The e-commerce industry in the six largest Southeast Asian (SEA) markets is set to continue growing as it will likely reach US$172 billion in value in 2025, according to a report by Google, Temasek, and Bain company.

iPrice Group, an e-commerce aggregator, collaborated with SimilarWeb and AppsFlyer to discover the impact of COVID-19 in their Map of E-commerce Yearend Report 2020.

The report uncovered three major changes such as:

1. Which e-commerce sites gained their web visits?
2. SEA customers’ average spending increased by 19 per cent
3. What drives SEA customers to install & uninstall shopping apps?

Specifically, changes in online shopping behaviour in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines.

Which e-commerce sites gained their web visits?

2020 has signified strong customer confidence in e-commerce retail despite mobility restrictions and mounting concerns over the global pandemic.

The report reveals that the overall website traffic of online shopping platforms increased positively across all countries year-over-year. This can be seen most in Singapore, which experienced a surge of 35 per cent compared to 2019, followed by the Philippines (21 per cent), Vietnam (19 per cent), Malaysia (17 per cent), Thailand (15 per cent), and Indonesia (six per cent).

Data also showed that online department stores’ web traffic experienced a 52 per cent average increase from Q1 of 2020. This could be a tell-tale sign that most countries in the region flocked to online department stores instead of physical stores due to social distancing.

Also Read: The holiday edit: Zalora CMO on how to tap social media to induce consumer shopping behaviour

Nonetheless, some e-commerce sites’ web traffic has taken a beating due to the pandemic. For instance, platforms that offer cosmetic products showed an average web traffic decrease of 35 per cent from Q1 to Q4 2020. Meanwhile, fashion and electronics sites also experienced a slight decrease of 14 per cent in traffic in the six aforementioned countries.

Whilst demand for essential goods is necessary, COVID-19 has broadened the online demand of Southeast Asian consumers for non-essential items such as fashion, electronics, health & beauty, and sports & outdoors that were seen through online spending instead.

Southeast Asians’ average spending increased by 19 per cent

Although fashion and electronics sites saw a slight decrease in web traffic, the average basket size for these categories significantly increased. Sports & outdoor products met the same fate as well.

iPrice Group’s platform found that consumers in SEA spent an overall average of US$32 per order in 2020, which was 19 per cent higher than 2019. Singapore and Malaysia saw the highest average basket size of US$61 and US$41 respectively in 2020.

These unprecedented shifts have presented a sign of digital acceleration in online retail despite the global pandemic that affecting consumers in SEA.

What drives SEA customers to install & uninstall shopping apps?

As most people were embracing technology in response to a volatile and uncertain situation, there is a prime opportunity for mobile shopping apps to continuously engage with SEA consumers.

That said, AppsFlyer & iPrice analysed over 12.4 million installs and found that there was a two per cent average increase of organic installs on iOS & Android’s shopping applications from January to June.

Among many things that led to users installing shopping applications were lockdown periods and online sales.

For instance, with lockdown measures were imposed in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, people embarked to install and tried different shopping apps between March until April. This also coincided with various online sales events such as Ramadhan, while people were being trapped indoors.

Also Read: How shopping sites performed during COVID-19 in Singapore

Meanwhile, the Lunar New Year and Songkran Festival also showed a surge of installations in Vietnam and Thailand from January to February.

Major e-commerce companies across the region have also rolled out other marketing campaigns that drew customers through gamified features on the app, free shipping, and discounts. For instance, superstars such as K-pop group Blackpink, actor Lee Min-ho, footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, and Singapore’s e-commerce ambassador Phua Chu Kang.

The success of organic installs has not gone unnoticed as the study also recognised six out of 10 SEA users are still using mobile shopping apps as their primary channel.

However, data reported that there was an increasing rate of uninstallation in five countries. The highest average uninstallation was led by Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore with an increase of 49 per cent, 47 per cent, 41 per cent, 37 per cent, and 36 per cent respectively.

This proves Southeast Asian users are more selective of shopping apps by uninstalling apps they don’t use as the pandemic continues.

The COVID-19 pandemic will provide further impetus for growth as shopping behaviour will continually shift. It remains imperative for most e-commerce companies to strengthen their relationship with consumers through relevant campaigns.

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Singapore is testing the use of autonomous robots in providing on-demand courier deliveries.

The one-year trial, which is expected to pave the way for wider use of autonomous robot couriers, is led by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), in partnership with Housing & Development Board (HDB), Land Transport Authority (LTA), Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), logistics service provider CM Logistics, supermarket chain NTUC FairPrice, and technology provider OTSAW.

Autonomous robots will allow consumers to choose when they want their items delivered, instead of adhering to a fixed delivery schedule.

Also Read: This made-in-Singapore robotic coffee barista will receive you at Japan’s train stations ahead of Olympics

For instance, after buying groceries such as rice or diapers at a supermarket, a consumer can drop off the purchases at a concierge counter to continue shopping or dining and have them delivered to their HDB block at a time the consumer chooses.

Other items that could be delivered through these robot couriers include perishables such as food or flowers, and even controlled items such as medicine.

