How InstanteStore Helped Sagiri Dayal Launched A Successful Online Store With Immediate Sales

The team at InstanteStore are passionate about helping merchants sell online.

We’ve been helping merchants sell online since 2001 when our founder and CEO, Charles Tang started InstanteStore due to the overwhelming requests to create online stores by merchants from around the world.

Recently, we had the privilege to help another international client get her business online with immediate results making it a successful online store.

About Sagiri Dayal Jewellery

Meet Sagiri Dayal, a jewellery designer based in Hong Kong.

She specialises in Jade and Chinese Knotting, combining these elements with traditional Indian jewellery from her heritage.

Sagiri has been holding shows all around the world – Hong Kong, London, New Delhi and New York, showcasing her jewellery pieces.

Though the road shows were very successful, she found it hard to reach out to her customers and updating them whenever she’s got a new line out.

So last year, together with her daughter, Keya, she decided to take the leap of faith and bring her business online.

It was a very daunting move for her as she’s not particularly tech savvy.

Understanding Our Customer Needs

Through a series of Zoom calls, the InstanteStore team got to know more about her business goals (increase sales!) along with the challenges she faced.

Among some of the issues she faced with the current offline business model were:

Limited Reach – Audience is restricted to the locations of the road shows and their physical location or brick and mortar store.

Limited Customer Engagement – Limited opportunities for continuous engagement with customers after road shows. Once a purchase is made, the customer may wish to purchase additional pieces but do not know when or where the new products are made available.

Lack of Analytics – Gathering customer data and insights for targeted marketing can be challenging in an offline setting making it difficult to analyze customer preferences and tailor products or marketing strategies accordingly. In other words, many merchants would not know much or have any information about their customers – their preference, products they purchased, what they are interested in, budget or taste preferences.

Lack of Technical Know-How – As Sagiri is more of an artisan / designer, she is anxious when it comes to technology. Many artisans, designers do not have the technical knowledge on how to run an online business as they usually spend the bulk of their time focusing on designing and creating their master pieces.

Payment Challenges – Accepting only cash payments for designer pieces may limit sales as some customers prefer digital payments. And because artisans / designers sell their products at physical locations, customers may not have enough cash to purchase if the merchant do not accept other forms of onlnie payment like credit cards or e-wallets.

The Solution? InstanteStore White Glove Service

After listening to Sagiri’s challenges, the InstanteStore team came up with a targeted proposal to help her business.

Though InstanteStore is a Point & Click ecommerce platform that allows merchants to quickly and easily set up their own online store, for Sagiri, due to the tight timeline till launch date (1 month to get it all done!) we suggested the White Glove Setup Service.

With the White Glove Setup Service we will handhold you right from the beginning, coming up with a customized webstore design, help you to populate your store products, set up shipping, payment and run through the testing stage to ensure that the whole buying experience on the store goes smoothly.

InstanteStore Ecommerce Features That Helped Get The Sales In

We advised Sagiri and Keya to set up a pre-launch campaign where they set up a temporary page to start collecting customer emails for those who were interested in their products. These customers who get first dibs when the site is launched plus a 10% discount!

Newletter Module – this allows for early bird sign up on her online store as we wanted to help her reach out to those who signed up during the pre-launch. The idea was to give her customers a taste of what is to come and to build anticipation.

Automatic Discounts – We helped her create pre-set automatic discounts which were to be applied by her customers only for the pre-launch dates. This gives customers an incentive to come to the online store knowing they will get a special discount when they make any purchase on the specific pre-launch date.

Integrated Payment – we helped her set up quick and easy online payment option for her customers to pay with online. A smooth checkout process is a good customer experience.

Downloadable Keys – these are digital gift certs which customers can purchase from Sagiri’s online store that is easily downloadable upon purchase which can be a gift or even an incentive to customers to come back for repeat purchases.

Store Launched With Immediate Sales!

