80 per cent of Singaporeans use the internet every day, and the online market is growing steadily

According to Statista.com, by 2021, e-commerce shares in retail sales worldwide would have reached a staggering 17.5 per cent, growing from 10.2 per cent in 2017.

E-commerce penetrates markets all over the world, and buying online is becoming a common routine. In most countries, you can easily purchase clothes, order food or book tickets with your smartphone.

In this article, we will talk about the dropshipping business model, its features and dropshipping in Singapore.

Dropshipping vs traditional retail

Dropshipping is a form of retail business that became popular with the development of the internet and e-commerce.

In the traditional retail model, an entrepreneur buys products from a wholesaler or manufacturer, stocks them in a warehouse and then resells them to a customer.

Also Read: ClauseMatch commences APAC operations with new Singapore office

Although this scheme is a thousand years old, it has quite distinct drawbacks.

The owner of a store has to keep products in stock which causes additional expenses like renting a warehouse and increase in prices to compensate these expenses.

But the worst part of traditional retail is that you can never accurately predict the demand for your goods.

Since entrepreneurs purchase products beforehand, being unable to sell them means failed investment.

The dropshipping model implies shipping products directly from manufacturer/wholesaler to clients with the retailer serving as a mediator taking care of promotion and customer service.

This results in a number of strategic advantages:

1. The entrepreneur purchases products from the wholesaler/manufacturer only after receiving an order from a customer. It means there’s no need to predict demand fluctuations: if customers lose interest in the given goods, the entrepreneur simply stops ordering them from the wholesaler.

2. Since products are sent directly to customers, there’s no need to rent a warehouse, which saves you money, time and effort.

3. For the same reason, it is possible to do dropshipping business online. An entrepreneur can create a web store using the information and media from the wholesaler, but doesn’t need to have a real stock of goods.

4. Since a potential owner of a dropshipping business doesn’t have to invest in bulk purchase and warehouse, it is possible to start this business with a relatively little budget. As a result, almost anyone can use this model and even try it as an additional source of income without quitting their main job.

However, this model has a number of drawbacks as well:

• It is usually the dropshipping store owners who takes care of clients’ complaints and refunds.
• In this business, errors in shipment and inventory issues are a common problem.
• Since entrepreneurs can’t even see the products they sell, they have no control over their quality. Same goes for quality and speed of delivery.

Still, despite these disadvantages, a lot of people find this model quite profitable.

Why do you need to start dropshipping in Singapore?

Dropshipping requires only a computer and an internet connection, so one can dropship from anywhere in the world.

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However, the choice of sale markets depend on many factors like the demand for the products within the given niche, the purchasing power of the population, the frequency of online deals in the given country and the availability of free shipment.

Thus, this is what makes Singapore a good candidate for dropshipping:

• According to Eshopworld.com, by 2021, the number of e-commerce users in Singapore will reach 4.1 million, with each spending online an average of US$1234.
• According to Statista.com, e-commerce user penetration in Singaporean retail equals to 69.6 per cent and by 2023 will reach 73.2 per cent.
• According to Hashmeta.com, 70 per cent of Singaporeans are active social media users, which is an important statistic for e-commerce.
• Due to the high costs of living and high prices, online stores importing goods from ‘cheaper’ countries (mostly from China) can easily compete with local retailers.
• Most online stores (including dropshipping ones) use the English language which is one of the official languages in Singapore.
• While there are big companies using dropshipping business model, individual entrepreneurs can open online dropshipping stores too. It’s become a common practice to order products from popular wholesaler platforms such as Salehoo, Amazon and AliExpress.

About 80 per cent of Singaporeans use the internet every day, and the online market is growing steadily. In fact, the e-commerce industry in Singapore is expected to be worth US$5.4 billion by 2025.

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Plus, Alibaba buys Israeli AR company and Dathena raises funding

Vietnamese social influencer startup raises “seven-digit” Series A — [e27]</h3

Hiip, a startup offering an automated influencer platform to help brands and advertisers connect with social influencers in Vietnam and Thailand, has secured a “7-digit Series A round” led by Thai VC firm Vnet Capital.

Japan Strategic Capital, Tokyo-listed marketing technology company Rentracks and Singapore-based Vulpes Investment Management have also joined the round.

Launched in April 2016, Hiip is an online platform to help connect brands, advertisers directly with the appropriate impact on the first social network in Vietnam and Thailand. Using AI and Big Data technologies, the platform helps brands and advertisers to reach target customers, build brand reputation and increase sales by connecting directly with a network of thousands of influencers to promote products product, service or specific campaigns.

Taiwan vacation rental startup AsiaYo expands to Singapore and Malaysia — [Press Release]

AsiaYo, a travel startup that recently raised US$7 million from Alibaba Taiwan Entrepreneurs Fund and China Development Financial, announced today plans to expand to Singapore and Malaysia. In Southeast Asia, the company already has a presence in Thailand.

The company will launch their service in Singapore and Malaysia during the second quarter of 2019. It also plans to expand to Japan in H2 2019.

