In the United States, this number amounted to 37,133 deaths in 2017.

Other countries with the most number of deaths due to road accidents per year include Namibia, Iran, Sudan, Swaziland, Venezuela, Congo, Malawi, Iraq, and the Central African Republic.

Regardless of the situation, the primary cause of these accidents is the mistake made by drivers. One wrong decision like over-speeding, sudden breaks or anything else costs them their lives. No matter  if the accident is the fault of the driver or the other vehicle, the consequences are going to be severe.

Also Read: “General awareness about entrepreneurship in Malaysia needs to go beyond selling food at stalls”

Self-driving cars, on the other hand, can act quickly based on the real-time data and make a move that is good enough avoid a traffic collision. It is about the kind of technology being used in the car and how efficient it is in the real-life traffic scenario.

Self Driving Cars & Their Viability

Over the last few years, leading automotive and tech companies like Tesla, Google, Audi, BMW, Ford, etc. have run multiple tests to check the viability of their self-driving cars.

Tesla being the market leader stepped up its game and went on to announce a couple of years ago that its Model S and X would be equipped with the essential features needed for a self-driving car. It has introduced many technology upgrades in its existing models to improve the performance.

However, the one area where Tesla and other auto manufacturers haven’t been able to reassure investors and buyers is the integration of maps of those roads that are beyond city boundaries.

Most companies run tests on self-driving cars in cities and install 3D maps of lanes, streets, signs, curbs, etc. accordingly. These dense 3D maps allow self-driving vehicles to analyse their exact location and what to do in case any obstacle like other cars or pedestrians show up. So, if they don’t have 3D maps of any area already installed, it’s almost next to impossible for them to operate there.

Also Read: The e27 Southeast Asia Startup Ecosystem Report 2018 is here

To fix this problem, a team of scientists at MIT has developed a framework called MapLite that allows self-driving cars to safely drive on those unmapped roads. However, the proper integration of this technology might take some time. Until then, self-driving cars cannot be called a viable solution for the current transportation system.

How long is too long:

Given the pace at which the technological development across the globe is happening, there is no doubt that self-driving cars will eventually become a part of the transportation system. But to think that they will completely replace the traditional vehicles in the near future is nothing more than a figment of imagination.

It will take a lot to replace human drivers with software-driven commands, and it’s not happening for at least the next couple of decades.

Is this too long? Will investors be able to endure the financial pain for the future rewards? We will have to wait and see.

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Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

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One major point is a move beyond the tier-1 markets

In the midst of the new year settling in, we can take some time to reflect on 2018 and anticipate what 2019 might bring. After a month of observation, I am sharing what we might expect to see from this exciting industry, in an equally thrilling and promising region.

E-commerce in Southeast Asia – a global growth bright spot

Broad-based economic growth may become a scarce commodity in 2019, owing to near term macro-factors such as global trade tensions and rising interest rate environment. But in a potentially challenging year ahead, Southeast Asia’s digital economy is likely to become one of the globe’s bright spots.

A number of structural drivers and strong fundamentals contribute to this optimism.

E-commerce in the region has grown by more than 62 per cent Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) over the past 3 years, according to the Google-Temasek e-Conomy SEA 2018 report. The report also estimates that e-commerce will exceed US$100 billion in Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) by 2025, from US$23 billion in 2018.

Despite such astonishing numbers, online commerce remains hugely unchanged, at around 2 -3 per cent of total retail sales. This pales in comparison to around 20 and 10 per cent in China and US respectively.

As such, we expect that the digital economy – and e-commerce in particular – will continue to shine in 2019.

The emergence of experiential e-commerce – discovery, entertainment and social engagement

At a time when consumers are spoilt for shopping choices, both offline and online, experiences are the new currency. Consumers want more than just to shop for what they need – they want to discover new products, be entertained, and even engage with the online community.

As a result, online shopping in Southeast Asia is becoming an increasingly social and immersive experience.