It’s the final stretch! We worked tirelessly with the team at Sagiri Dayal Jewellery running tests on her website to address and deal with any issues as well as answer all of Sagiri and Keya’s questions to ensure that it was a smooth buying process.

For the Pre-Launch and Launch Day Sales, there were a total of 170 subscribers with 43% Open rate and 28% Click Through rate which led to steady sales as soon as the store was launched.

Listen To Sagiri’s Testimonial Here

“Last year, I decided to start an online business and I was introduced to Charles & Sui Sim and it was the most wonderful thing that could have happened! I was really nervous as we had a really tight launch date but they held my hand every step of the way and they made it happened! They were also very responsive and just alleviated all my fears…”

Sagiri Dayal – Founder & Designer
Sagiri Dayal Jewellery

“Up until last year, we have only been selling jewellery at in person shows around the world. In 2023, we had ambitious plans to build an online website. Initially we thought we would go with a large online platform such as Shopify but then we got introduced to the InstanteStore platform. I’m really happy we went with IES, it has gone off completely flawlessly! During the launch, people were just buying off our site without a hitch. Even for ourselves, the backend was so easy to navigate…”

Keya Lamba – Co-Founder & Designer Sagiri Dayal Jewellery

The InstanteStore team are truly honored to be part of their online journey to help them GROW their business further.

InstanteStore is not just another ecommerce platform, more like your partners who only want the best for your business and helps you to achieve it quickly, efficiently and at very affordable prices.

We take the time to listen and understand your business challenges and help you to work through them with the InstanteStore platform. The InstanteStore platform is built in-house by our very own InstanteStore team, which makes it easy for us to customize the modules to your business needs. We are here to help your business grow and streamline your process. We allow you to do what you do best – MARKET your store and leave the tech to us!

Need a revamped customized online store for your business?

Contact us for a FREE consultation today!

Best Malaysia Payment Gateway Comparison For Ecommerce Business

Payment gateways provide the service to process online payments from customers to merchants securely. When integrated with any ecommerce website, the role of payment gateways is to allow customers to pay for their online purchases using either credit or debit cards or via online banking smoothly.

Here’s a look at some of the best Malaysia payment gateway providers used by the majority of Malaysian online sellers.

You’ll find the best payment gateway in Malaysia comparison chart at the later part of this article.

PayPal 

PayPal Malaysia

PayPal is well known internationally as it’s widely used by both local and international sellers.

Customers DO NOT NEED to have a PayPal Malaysia account to make payment on a website that is using PayPal as their payment gateway processor.

Customers can just use their credit or debit card when they land on PayPal’s site during the checkout process by clicking the “Pay with credit card” link.

PayPal checkout with credit card or debit card

PayPal is a flexible payment gateway Malaysia that is both popular and easy to manage.

PayPal Malaysia does not require any sign up fee or yearly fee to use their online credit card processing Malaysia feature making it highly recommendable for new startups to begin accepting credit / debit card payments from customers.

However, please note that while PayPal is easy to set up and use, their transaction fee is 3.9% + RM2 for credit / debit card online transactions for Malaysian customers whereas international customers buying from you will be charged at 4.4% + USD0.30 per transaction.

PayPal Malaysia Fee Tiers

However, setting up a PayPal Malaysia account to accept payment is easy and fast.

Just go to PayPal Malaysia’s site and sign up for a business account.

Key in your details and remember to link your PayPal account to your online store to start accepting online payments.

Here’s how to link your InstanteStore to PayPal.

PayPal Malaysia does not offer FPX online banking.

You’ll need to transfer the funds from your PayPal account to your local bank account.

If the amount is less than RM400, there’s a RM3 charge by PayPal. There’s no charge if the amount is RM400 and above.

Braintree

Braintree Malaysia

Braintree is an ecommerce payment gateway that was acquired by PayPal in 2013 with the goal of propelling the payment platform on a global scale.

All kinds of businesses use Braintree to accept payments in mobile apps and websites as they have experience working with new business models.