The trial will see two OTSAW robots delivering parcels and groceries to the lift lobbies of seven Waterway Woodcress HDB blocks. This is intended at assessing technologies such as AI for autonomous navigation, obstacle detection and avoidance; infrastructure such as communications systems and road networks (including connectivity and slopes); and business models for commercial viability.

To ensure public safety, both autonomous robots have passed the LTA’s safety assessment for the supervised use of autonomous vehicles on public paths. The speed for each robot, which weighs 80 kg (unloaded), is further capped at walking speeds (about 5 kmh). Each robot is also accompanied by a safety officer during the trial period.

Through a mobile app, consumers will be notified when the robot is en route to its destination and will receive a confirmation notification that the robot has arrived.

The robot will also provide a QR code for recipients to scan at the collection point via their mobile phones, thus ensuring that only the authorised person will be able to access to the assigned compartment and its contents.

“With the growth of e-commerce, consumers have grown accustomed to expecting food, products and groceries to be delivered to their home in increasingly shorter periods of time. Autonomous delivery robots can play an important role in augmenting existing delivery infrastructure to enhance the consumer experience and drive productivity gains,” said Kiren Kumar, Deputy Chief Executive, IMDA.

Also Read: Goldbell looking to foray into autonomous mobility space, says Future Mobility unit MD Kelvin Tay

“We continually seek new opportunities to better serve our residents and shoppers, including leveraging innovative technologies such as the last-mile delivery by autonomous robots. By supporting this initiative at our first new-generation Neighbourhood Centre, Oasis Terraces, we hope this will provide for greater convenience and enhance the retail experience for about 700 residential households at Waterway Woodcress,” said Kee Lay Cheng, Group Director for Properties and Land, HDB.

“Urban logistics keep the city going by delivering goods to people and businesses efficiently. Employing technology to explore alternate and innovative modes of delivery is one way Singapore builds a world-class urban logistics system that also enhances land and labour productivity. This enables our city to become more liveable, sustainable and connected,” said Chiu Wen Tung, Group Director (Research & Development), URA.

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Image Credit: IMDA

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Vietnamese internet giant VNG Corporation has invested US$6 million into B2B gifting services company Got It in exchange for a 25 per cent stake.

According to a press note, this gives Got It a post-investment valuation of US$25 million.

The fresh funds will go towards improving the startup’s P2P gifting services in Vietnam.

Established in 2015, Got It also offers loyalty programmes and reward vouchers. The company claims its clients consist of over 500 of the largest multinational and national companies across Vietnam.

Got It and VNG will join hands to launch a premium instant P2P gifting solution with about 160 brand partners, covering over 12,000 locations nationwide. VNG will assist Got It in expanding its gifting services, B2B channels and merchant network, with a focus on users Zalo and ZaloPay, which are owned by VNG.

Also Read: Just in time for Christmas: How Gratify plans to make gift-giving more efficient and sustainable

“Since mid-2020, VNG has been pushing its strategy of finding potential startups for long-term investment and companionship,” said Le Hong Minh, Co-founder and CEO of VNG.

This is the second investment in a local startup by VNG. Last December, it invested VND 100 billion (US$4.4 million) in logistics firm EcoTruck for a 20 per cent stake. The internet giant is also an early investor in e-commerce platform Tiki, owning 22 per cent of the company.

VNG is Vietnam’s first tech unicorn, with a valuation estimated to be about US$2.2 billion. Having started out as a gaming business in 2004, the company has since expanded into digital content, e-commerce, digital payments and recently cloud services. Notable investors include Singapore state-backed investment firm Temasek and Goldman Sachs.

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Image Credit: VNG

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When it comes to trends that arose during the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown measures implemented in many Southeast Asian countries, we have identified several notable ones such as the rise of digital payments and telemedicine. But there is one particular trend that is not widely discussed: The rise of startups in Singapore that is working to promote sexual health and wellness.

In a coverage published in October last year, e27 noted that in Singapore, there are at least three companies launched in the second half of 2020 that are working in this sector.

But the fact that we do not talk about this trend so often might be related to the very nature of the problems that these startups want to solve: The taboo surrounding the topic of sexual health and wellness.

Jingjin Liu, CEO & Co-Founder of ZaZaZu, agrees that the sexual wellness industry in Singapore has been growing in recent years –and that the startups working in the sector are on a mission to normalise sexual wellness.

“Due to this growing perception, many startups have sought to leverage this opportunity to realise their mission and business objectives. With a global market size of over US$120 billion and growth of over 12 per cent CAGR, the business opportunity in this sector in Asia is huge,” she writes in an email to e27.

As a platform, ZaZaZu focusses its work on promoting female sexual pleasure, the discussion surrounding the topic, and giving users access to relevant products and services.

“Our intimacy survey may suggest that while couples have not increased their frequency of sex during the pandemic, many still seek more intimacy and pleasure. This is exactly why ZaZaZu was birthed ― to drive a social movement that transforms one of the biggest taboos into a positive conversation. We aim to do so by building an engaged female community, empowering them to own their pleasure and create a safe space to discuss, learn and explore all aspects of sexuality and intimacy,” Liu explains.