AsiaYo is a vacation rental platform based in Taiwan that claims to have over 60,000 listings across Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Thailand.

Alibaba buys Infinity Augmented Reality, an Israel VR company — [TechCrunch]

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has bought Infinity Augmented Reality, an Israeli startup focussed on virtual reality, according to TechCrunch.

Alibaba had led Infinity’s Series C funding round in 2016 and has worked with the company on numerous projects since that time.

The company has built a platform that makes it easier for companies to integrate augmented and virtual reality into their apps. As part of the deal, Infinity’s R&D team will work out of Alibaba’s Israel Machine Laboratory based in Tel Aviv.

Singapore AI data protection startup raises funding — [e27]

Singapore-based Dathena, an AI-based data protection and privacy management platform, has announced the closing of a funding round led by MS&AD Ventures Inc. Participating in the round are existing investors CerraCap Ventures and Demetis.

Dathena said it will use the funding to support the global deployment of new customers. Later this year, the company plans to have another funding round to enable further scaling.

Singtel appoints McKinsey veteran to board — [Press Release]

The Singaporean telco Singtel announced today it has appointed Dominic Barton as an Independent Director of the company Board, effective immediately. The news brings the total number of people on the Singtel board to 12.

Barton has a long history at McKinsey and worked as the Global Managing Partner for nine years. He also is the Chair of the Board for Teck Resources, a Canadian mining company.

“The diversity of his experience will be invaluable as Singtel’s digital transformation takes the Group into businesses and partnerships that cut across multiple industries. I’m delighted to welcome Dominic to the Singtel board,” said Singtel Chairman Simon Israel in a statement.

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The home maintenance service joins forces with OrangeTee & Tie to let property agents and clients book housekeeping services

Home service platform Helpling announces that it will be integrated into Singaporean OrangeTee & Tie’s property agents app to bring housekeeping services booking to agents and their clients.

With this partnership, Helpling will have access to a network of over 4,200 property agents who are on board to provide on-demand home services in Singapore. OrangeTee & Tie’s agents can now book professional housekeepers to clean the property before presentation through the Helpling platform using the Agent App.

Besides booking cleaners, agents can also refer their clients to Helpling.

Coining the integration as “Services 4.0 technologies”, the app will provide cloud-native applications to accelerate their digital transformation and deliver better customer experience.

“It is important that our agents are provided with a seamless experience of booking home cleaning services for their clients. This strategic partnership with Helpling will help OrangeTee
& Tie agents provide personalised services via our app and it will definitely add value along the whole customer journey,” said Steven Tan, Managing Director of OrangeTee & Tie.

Also Read: In fintech, Asia is giving the West a run for its money: Alex Manson of Standard Chartered’s investment arm

James Lim, Managing Director (Asia-Pacific) of Helpling, said, “Having a clean home at a
house viewing is key to making or breaking a deal. The pairing with OrangeTee & Tie will give new impetus to Helpling’s mission of delivering hotel-grade housekeeping to households islandwide.”

All OrangeTee & Tie agents and their clients will get to enjoy US$20 off their first cleaning as part of the launch.

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The project aims to create a sustainable economic impact by providing minority women with awareness and access to the tech industry

There are quite a few initiatives aimed at empowering women and providing them with various opportunities, globally. But there are not many that are specifically aimed at Muslim women, who are under-represented in many industries.

Can technology help bring in a change?

“Yes,” believes Nurul Jihadah Hussain, Founder of The Codette Project.

Launched in December 2015, The Codette Project is a non-profit ground-up initiative with a mission to get more minority women in Singapore into technology by building an ecosystem of support, skills training and access. The project aims to have a sustainable economic impact through providing minority women with awareness and access to the tech industry.

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It mainly focuses on three aspects:

1. Skills-building through workshops, hackathons and classes
2. Story- shaping to reclaim the narrative of minority/Muslim women in tech via traditional and social media outreach
3. Community creation through providing a platform for minority/ Muslim women to come together

“The Codette Project is providing better access and opportunity for minority/Muslim women to get into the tech industry, as well as building an ecosystem around success for minority/Muslim women. We are founded on the belief that minority/Muslim women deserve success and that tech will help them get there,” Nurul, who is also a Fellow in the inaugural Facebook Community Leadership Programme, tells e27.

The Codette Project is aimed not just at underprivileged women, but all minority/Muslim women, no matter their background. Up to 20 per cent of their attendees are non-minority/Muslim women.

The team conducts regular three-hour workshops covering a wide variety of topics, ranging from resume building, coding, data analysis all the way to UX design. Last July, it also ran Singapore’s first women-only hackathon, called Tech for Good, which aimed to create a safe space for women of all backgrounds (regardless of tech experience) to come together and create innovative tech solutions to address various societal issues,” she says.

So far, initiative has helped around 1,000 women, with more than 500 people attending in 2017-2018 alone.