Merchants in Malaysia can accept PayPal, Apple Pay, Android Pay, and cards on the Visa and Mastercard networks as long as the cards are enabled for online use.

Braintree Malaysia Pricing Details

Please note there’s a RM90 flat rate for chargebacks.

Signing up for a Braintree Malaysia account may take a bit of time as the company requires your business registration details (Malaysian IC, Business Registration Forms, Utility Bills with business registered address, Malaysian Bank Account Statement that is registered with the business, etc) to verify that you’re a valid legal business before opening a Braintree account for you.

The good thing about Braintree is that they offer a lower credit / debit card transaction fee (3.4% + RM2) compared to PayPal (3.9% + RM2) and that all payment is pushed to your local bank account on a daily basis.

And like PayPal, Braintree does not charge any Setup Fee or Yearly Fee at all.

Braintree Malaysia does not offer FPX online banking.

Braintree will automatically push all payment amount to your local bank account on a daily basis with no minimum amount.

iPay88

iPay88 Malaysia

iPay88 is one of Malaysia’s leading payment gateway ecommerce providers.

Their headquarters is located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and they have a presence in Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore.

iPay88 was acquired by NTT DATA, a Japanese system integration company in 2015 and continues to strengthen their presence in the ecommerce and mobile commerce field in the whole of South East Asia.

iPay88 Malaysia offers 2 different plans to meet your business needs.

If you’re only looking for a payment gateway for online store in Malaysia FPX feature to accept payment via online banking and e-wallets from customers, then you can consider iPay88’s Start Up Plan. It comes with a one time Setup Fee of RM488 (wef 20 March 2020).

Bear in mind their FPX rate for the Start Up Plan is 3.5% or RM0.60 per transaction whichever is higher.

Their Start Up Plan only comes with online banking, credit / debit card (ONLY UnionPay at 3.5%) and e-wallets.

iPay88 Malaysia Payment Methods

Their SME Plan offers online banking, credit/debit card processing (Visa/Master/UnionPay) and e-wallets.

For credit card processing (Visa/Master/UnionPay), they’ll be using local banks to process those payments at a lower transaction rate (2.7%) while debit card (Visa/Master) is at 2.5% which is better than you using a direct PayPal account (3.9% + RM2 per transaction).

These 2 plans come with a Setup Fee of RM488. Merchants who choose their SME Plan will have to pay RM500 for Annual Fee while the Credit Card Application Fees of RM900 is waived by iPay88.

Both plans include e-wallets Boost (1%), MBBQR (1%), GrabPay (1.5%), TouchnGo (1.5%) and MCash (1.5%).

iPay88 will pay out on a weekly basis to your local bank account but the minimum amount is your iPay88 account must be RM10 for them to do so.

iPay88 Malaysia claims to have a proven fraud prevention system and monitoring in over 14 years which has resulted in fraud ratio far below the industry threshold.

eGHL 

eGHL Malaysia

eGHL was founded in 2013 and functions as an internet payment arm of GHL Systems Berhad.

You’ll notice quite a number of physical card payment terminals in physical stores and retail using GHL as their credit / debit card payment processor.

So it comes as no surprise that the company entered the ecommerce payment gateway market with their internet payment arm, eGHL.

eGHL is a Malaysia payment gateway that offers a secure internet payment solution which covers both card and non-card payment channels for online businesses throughout the South East Asia region.

eGHL Malaysia Features

eGHL offers a lower transaction fee for credit / debit card (1.8% – 2.5%) and FPX payments (1.8% – 2.5% or RM0.50 whichever is higher) depending on the plans you take.

They have 3 plans to meet your business needs : RM499 / RM5k / RM10k which is also the On-Boarding Fee that you need to pay when you sign up with them.  Please note that the fee is subject to 6% SST.

Startups which choose the RM499 plan will need to pay a Maintenance Fee of RM25 + 6% SST per month IF total monthly transactions are less than RM15k for the month.