A rising number of e-commerce apps in our region have evolved from in-and-out transactional platforms for consumers. Consumers may dip into the app without a prior desire to buy specific items and instead simply browse through products and deals curated by e-commerce platforms.

Consumers may also want to chat with sellers to learn more about different products, or catch up on the social feeds of their friends or family.

They may even come to e-commerce apps to consume content. For example, one of Shopee’s most popular new features is an interactive in-app quiz that you can play with family and friends, hosted by celebrities.

As the boundaries between shopping, socialising and entertainment fade, time spent on apps and the ability to retain users attention will likely become more important performance metrics for e-commerce platforms.

Offline retailers and e-commerce platforms build non-zero sum partnerships

Some observers have long assumed that offline retailers and e-commerce platforms are locked in a zero-sum rivalry – for one to succeed, they must take a consumer away from the other.

2019 will see that paradigm challenged more than ever before, as more offline retailers engage e-commerce platforms as trusted partners… even the brands who already have an online presence.

Beyond just transacting online (listing and selling, processing payments and arranging necessary logistics, etc.), more and more traditional brick-and-mortar stores are looking towards e-commerce platforms to manage their overall online strategy and offline logistics needs.

This signals a shift in the role e-commerce platforms play towards becoming trusted e-commerce partners.

Also Read: The e27 Southeast Asia Startup Ecosystem Report 2018 is here

Stores coming online and placing their trust in e-commerce platforms could potentially reap the many benefits that the partnership offers, from data utilisation and predictive technology, to more effective advertising and promotion and fulfilment services

In other words, the offline-online retail industry is not a zero-sum game; offline stores and large online platforms have become complementary players. We are already witnessing a rising number of large retail chains and consumer goods company partnering with e-commerce platforms in the region (Miniso in Singapore, Nestle in Malaysia, and BigC in Thailand) and we expect this trend to continue in 2019.

Unlocking hidden assets in Southeast Asia

As a digital platform, e-commerce marketplaces empower entrepreneurs and brands of all sizes to reach beyond their local markets and beyond the well-penetrated Tier 1 cities.

In places like Indonesia, the growth of the mobile generation of middle class consumers and rapidly improving smartphone penetration indicate that the importance of consumers outside the capital regions is constantly rising.

This group accounts for approximately 90 per cent of the total population of Indonesia, yet has traditionally been an afterthought in many brands’ retail strategies.

This afterthought might soon be the centre of focus for many bands this year.

Also Read: “General awareness about entrepreneurship in Malaysia needs to go beyond selling food at stalls”

But this isn’t a one-way flow of goods. In fact, budding entrepreneurs and SMEs from beyond the Tier 1 areas are also finding that e-commerce enables them to tap onto new market opportunities.

Take the example of Ibu Vina from Bali in Indonesia. She produces high-quality, false eyelashes and began with a small store. But selling offline was difficult given her harsh living expenses and relying on foot traffic and door-to-door neighbourhood salons for scaling quantities. At first, she only sold 100 pairs of eyelashes per month.

However, in April 2017, Ibu made the decision to shift her business online. By opening an online store with her husband, she immediately accessed a huge market for her high-quality but affordable products far beyond her home province of Bali.

They can now sell up to 10,000 pairs of eyelashes per month, a 100-fold increase. Today, her little online business venture has more than 50 employees working with them to process all the orders.

2019 will be a promising year of change and growth for the e-commerce industry; from the emergence of new ways to experience commerce to platforms playing a central role for brands coming online.

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Photo by mahda doglek on Unsplash

 

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In a heartfelt post on LinkedIn, Neal Cross said goodbye to DBS Bank, and welcomes new adventure

After almost five years heading DBS Bank’s innovation initiatives, Neal Cross has announced his departure from the bank. Cross mentioned that saying goodbye to his team has been the hardest part.

Cross announced the promotion of Bidyut Dumra as the new Chief Innovation Officer, followed by Mark Evans to run the experience strategy team.

