If you are obsessed with the roof, you shall miss all the stars.
屋頂.繁星, Roof.Stars
Sunday, December 22, 2013
如果你迷戀厚實的屋頂，就會失去浩瀚的繁星 - 2014
If you are obsessed with the roof, you shall miss all the stars.
If you are obsessed with the roof, you shall miss all the stars.
On Internet Retail with Thomas
Saturday, August 17, 2013
A dated transcript of my conversation with Thomas on BizStart Panel program held at Technology Park Malaysia back in 2012. I tidied up the Q & A and I hope you find below conversation useful in helping you to understand more about Internet Retail.
* T - Thomas Cheah the host
* A - Adrian Oh (it's me!)
*T: What are the main differences between Internet and Traditional retail?
*A: For businesses, Internet retails means you sell things online. You might have your own branded webStore, you might sell on Facebook page, you might sell on blog (alsoknown as blogshop) or you might sell on marketplaces like ebay or lelong. The basic is that you publish your product details like pictures, pricing, stock availability etc online and you are able to take online payment for your orders placed at your website.
For the industry, we would define a "real ecommerce" experience as something you can add to cart, checkout with online payment (could be credit card, online bank transfer etc) in real time, and have your physical goods shipped to you.
As for traditional retail, we mainly refer to brick-and-mortar stores. You pick a physical spot as your store location, you stock it up with goods, you promote and you sell! You can find a few major categories of traditional retail in Malaysia:-
Departmental Store - eg The Store
Shopping Mall - eg Jusco
Hypermarkets - eg Tesco
Specialty Retail - eg Padini, or any retail which focus on a vertical niche
Convenience Store - eg 7-11
Food & Beverages - eg Pizzahut.
There are other types of traditional retails too, eg catalog shopping, TV shopping etc which are not so popular in Malaysia.
But if you look at the very fundamental, It's all the same. Just buy-sell activities.
As for pro and cons for each. In general, Internet retail is relatively lower cost to start, eStore solution like webShaper starts at only RM1 / day. As for brick and mortar, start up cost is much higher mainly due to high sunk cost like rental deposit (3 + 1 months), renovation cost and also high fixed operating cost like rental (however, I need to highlight that rental fee is actually traffic fee, it's always correlated with foot traffic).
*T: What are the issues do small businesses have with selling on the Internet? What are their common mistakes?
*A: In generala, we can divide the small businesses into 2 categories
1) Start up with little or no experience on retail
2) Existing brick-and-mortar store / retail merchant:
For start ups, I would assume they already know what to sell (else it's not considered a business!). Firstly, I think for every start ups, concept of "product-market fit" is crucial. By asking questions like, who really need the products that I am selling? Think about the market you are serving, this will determine how you should position your products, your services, your pcicing, your marketing strategy and your brand.
*T: Typical misconceptions?
*A: Build an eStore and customers will come. No advertising, No Promo, but still can get traffic. No dedicated people to take care of it. Outsource will work. Lacking of capable staffs with knowledge of SEO, SEM etc.
*T: What’s the evolving trend in Internet retail? What are the innovative business models in Internet retail?
*A: In general, etailers large and small are working hard towards selling in-stock items, faster shipping, some to the tune of same-day shipping.
Group buying has evolved into a full fledge etail site (eg living social, focus on products, innovate on auto redemption). Discovery shopping like thefancy.com is hot (pinterest merely acting as an affiliate or referral now).
Mobile (both smartphone and tablet) is already a big thing with ultra growth, and I forsee it will be a big driver for ecommerce in the next 10 years.
In 2011, 2 significant milestones happened, it signify the way things are moving forward and beyond.
Moving forward, I foresee every business (not just retail) will need to have a mobile strategy (both app and mobile web). There will be 3 main screens for consumers - namely TVs, tablets and smartphones.
*T: What are the winning strategies and tactics you would share with Internet retailers?