Coupled with that, there’s a Yearly Fee of RM599 (waived if total transactions exceed RM180k per year) for the RM5k and RM10k plan.

eGHL is an excellent payment gateway provider to consider if your business has consistent growing volume to justify the yearly fee while you enjoy lower transaction fee for credit / debit card and FPX payments.

Here’s a rundown of their 3 plans with e-Wallet rates (wef 3 June 2020) :

RM499 Plan
Credit / Debit card for Visa/Master : 2.5%
+ 1% for non-MYR processing
+ RM0.50 (for transactions less than RM40)
Online Banking : 2.5% or RM0.50 (whichever higher)
Boost, MCash, GrabPay, TouchnGo : 1.5%
Maybank QRPay : 1%
Maintenance Fee : RM25 + 6% SST per month IF total monthly transaction volume less than RM15k per month

RM5k Plan & RM10k Plan
Credit / Debit card for Visa/Master : 2.0% (RM5k Plan) / 1.8% (RM10k Plan)
+ 1% for non-MYR processing
+ RM0.50 (for transactions less than RM40)
Online Banking : 2.0% (RM5k Plan) / 1.8% (RM10k Plan) or RM0.50 (whichever higher)
Boost, MCash, GrabPay, TouchnGo, Maybank QRPay : 1%
Yearly Fee : RM599 + 6% SST (waived if transaction volume exceed RM180k per year)

Processing Fee for all 3 plans
Refund : RM0.50 per transaction
Chargeback : RM5 per transaction
Settlement : No charge to Malaysian local bank, USD30 to Foreign Bank

Payments are pushed to your local bank account on a weekly basis with no minimum amount requirement.

MOLPay

MOLPay Malaysia

MOLPay is one of the leading payment gateway in South East Asia that has been connecting international brands to consumers across the region since 2005.

MOLPay Malaysia offers a full range of alternative payment methods such as online banking, cash at 7-Eleven (MOLPay Cash), e-wallet and more as their single API serves as a connector for clients to reach all consumers across South East Asia.

MOLPay Malaysia Supported Banks

MOLPay Malaysia offers a Premium Plan for ecommerce businesses.

There’s a One Time Sign Up Fee (non-refundable) of  RM400 and a Yearly Maintenance Fee of RM499 for the Premium Plan. (wef 11 Jun 2020)

Serious sellers would go for their Premium Plan as it offers a lower transaction fee for credit / debit card  at 2.4% (Master / Visa) and FPX (2.4% or RM0.60 whichever higher) and Razer Cash (2.4% or RM0.80 whichever is higher).

Razer Cash allows customers the convenience of paying cash conveniently at their preferred 7-Eleven and 99 Speedmart outlets nationwide. It’s the perfect solution for online shoppers who do not have a debit / credit card or internet banking. It’s also for those who have insecurities on sharing their bank details online. Hence Razer Cash is an alternative payment channel for those who do not trust Internet security. So convenience stores act as the customers’ cash machine to complete their payment transactions for online purchases.

MOLPay is also integrated with Online E-wallet Channels :
Razer Pay : 1.2%
Boost, GrabPay, Maybank QRPay, Touch ‘n Go : 1.4%

To enable credit card processing, the One Time Bank Processing Fee for credit card channel (Visa / Mastercard) of RM900 has been waived.

While they do pay out on a weekly basis, please note that there’s minimum payout amount of RM100 before they’ll process the payout to your local bank account.

There’s no Settlement Fee and payout is on a weekly basis. 

MOLPay also offers Alipay and UnionPay channel as an add-on for Malaysian merchants who wish to receive online payment from China customers :

One Time Setup Fee (non-refundable) : RM499
Yearly Maintenance Fee : None
Alipay Online : 3% per transaction
UnionPay Online : 3% per transaction
Processing Currency :
Alipay – USD, RMB, MYR, SGD
UnionPay – USD, RMB, MYR
Minimum Settlement : RM100
Settlement Currency : Malaysian merchant (MYR), Non-Malaysian Merchant (USD, USD10 for Settlement Charge)

MOLPay claims to achieve one of the lowest dispute transaction ratio in the online payment industry.