Also Read: Southeast Asia e-commerce themes to look out for in 2019

Cross is known for his candidness in sharing his journey in articles and talks. He also shared his leadership journey and gave his two cents about what he has learned during his time with DBS. He prides himself on setting ambitious goals and working towards accomplishing the tasks. He also believes innovation is about creating innovators instead of things.

“If you can create, inspire and educate the entire workforce to do their career’s best work and to constantly strive to create the amazing then the company is unstoppable,” quoted Cross.

He continued adding that being unreasonable is necessary. “I am not a big believer in the mantra of “Don’t change the world, change yourself”. This world was created by people and people can change it again, highly relevant for these disruptive times,” said Cross.

Finally, he reminded his avid followers to focus on needs, not desires. “Try to focus on what the company needs rather than what the company wants and put the company’s future above your own career or bonus expectations. That’s not to say you never do what is expected but sometimes the company just knows what they want next and your role as an innovator is to think two or three steps ahead,” he said, emphasising fellow innovators.

After stepping down from DBS, Cross now is the Chairman of Perth-based fintech Picture Wealth, the neo-wealth startup that Cross and his partner David Pettit started in Australia several years ago. He also shared that he plans on continuing to work on his passion for Orangutans and conservation through his two hotels in Indonesia, Hotel Orangutan, and Pulau Weh Paradise,

People can also expect Cross’ book about building Hotel Orangutan and the philosophies he learned from the jungle and how this was applied to his corporate innovation journey. He managed to merge the seemingly two worlds apart passion for jungle and corporate innovation, all to be seen on his YouTube talk.

Also Read: Indonesian government chooses Mobile Legends for country’s first e-sports tournament

“Everything I have learned while at DBS is not only valuable but also transportable to completely different industries,” said Cross.

Cross’ final word in his note is a firm belief that DBS will continue to be an innovation powerhouse.
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The Fit Company focuses on active and healthy lifestyle products, including healthy restaurants and even micro gyms

East Ventures announces today the investment into The Fit Company, a holding company that focuses on active and healthy lifestyle products. The amount invested is not disclosed.

The Fit Company plans to use the seed funding to accelerate its mission to build a technology-enabled ecosystem consisting of wellness-oriented products and services to promote a more active and health-conscious lifestyle.

Also Read: DBS Bank’s Neal Cross steps down

“We are really excited to receive the support from East Ventures, who is known for growing and expanding a company and we cannot wait to start,” said Jeff Budiman, CEO of The Fit Company in a press conference at Fitstop Kuningan.

Willson Cuaca, East Ventures’ Managing Partner shared that young consumers below 30-years-old are the main target of The Fit Company. “Indonesia has big potential through its young consumer population – close to 60% is below 30 years old, and they increasingly spend on discretionary items. This new consumption behavior presents a huge opportunity for a new ecosystem, especially in the health and wellness category,” explained Cuaca.

The lifestyle is further supported by the recent rise of on-demand and O2O platforms in the country.

The Fit Company captures the holistic products and services market; offering activities, tools and equipment and ready to eat F&B.

“People today demand everything to be fast and instant, but at the same time, the awareness of health investment is increasing too. We realise that the whole pipeline of the so-called ‘wellness economy’ is there for the taking,” Budiman added.

The company that was started in 2014 by Budiman, Prianka Bukit, and Bambang Bukit. It has 5 business lines consisting of Kredoaum (Fitness tech distributor), 20Fit (MicroGym), Fitstop (Gym), Fit Lokal (healthy food), and Fitmee (Healthy Instant Noodles made from konjac).

Also Read: OYO to put US$100M more in Indonesia market

The Indonesian public knows The Fit Company best from its viral, personalized training method using Electro Muscle Stimulation (EMS) technology called 20Fit, that’s able to cut training time down to only 20 minutes with the same impact as 3 hours conventional gym session.

To date, The Fit Company claimed that it managed to open its restaurant’s arm Fit Lokal in three locations. It just opened its first conventional gym, Fitstop, last year.
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Image Credit: The Fit Company

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