“Muslim women are incredibly motivated, smart and creative. So many more things can be done to provide concrete support, sponsorship and funding for Muslim women that we need to achieve the equality in social and economic capital that we deserve. The Codette Project has created a supportive environment that is focused on collaboration and empowerment to encourage women to achieve the success that they deserve,” Nurul, an MBA from the Singapore Management University, adds.

According to Nurul, one of the key issues that still remains is that there are still too many areas where there isn’t any female representation. For example, on panels, especially tech panels, there are still too many that do not have any women, or even if they do, they only include women of a specific background. “We believe that true diversity means ensuring that everyone has a chance, a voice and a seat at the table,” she observes.

Anastasia Pavlovic, Co-Lead (Events and Partnerships), The Codette Project, says while it’s typically difficult for women to enter the field, it can be incredibly difficult for women of minority/Muslim backgrounds to do the same, given the underrepresentation of minority/Muslim women. “We hope to unlock the potential that minority/Muslim women hold to enter the industry, providing workshops focusing on tech topics, panels to showcase the success stories in the community, as well as encourage more diverse perspectives to improve our world.”

Attiya Ashraf, Research Lead for The Codette Project, believes that empowerment also comes through highlighting the minority/Muslim women who are making their mark in the tech industry — by giving them a platform to share their works and experiences. It is an indication to minority/Muslim women that success does not take the shape of a particular gender or ethnicity, and it is within their reach, she says. “Why I feel very strongly for the movement is because as compared to other industries, tech is something that people can learn relatively independently, which makes the barriers to entry into the industry quite low. The tech industry is therefore a potential way in which minority/Muslim women can attain economic empowerment.”

Asked if the team has plans to take the initiative to South Asian countries such as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, where Muslim women are facing many challenges?

Also Read: In fintech, Asia is giving the West a run for its money: Alex Manson of Standard Chartered’s investment arm

“There are quite a lot of local programmes for women in South Asia, such as FemProw (Pakistan) and Mumpreneurs India, which I think need to be recognized and supported a lot more, especially as these are ground-up movements with local female leaders. We don’t have any plans at the moment to expand our workshops internationally but even if we did, we wouldn’t enter these countries as competitors. We would want to work as collaborators with our sister organisations, who are working for similar causes. We really believe in empowering women to do what they choose to do rather than telling women what they should do — women get quite enough of that already,” says Nurul.

Although The Codette Project has been backed by Mendaki, National Youth Council, and Facebook, Nurul says the project’s major challenge has always been financial sustainability, as most classes are free and rental costs for event spaces are high in crowded Singapore.

How is your Facebook experience helping you in the project? “There has been a lot of learning from Facebook about how to better build communities as well as how to be a better leader. Being able to connect and learn from community leaders from all around the world has been an incredible experience,” shares Nurul.

“Facebook’s recognition has meant a lot to us, as we kept hearing that we were a niche cause, and there were a lot of doubts locally as to the impact of what we do. Being recognised by Facebook has really opened doors because Facebook was willing to recognise us on a global stage, recognise why the work we do is important, and they’ve given us the support that we need to keep doing it,” Nurul adds, wrapping up the interview.

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(Don’t miss Nurul Jihadah Hussain at Echelon Asia Summit 2019! Get your tickets at US$10 here).

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The program will be called SCA-TAP, aimed at startups focussing on the supply chain and logistics industry

Supply Chain Asia (SCA), a non-profit professional body dedicated for logistics and supply chain industry people, announced the launch of Singapore’s first Tech Accelerator Program or SCA-TAP. SCA said that it looks to spur innovation and create technology-driven solutions to accelerate the industry’s startup ecosystem.

As the appointed Startup SG Accelerator under the Startup SG program managed by Enterprise Singapore, SCA will open SCA-TAP for companies less than five years old to test new logistics and supply chain applications.

It will include the test-bedding of innovations for faster, more flexible, and more ecologically-sound logistics and supply chain of the future and showcasing the latest industry innovation in Singapore and Asia.

“SCA-TAP will be a unique platform for the industry here in Singapore and Asia, whereby new solutions and technologies from corporations, startups and even individual professionals can set up their solutions in a controlled operating environment. The vision is to create synergistic networks for new ideas and accelerate their development from prototype to actual implementation,” said Paul Lim, founder and President of SCA.

TAP-partners will be able to expand its network through participation in SCA’s curated events hosted throughout the year.

Also Read: In fintech, Asia is giving the West a run for its money: Alex Manson of Standard Chartered’s investment arm

SCA shared that an upcoming event would be the Innovation Day on May 17, which will be held at the Trade Association Hub to be the platform that will showcase emerging tech solutions that include: Autonomous Robotics, Industrial IoT and Sensors, AI-application systems and use of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality solutions for businesses.

Furthermore, SCA detailed on the plans to provide various avenues to showcase and promote startups who have become a TAP-partner, that would include SCA Community Hub Café as a venue to promote their services on location, and the SCA Forum to showcase their solutions and services, as well as to participate in the Accelerator Pitch to get nominated with a presentation slot at the Accelerator Forum.
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