Best Malaysia Payment Gateway Comparison Chart

Best Malaysia Payment Gateway Comparison Chart

The Best Malaysia Payment Gateway Comparison Chart gives an overview of the payment gateway Malaysia fees for credit / debit card and FPX online banking, set up fees, yearly fees and minimum withdrawal amount to local bank account giving new and existing merchants the choice to sign up or switch to different providers.

Merchants who are interested to enjoy the transaction rates mentioned can contact us and we will help them register for a new account with the respective Malaysia payment gateways.

For Ecommerce Startups And New Businesses

For startups and new businesses who are very budget conscious, we would normally recommend that they sign up with a PayPal direct account first while pending their application for any of the payment gateway providers of their choice.

Most like the word ‘FREE’ so they’ll usually go for iPay88’s SOHO Plan where they do not need to pay any set up or yearly fee while enjoying access to both credit / debit card processing by iPay88’s PayPal and FPX Online Banking.

For Ecommerce Sites With Volume Transactions

For ecommerce businesses that have a considerable amount of daily, weekly and monthly volume transactions, they would usually go for eGHL as they offer one of the lowest credit / debit card and FPX transaction fees.

The other option would be MOLPay where those businesses have both an ecommerce and physical presence as MOLPay offers a range of payment processing features across different channels.

Which Payment Gateway Options In Malaysia Should I Choose?

The best Malaysia payment gateway provider really depends on the merchants’ business needs.

If you want something fast and ‘free’ without the hassle of paying setup fees and yearly fees, PayPal Malaysia, Braintree Malaysia and iPay88’s SOHO Plan are suitable.

If you have a tonne of transactions to process for both online and physical retail, then eGHL and MOLPay will be able to meet those needs.

Regardless of volume transactions, it’s vital that any ecommerce business must have an online credit card processing Malaysia feature on their site as majority of buyers prefer to pay with credit / debit cards.

This payment gateway Malaysia comparison chart acts as a guide for new and existing sellers to consider which Malaysia payment gateways can best meet their business needs.

If you have any question or feedback about the mentioned payment gateways, please reach out to us at InstanteStore as we’re constantly working to help businesses sell more online.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday Tips To Help Increase Sales

5 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Tips To Increase Sales

Holiday season is just around the corner, can you smell the pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks already? Mmmm.. Retailers are all gearing up for two of the biggest shopping events of the year, Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday is when most retailers earn back their yearly profits. Also, these two sale days are perfect for people who are looking to save some money on their Christmas shopping. Here are some tips to help your business stay competitive in this very popular sale season:

Make Sure Your Site Is Mobile Friendly

People today enjoy shopping from the comfort of their home, instead of lining up outside a mall right after Thanksgiving dinner. More and more customers are shopping online and on their mobile devices today. With the most recent Singles Day Sale just passing, Alibaba reported that 90% of its sales came from mobile devices which is higher compared to 82% in 2016 and 69% in 2015. According to an article by Forbes, they have predicted that smartphone and tablet visits to retail sites will account for 54% of all visits.

As you can see purchasing through mobile is a familiar option to many shoppers today.  Because of this, a mobile friendly site will play a huge part in helping online businesses benefit the most from the Black Friday and Cyber Monday traffic.

Whether they are waiting for the train or riding in a bus, there’s plenty of reasons for them to buy stuff online.  So, with more consumers than ever before planning to make the shift towards mobile this holiday season, be sure not to ignore the mobile commerce wave! InstanteStore is already mobile commerce ready. All you have to do is ACTIVATE it. If you haven’t done so for your store, it’s pretty easy.

Here’s how:

Login to your admin, search for Mobile Commerce.  Next step: Click on Activate and your mobile store is ready to go. Simple! Anyone could do it.