*A: For start up, in general, I would recommend building brand from day one. It's one of the most valuable things for your business which will not be reflected in your balance sheet! These are the steps I recommend for start-u:ps
1) Secure a .com or .net domain, if budget allows, buy all domains (protect your branding)
2) Hire designer to design a nice logo reflecting your brand identity.
3) Invest in a solid eCommerce platform, which has good looking design, optimized for SEO and proven to handle heavy transactions securely.
4) Sign up a Trusted Payment Gateway in your targeted market
5) Sign up a reliable courier service and get a SSL to help build customer's confidence online.
6) Build a facebook page (the easiest) since it's probably the most transparent way to engage the customers online to help you to build trust.
As for strategies and tactics, this really varies case by case. It boils down to the basic again - Product-Market fit. I cited this client, Tat7.net as a case study (See his video below)
Tat7.net story
- A young entrepreneurs working on an iPhone casing (waterproof - let you dive and shoot photos!)
- Waterproof casing is nothing new, but ability to take photos when diving is!
- He didn't have a clue how to start, nor what it takes to market it online
- He came to us, we did a competitive analysis (we always did alot more for aspiring entrepreneurs who build products like us! coz we know it's HARD!)
- We share the pricing and Go-to-Market strategies, first launch into 30 days, break $100,000 sales!
And of course, never, ever compete just on price, eCommerce profit is built on repeat purchases (loyalty). and most of all, eCommerce is a marathon, not sprint.
*T: Why you enjoy what you are doing now, i.e. innovating the Internet retail industry?
*A: I like to build stuff (think lego), and I love retail and Internet, when you combine both, you get eCommerce :). That's why i'm in the business of building ecommerce platforms to empower merchants online.
I think moving forward, brand & trust will become more and more important online. and we hope we can empower small business to succeed in online retail in this increasingly competitive landscape.
* T - Thomas Cheah the host
* A - Adrian Oh (it's me!)
*T: What are the main differences between Internet and Traditional retail?
*A: For businesses, Internet retails means you sell things online. You might have your own branded webStore, you might sell on Facebook page, you might sell on blog (alsoknown as blogshop) or you might sell on marketplaces like ebay or lelong. The basic is that you publish your product details like pictures, pricing, stock availability etc online and you are able to take online payment for your orders placed at your website.
For the industry, we would define a "real ecommerce" experience as something you can add to cart, checkout with online payment (could be credit card, online bank transfer etc) in real time, and have your physical goods shipped to you.
As for traditional retail, we mainly refer to brick-and-mortar stores. You pick a physical spot as your store location, you stock it up with goods, you promote and you sell! You can find a few major categories of traditional retail in Malaysia:-
Departmental Store - eg The Store
Shopping Mall - eg Jusco
Hypermarkets - eg Tesco
Specialty Retail - eg Padini, or any retail which focus on a vertical niche
Convenience Store - eg 7-11
Food & Beverages - eg Pizzahut.
There are other types of traditional retails too, eg catalog shopping, TV shopping etc which are not so popular in Malaysia.
But if you look at the very fundamental, It's all the same. Just buy-sell activities.
As for pro and cons for each. In general, Internet retail is relatively lower cost to start, eStore solution like webShaper starts at only RM1 / day. As for brick and mortar, start up cost is much higher mainly due to high sunk cost like rental deposit (3 + 1 months), renovation cost and also high fixed operating cost like rental (however, I need to highlight that rental fee is actually traffic fee, it's always correlated with foot traffic).
*T: What are the issues do small businesses have with selling on the Internet? What are their common mistakes?
*A: In generala, we can divide the small businesses into 2 categories
1) Start up with little or no experience on retail
2) Existing brick-and-mortar store / retail merchant:
For start ups, I would assume they already know what to sell (else it's not considered a business!). Firstly, I think for every start ups, concept of "product-market fit" is crucial. By asking questions like, who really need the products that I am selling? Think about the market you are serving, this will determine how you should position your products, your services, your pcicing, your marketing strategy and your brand.
*T: Typical misconceptions?