Also Read: Why sexual health is the next frontier for entrepreneurs

“Additionally, female pleasure is often overlooked. In 2019, Woman’s Weekly conducted a survey of Singaporean women and revealed that only 20 per cent of respondents were happy with their sex lives, and only 15.6 per cent of respondents have tried introducing sex toys in the bedroom,” she continues.

In addition to offering an e-commerce platform for curated products that include sex toys, ZaZaZu also offers educational content, consultations with experts from sexologist to a hypnotherapist, and a membership programme that offers perks such as offers from restaurants selling aphrodisiac.

“Through our ZaZaZu Club, we focus on building an engaged female community, empowering women to love themselves and to feel good, and not through pushing our products. I believe that once you build your loyal tribe, the sales will come without aggressively pushing,” Liu says.

Empowerment through liberation

As an entrepreneur, Liu says that her passion and calling have always been to build a business that helps women to establish intrinsic confidence.

Prior to founding ZaZaZu, she had spent more than 10 years in the entrepreneurial and automotive industry in Germany, China, and Singapore. She is also the co-founder of ASBO Drives Technology Components GmBH (which was acquired by China Machinery Engineering Corporation in 2019) and the first and the youngest woman to become Global Marketing Director at WABCO.

Liu moved to Singapore in 2018 to pursue an EMBA at INSEAD, and when she considered the company that she would like to start, she noticed that many companies that focus on women empowerment tend to focus on the line of career advice or meditation workshops. Meanwhile, there is a need to get to the root of the problem.

“I believe that if women are comfortable with their sexuality, and build confidence from within, then there is little need to harness the power of attraction to tell the universe what you want. Sexuality informs identity, and this is my belief. When you are secure in your identity, that builds innate confidence. Confidence is what empowers people to ask for what they want, to stop doubting themselves and ultimately go out to change the world,” she elaborates.

The co-founder had her own experiences to attribute to this. Growing up in China, sexual education was basically non-existent — Liu even described sex as “a mystery”.

Also Read: This app helps Indian millennials enhance their mind and soul wellness

“When I was 16, I moved to Germany and was fortunate to experience how schools and society openly approached sex-related topics to young adults. In my twenties, as I gained more security in my sexuality, I grew the confidence to study and work in male-dominated industries,” she says.

Women running the business

Liu met co-founder Cassandra Poon during the final phase of an Antler incubation programme at the end of March 2020. While Antler ended up not investing in the co-founders, they decided to keep on pursuing their startup idea.

As a startup, ZaZaZu has raised pre-seed funding round from angel investors and Loyal VC. When asked about the secret to successful fundraising as an early stage company, Liu says that the key is to build a connection even before the business itself.

“The secret is to make friends, always! When I decided to raise funds, I had a large network to reach out to. The beauty of a controversial business is that while we can have a thousand detractors, we also have a hundred strong supporters,” she elaborates.

For 2021, ZaZaZu wants to focus on proving and improving its concept for the Singapore market before eventually expanding to Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, and China.

“We ultimately aim to create a safe space where sex is healthy, pleasure is positive and education gaps are sealed. My long-term goal for ZaZaZu is to become the go-to place in Asia for all sexual wellness-related topics and challenges, to foster meaningful discussion and build a strong community,” Liu closes.

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Image Credit: ZaZaZu

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Openspace Ventures, a Singapore-based VC firm backed by state investor Temasek Holdings, has closed its third Southeast Asian fund at US$200 million, Bloomberg has reported.

The firm’s total committed capital under management now stands at US$425 million spread across its three funds, the report stated, quoting co-founders Shane Chesson and Hian Goh in an interview.

Investors joining the latest fund include Germany’s DEG, Norway’s Norfund AS, Japan’s Mizuho Financial Group and US-based asset management firm 57 Stars LLC.

Launched in 2014, Openspace was an early investor in unicorns including Indonesian ride-hailing giant gojek and Singapore-based healthtech company Biofourmis.

Boasting 33 companies from across 12 countries, the firm’s portfolio includes Filipino media platform Kumu, Indonesian healthtech startup Halodoc and TaniHub, an Indonesian agritech startup.

Also Read: Zilliqa Capital debuts with the goal to invest in decentralised and fintech solutions in SEA, India

“Our peers may do more deals, but our hit rate has been high,” noted Chesson in the Bloomberg interview. It was reported Openspace’s debut US$90 million fund returned 35.3 per cent.

In January 2021, the firm was among a group of new investors who took part in a pre-Series B funding round in Zenius, an Indonesian edutech company that focuses on developing critical thinking and scientific reasoning.

The news of Openspace’s latest fund comes amid a flurry of venture activity in the region. Last month, Taiwan-based accelerator AppWorks announced it raised US$114 million for its third fund, which will invest into Series A and B startups in Taiwan and Southeast Asia.

Last week, B Capital Group, which counts Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin among its leadership team, launched its US$126 million Ascent Fund II targeting seed and Series A startups in the region.

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Image Credit: Openspace Ventures

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