5 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Tips To Increase Sales

Related Posts:

Don’t Forget The Mobile Phone Shoppers!

Is Your Site Mobile Friendly With Responsive Design?

Offer Your Customers Free Shipping 

5 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Tips To Increase Sales

E commerce giants like Amazon are offering its customers FREE next day delivery or same-day delivery if they were to order before a certain time. They have definitely spoiled the market for other businesses. Customers today are expecting the same level of convenience from the other retailers. At the end of the day everyone loves free stuff! This will give your customers that extra push to make a purchase during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.

Here’s how: 

  • Offer your customers free delivery with no minimum purchase for the holiday sale season or an option to pay less for next day delivery as an incentive to get them to buy more.
  • If you have a brick and mortar store, give your customers a click and collect option with same day pick up.

Treat The Black Friday Sales and Cyber Monday Sales Like A Product Launch

5 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Tips To Increase Sales

With all the hype that is created when it comes to discounts and offers during the holiday sales season, more companies all over the world are joining in every year. It is easy for customers to get lost in the shuffle.

However, if you take a different approach and treat the sale like a product launch and build excitement around it, this will definitely set you apart from your competitors.

Here’s how: 

  • Send out newsletters to customers who you want to be the first to hear about the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales . Offer these special customers a head start on the discounts before everything is sold out!

Instantestore has a feature where you can customize who you want to send your emails to.

5 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Tips To Increase Sales

  • Create excitement around the launch of your Black Friday and Cyber Monday sale with a countdown clock or calendar on your e-commerce site.
  • Create a social media campaign around your Black Friday and Cyber Monday sale  and get your customers to share what they bought on their social media sites.

Related Posts: 

Email Newsletter Ideas Which Won’t Frustrate Your Subscribers

Use Live Chats To Your Advantage 

5 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Tips To Increase Sales

Live chats are especially great during holiday sale seasons. Why? Because there are going to be customers who have never bought from you before entering your website with no clue about your your business or your products. An online chat system will provide these customers an immediate access to any help they need. It is much more convenient compared to a call center. Also, customers can multitask when waiting for a reply.

It is great to have someone online who can immediately walk them through a sale if a customer becomes confused or has a question that could potentially make or break a sale. A live chat will help eliminate shopping cart abandonment this upcoming holiday sale season.

InstanteStore has its very own free live chat software that can be downloaded and applied onto your e commerce store.

5 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Tips To Increase Sales

Get Started Quick: Installation

  1. Download the InstanteStore free live chat software from https://www.instantestore.com/livechat_software.cfm.
  2. The Microsoft .Net Framework is required for the installation. Windows Vista and Windows 7 should already have this installed. Some versions of Windows XP may require you to install this separately, though. If you have any issues installing or running the live chat software, then click here to go to Microsoft’s website to download and install it.
  3. Once installed, double-click the InstanteStore Live Chat icon at the desktop, or click on ‘InstanteStore Live Chat -> InstanteStore Live Chat’ from the Programs folder to launch the live chat application.
  4. The first time the live chat software launches, the LiveChat Signup page will be displayed. Just fill in the necessary details and click the SIGNUP button to register your Live Chat username.
  5. Once you’ve signed up, an email containing the activation code will be sent to the email address you used to register. Copy and paste this activation code into the Activation Code field at the live chat window, then click on the ACTIVATE & LOGIN button.
  6. At the Install livechat code page, copy the displayed code.

For InstanteStore Users

  1. Go to your store’s administrator control panel, and go to ‘Manage Your Store -> Design/Customization -> Customize Template’.
  2. Click on the Click to Edit button at either the left or right border of your store’s template, depending on where you want your live chat icon to be displayed.
  3. Click on the Additional HTML tab at the following page.
  4. Select the Add Extra HTML: radio button and paste the code at the appropriate text area, depending on whether you want the live chat icon to be displayed at the top or the bottom of the left/right border.
  5. Click the PUBLISH CHANGES button to finalize your changes.
  6. The live chat icon will now be displayed at the appropriate location on your store template. Click on the GO CHAT NOW button to start taking customer requests.