*A: Build an eStore and customers will come. No advertising, No Promo, but still can get traffic. No dedicated people to take care of it. Outsource will work. Lacking of capable staffs with knowledge of SEO, SEM etc.
*T: What’s the evolving trend in Internet retail? What are the innovative business models in Internet retail?
*A: In general, etailers large and small are working hard towards selling in-stock items, faster shipping, some to the tune of same-day shipping.
Group buying has evolved into a full fledge etail site (eg living social, focus on products, innovate on auto redemption). Discovery shopping like thefancy.com is hot (pinterest merely acting as an affiliate or referral now).
Mobile (both smartphone and tablet) is already a big thing with ultra growth, and I forsee it will be a big driver for ecommerce in the next 10 years.
In 2011, 2 significant milestones happened, it signify the way things are moving forward and beyond.
Smartphones beat PC shipments - For 1st time ever in 2011, smartphones shipments beats PC shipments ~ 487 Million vs 414 Million, with 73 million more units being sold. (sources: digitaltrends.com)
E-Books Outsell Print Books at Amazon - Since April 1, Amazon sold 105 books for its Kindle e-reader for every 100 hardcover and paperback books, including books without Kindle versions and excluding free e-books. (sources: Amazon PR)
Moving forward, I foresee every business (not just retail) will need to have a mobile strategy (both app and mobile web). There will be 3 main screens for consumers - namely TVs, tablets and smartphones.
*T: What are the winning strategies and tactics you would share with Internet retailers?
*A: For start up, in general, I would recommend building brand from day one. It's one of the most valuable things for your business which will not be reflected in your balance sheet! These are the steps I recommend for start-u:ps
1) Secure a .com or .net domain, if budget allows, buy all domains (protect your branding)
2) Hire designer to design a nice logo reflecting your brand identity.
3) Invest in a solid eCommerce platform, which has good looking design, optimized for SEO and proven to handle heavy transactions securely.
4) Sign up a Trusted Payment Gateway in your targeted market
5) Sign up a reliable courier service and get a SSL to help build customer's confidence online.
6) Build a facebook page (the easiest) since it's probably the most transparent way to engage the customers online to help you to build trust.
As for strategies and tactics, this really varies case by case. It boils down to the basic again - Product-Market fit. I cited this client, Tat7.net as a case study (See his video below)
Tat7.net story
- A young entrepreneurs working on an iPhone casing (waterproof - let you dive and shoot photos!)
- Waterproof casing is nothing new, but ability to take photos when diving is!
- He didn't have a clue how to start, nor what it takes to market it online
- He came to us, we did a competitive analysis (we always did alot more for aspiring entrepreneurs who build products like us! coz we know it's HARD!)
- We share the pricing and Go-to-Market strategies, first launch into 30 days, break $100,000 sales!
And of course, never, ever compete just on price, eCommerce profit is built on repeat purchases (loyalty). and most of all, eCommerce is a marathon, not sprint.
*T: Why you enjoy what you are doing now, i.e. innovating the Internet retail industry?
*A: I like to build stuff (think lego), and I love retail and Internet, when you combine both, you get eCommerce :). That's why i'm in the business of building ecommerce platforms to empower merchants online.
I think moving forward, brand & trust will become more and more important online. and we hope we can empower small business to succeed in online retail in this increasingly competitive landscape.
Mobile eats the World
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Mobile is eating the world, more faster than ever, and we already witnessed the dawn of PC and laptop as the ultimate consumer devices.
In 2002, the total of mobile subscriptions has finally surpassed the landlines' subscriptions.
Back in 2011, another 2 significant milestones happened, it signifies the way things are moving forward and beyond.
