Lazada launches #EveryoneCanSell, aims to attract 50,000 new merchants: Page 2 of 2
By Anushia Kandasivam September 14, 2017
The importance of being a registered business
There are 57,000 businesses registered as online businesses out of a total number of 6.6 million registered businesses in Malaysia (numbers as at Aug 31). It must be noted, however, there are a number of online SMEs that are not registered with SSM.
To address this, Lazada Malaysia and SSM signed a memorandum of understanding in May this year to ensure that any business entities that conduct business on the platform register with SSM.
New merchants are required to register with SSM within one month of conducting business on Lazada Malaysia before they can continue with transactions, and the platform has a programme in place to get current unregistered merchants to register themselves.
SSM director of business development and new business services division Farid Ahmad said that SSM wants to encourage all online businesses to register with SSM and ensure that they comply with all legal and regulatory requirements.
Ressel (pic, above) said that Lazada Malaysia does not see this requirement for registration as a hindrance to getting SMEs on board the platform but instead as enabling the proper conducting of e-commerce and part of creating a professional e-commerce industry.
“We see it as our responsibility to encourage professionalism and see it maintained at a high level. Requiring registered businesses means that customer interest and experience is protected,” Ressel revealed.
“The worst thing is an ungoverned e-commerce industry without trust [between merchants and consumers]. E-commerce adoption requires trust and we are working hand-in-hand with the government to create this trust,” he added.
Focus on mobile e-commerce
Lazada Malaysia is also putting more focus on mobile e-commerce moving forward; about 65% of the platform’s daily visitors access the it via mobile phone, which amount increases to 70-80% on public holidays and long weekends.
The platform saw this shift to mobile take place about two years ago, before which it experienced opposite numbers – only 10-20% of visits were made through mobile phones.
Ressler said that as more and more people are accessing the platform and transacting via mobile phone, it is only natural that Lazada Malaysia ensures that it has a mobile-first mindset in everything it does.
“It starts with mobile-first thinking and ensuring a good mobile-first experience and continues with a revamp of the platform to make it more intuitive and individual for our users and merchants,” he said.
Lazada Malaysia has already optimised much of the back-end processes and, according to Ressel, aims to make more use of data on user behaviour in the near future to provide individualised advertising as well as more advanced technology such as beacon technology to enable brands and merchants to re-engage with users.
Ressel stopped short of revealing how financial investment Lazada Malaysia is putting into its mobile strategy, saying that it is hard to quantify in terms of money but said instead that Lazada Malaysia is putting 100% of its efforts into improving the experience of its sellers, brands and customers, which means enhancing the mobile aspect of their experience.
“Whatever tool and feature we develop, offer and roll out always needs to have mobile support,” he said. “We see ourselves as a tech company, a company that empowers and enables local businesses.”
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