Milestone 1: Smartphones beat PC shipments
For 1st time ever in 2011, smartphones shipments beats PC shipments ~ 487 Million vs 414 Million, with 73 million more units being sold. (sources: digitaltrends.com)
Milestone 2: E-Books Outsell Print Books at Amazon
Since April 1, Amazon sold 105 books for its Kindle e-reader for every 100 hardcover and paperback books, including books without Kindle versions and excluding free e-books. (sources: Amazon PR)
As for tablet, shipments ia about 60 million units (Apple's ipad account for 40 million) in 2011, projected to be 90~95 million units in 2012 and it will also exceed Desktop PC in 2013 (This year as this post is penned). (sources: Appleinsider)
Amazing isn't it? It is not a surprise that mobile devices like smartphones and tablets is already at the centre of our life, what surprise me the most, is how fast the mobile devices getting adopted and start changing the way we work, play and shop!
What amaze me the most is the iPad - a tablet by Apple which finally CRACK IT. If you give an iPad to a newborn, they intuitively understand how to use it! This totally blows me away. The last time I had such feeling was my first encounter with PC back in 1988.
The impact of mobile adoption to e-commerce industry is undoubtedly huge, these are the few key areas ecommerce merchants are looking into when it comes to adopting mobile strategies into their business - "mobile checkout", "mobile web optimization", "mobile app", "tablet app", "SMS" and "responsive web design".
The mobile is becoming the consumers' Primary Internet Access Device, irregardless of what business you are in, you must have a mobile strategy to survive and thrive.
Recommended reading:
John Doerr sees the NEXT BIG THING
http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/05/john-doerr-the-next-big-thing/
Interesting mobile stats by Baidu
http://www.techinasia.com/baidu-mobile-traffic-stats-2012-q2/
Top 2012 Mobile Infographics
http://www.businessinsider.com/bii-mobile-insights-the-top-2012-mobile-infographics2-2012-12
In 2002, the total of mobile subscriptions has finally surpassed the landlines' subscriptions.
Back in 2011, another 2 significant milestones happened, it signifies the way things are moving forward and beyond.
Milestone 1: Smartphones beat PC shipments
For 1st time ever in 2011, smartphones shipments beats PC shipments ~ 487 Million vs 414 Million, with 73 million more units being sold. (sources: digitaltrends.com)
Milestone 2: E-Books Outsell Print Books at Amazon
Since April 1, Amazon sold 105 books for its Kindle e-reader for every 100 hardcover and paperback books, including books without Kindle versions and excluding free e-books. (sources: Amazon PR)
As for tablet, shipments ia about 60 million units (Apple's ipad account for 40 million) in 2011, projected to be 90~95 million units in 2012 and it will also exceed Desktop PC in 2013 (This year as this post is penned). (sources: Appleinsider)
Amazing isn't it? It is not a surprise that mobile devices like smartphones and tablets is already at the centre of our life, what surprise me the most, is how fast the mobile devices getting adopted and start changing the way we work, play and shop!
What amaze me the most is the iPad - a tablet by Apple which finally CRACK IT. If you give an iPad to a newborn, they intuitively understand how to use it! This totally blows me away. The last time I had such feeling was my first encounter with PC back in 1988.
The impact of mobile adoption to e-commerce industry is undoubtedly huge, these are the few key areas ecommerce merchants are looking into when it comes to adopting mobile strategies into their business - "mobile checkout", "mobile web optimization", "mobile app", "tablet app", "SMS" and "responsive web design".
The mobile is becoming the consumers' Primary Internet Access Device, irregardless of what business you are in, you must have a mobile strategy to survive and thrive.
Recommended reading:
John Doerr sees the NEXT BIG THING
http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/05/john-doerr-the-next-big-thing/
Interesting mobile stats by Baidu
http://www.techinasia.com/baidu-mobile-traffic-stats-2012-q2/
Top 2012 Mobile Infographics
http://www.businessinsider.com/bii-mobile-insights-the-top-2012-mobile-infographics2-2012-12
Tesco Malaysia Soft Launch, but Pre-registration Fail
Monday, March 18, 2013
Tesco Malaysia (a 70:30 joint venture between Tesco and Sime Darby Bhd), a hypermarket giant from UK, soft launch their Tesco eStore locally to sell groceries and daily households items to Malaysian
Tesco, according to wikipedia, is the third-largest retailer in the world So of course, our expectation is HIGH.
Then I tried to sign in with my pre-registered account details, this is what I am greeted with:
1) My area, Cheras is not covered, that's the reason they didn't sync my details with the live Tesco stores or
Then I tried input using dummy data, I found out the form is very rigid, very structured, they pre-loaded all the values for you, even to your suburb (come on... nobody use this suburb term here...) and street!
I don't know why Tesco being this extremely rigid on the household address, but from what I observed, I suspect maybe this is how they control the expectation of their fulfilment service, given they let you select the timezone (an interval of 2 hours each, see below pictures from Amanz.my). This is some really tough operation.
Let's see how this evolve from here. Tesco is a highly successful retailer who knows how to run eCommerce and I'm sure their investment will move the industry forward here.
But still... can anyone tell me why Kuala Lumpur is a city/town of Selangor? If you already shop at Tesco eStore, let us know in the comment below on how was the experience like?
For those who haven't tried, take note of Guide Price before you start shopping! Cheers!
Tesco, according to wikipedia, is the third-largest retailer in the world So of course, our expectation is HIGH.
Then I tried to sign in with my pre-registered account details, this is what I am greeted with:
Then was the proof I did sign up for an account in prior. Then after going through the details, I suspect this is not working either due to following 2 reasons:
2) They pre-registration process is not integrated nor part of the live store sign up process, it is mainly treated as email newsletter to inform new customers if their area is covered. (Suggest Tesco to change the "pre-registration" naming as it suggest pre-register for an account and can be very confusing like what I just experienced)
Leaving me no choice, I re-register again. Then I found my office area is not covered. This article by Amanz.my cited that places close to tesco stores will be covered, there's a Tesco store just 2KM away from my office! (Postcode: 56100)
Tesco is just 2KM away from my office, maybe they just want me to exercise more...
Then I tried input using dummy data, I found out the form is very rigid, very structured, they pre-loaded all the values for you, even to your suburb (come on... nobody use this suburb term here...) and street!
I don't know why Tesco being this extremely rigid on the household address, but from what I observed, I suspect maybe this is how they control the expectation of their fulfilment service, given they let you select the timezone (an interval of 2 hours each, see below pictures from Amanz.my). This is some really tough operation.
Let's see how this evolve from here. Tesco is a highly successful retailer who knows how to run eCommerce and I'm sure their investment will move the industry forward here.
But still... can anyone tell me why Kuala Lumpur is a city/town of Selangor? If you already shop at Tesco eStore, let us know in the comment below on how was the experience like?
For those who haven't tried, take note of Guide Price before you start shopping! Cheers!
Note:
Check out this too!
Other online groceries websites in Malaysia (by MalaysiaCrunch.com)
Is facebook commerce dead?
Monday, February 18, 2013
Facebook Commerce (f-commerce) pioneer, Payvment.com, just announced that it will cease operation on 28th Feb 2013 and the entire team will be acquired by Intuit.com - US largest provider of small business financial software.
This comes as quite a surprise for me, cause I personally think Payvment has first mover advantage in the field of social commerce. They had also raised in excess of USD 7 million in funding and is one of the featured facebook open graph partner. I expected them to stick around much longer.
As far as shopping for physical goods is concerned, I'm confident very few has actually done that, period. The main issue lies in humans' "State of Mind".
Many so called f-commerce is actually done via PM (Private Message), customers either commenting on a product post or sending messages back and forth checking on price, sizes, stock availability, payment methods etc and this whole process is very tedious.
Same goes for online world, we go to ebay to shop, airasia.com for airline tickets, and facebook to checkout friends & family photos and stay updated with gossips, but few actually are in a state of mind to buy things.
And it's notoriously hard trying to change the state of mind and status quo - eg when you logon to Airasia.com, your mind is all about getting cheap airline tickets!
This explains well why most airline or travel website are not yet transformed into successful etailers selling to you everything from A to Z even though tickets are most likely the first thing we as consumers actually buy online. (see chart below released by PayPal)
Also, new innovation on social commece is emerging at speed of light! Checkout this new collaboration by Twitter and Amex which actually you buy and pay via a hashtag #.
More reading:
Facebook Commerce Has Been A Big Flop
http://read.bi/11Mhm74
Intuit acquires payvment team, tech and patent
http://tcrn.ch/11O8IoB
This comes as quite a surprise for me, cause I personally think Payvment has first mover advantage in the field of social commerce. They had also raised in excess of USD 7 million in funding and is one of the featured facebook open graph partner. I expected them to stick around much longer.
Does it mean social commerce is over?
Let's do a quick reality check, I think most of you shop online, but how many of you actually bought something online by going through the whole checkout process inside facebook itself?As far as shopping for physical goods is concerned, I'm confident very few has actually done that, period. The main issue lies in humans' "State of Mind".
Many so called f-commerce is actually done via PM (Private Message), customers either commenting on a product post or sending messages back and forth checking on price, sizes, stock availability, payment methods etc and this whole process is very tedious.
Shopping is a "State of Mind"
Imagine in an offline world, we go restaurant for dining, we go barber to trim hair, we go stadium for sports entertainment, in any of these events, no one likes being sold to as we are NOT in the mental state of shopping!Same goes for online world, we go to ebay to shop, airasia.com for airline tickets, and facebook to checkout friends & family photos and stay updated with gossips, but few actually are in a state of mind to buy things.
And it's notoriously hard trying to change the state of mind and status quo - eg when you logon to Airasia.com, your mind is all about getting cheap airline tickets!
This explains well why most airline or travel website are not yet transformed into successful etailers selling to you everything from A to Z even though tickets are most likely the first thing we as consumers actually buy online. (see chart below released by PayPal)
eCommerce on a Facebook Tab won't cut it
If you take a close look, early attempt at Facebook commerce is mostly about replicating an e-commerce website inside Facebook tab, this, so far has not been getting traction (sales).
Yet, don't count out f-commerce, it is still at its infancy, eventually some company (or Facebook itself) will find a model which will make f-commerce work. Speaking of such, Facebook is already experimenting with new ecommerce initiative such as Facebook gifts, which lets users make purchases for friends directly through facebook.
Also, new innovation on social commece is emerging at speed of light! Checkout this new collaboration by Twitter and Amex which actually you buy and pay via a hashtag #.
No matter how it will eventually work, you can be assured that it won't be just about duplicating an eCommerce website inside Facebook itself. That's why we didn't do that on webShaper and we decide to build only gorgeous looking design which sync the new arrival, best seller and featured products from the webstore. It smartly integrates social button like Facebook Like, Pin It, G+1 when you hover over the product images (pic below) to enable the merchants' customers easily share what they love inside facebook. If customers click on the products, it will lead directly to the merchant webStore to complete the whole shopping process without compromising the online shopping experience.
More reading:
Facebook Commerce Has Been A Big Flop
http://read.bi/11Mhm74
Intuit acquires payvment team, tech and patent
http://tcrn.ch/11O8IoB
11 Things I learn as entrepreneur thus far
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
I was honored to be invited by Goh to share on mystartr.com on my entrepreneur's journey (back in 2012), this was the slide with some touch up, put it up here just for sharing.
I know I didn't update this blog actively, I will post up more frequently, as encouraged by Pawoot, it is a good writing exercise, treat it like making a journal notes to own selves so we can reflect back and grow on that. :)
How about your journey? I would love to hear from any of you too. Cheers! Great 2013 ahead!
I know I didn't update this blog actively, I will post up more frequently, as encouraged by Pawoot, it is a good writing exercise, treat it like making a journal notes to own selves so we can reflect back and grow on that. :)
How about your journey? I would love to hear from any of you too. Cheers! Great 2013 ahead!
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