For non-InstanteStore Users

  • Just paste the livechat code from Step 6 above at the appropriate location at your website.
  • The live chat icon will now be displayed where you’ve placed it at your site. Click on the GO CHAT NOW button to start taking customer requests.
MORE Free Live Chat Softwares :

Tawk To 

My Live Chat

Pure Chat 

Related Posts:

Introducing Free Live Chat Software from InstanteStore

Use All Your Marketing Resources

5 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Tips To Increase Sales

Retailers who invested in a marketing strategy which includes mobile, email and social media last year did 30% better compared to their competitors who didn’t take advantage of all their marketing platforms during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.

However, its not all just about the number of channels used. It is more of how you use these channels to reach your audience. It is important to know where majority of your audience are, which platform they are using and from there pursue them. Your goal here is to consistently message your followers and remind them to buy from you this holiday sale season. According to research, it takes at least three repetitive marketing posts to capture someones’ attention.

How to: 

  • Use your existing followers/audience to spread the message
  • Offer your followers incentives for helping you share the messages with extra discounts or promos.
  • Make sure all of your marketing channels are sharing the same message and is following a strategic flow.

 

 

 

Ready For The 11.11 Global Shopping Festival 2017?

11.11 The BIGGEST E-Commerce Shopping Festival

Some of you might not be aware of what the 11.11 Global Shopping Festival is. The 11.11 global shopping festival, or November 11 is an online Sale which starts on November 11 at 12.00 PST, according to the LA/Vancouver, BC/Seattle/San Diego/Baja California time zone. It is also referred to as Single’s Day sale, hence the repeating ones in the date.

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Mobile Commerce Set To Skyrocket In South East Asia

My previous article mentioned China’s ecommerce and mobile commerce spending power which they showcase to the world come every November 11th during Singles Day making more than Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined.

South East Asia Is The Next BIG Mobile Commerce Powerhouse

Not far behind with tremendous huge growth and development status would be South East Asia (SEA) which is made up of 11 countries (Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam).

SEA have a total population of 648 million (and growing fast!).

The top countries in this region that is leading the way in massive digital ecommerce spending would be Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Here’s a glimpse of their digital population. If taken as a single bloc, SEA’s large population of digital users can stand in comparison with leading global markets like US, Europe and China for all digital activities (internet, social media, mobile and mobile social) :

According to eMarketer, digital ad-spending for these 6 countries will increase by double digits in 2017 and 2018 while mobile ad spending will more than double during the forecast period surpassing $2.20 billion and accounting for nearly 69% of digital ad expenditures by the year 2021.

Heavy Smartphone Adoption Spurs Mobile Commerce Growth

Thanks to heavy smartphone adoption, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam will see the strongest growth in mobile ad spending among SEA.

Why are companies willing to invest so much moolah into mobile ad spending in SEA? Because the region has such a HIGH volume of mobile users which presents a HUGE opportunity for mobile commerce, hence the massive amount allocated for mobile ad spending.

Mobile commerce is skyrocketing in South East Asia as more consumers there are getting more familiar to spending online with their mobile devices.

It’s no wonder that Alibaba bought over Lazada (SEA’s largest ecommerce marketplace) for $1 billion. And not to be left out from a piece of the SEA ecommerce pie, Amazon recently launched in Singapore.

With such tremendous ecommerce growth opportunities, many online businesses have been scrambling to improve their mobile site experience and to ensure that their business is omni-channel to cater to the growing consumer segment from developing countries.

Omni What?

Omni-channel. It means having a multi-channel sales approach providing consumers with a smooth integrated shopping experience.

The customer can be shopping online from a desktop or mobile device where they can easily locate the product from your site or social media with the ability to make payment seamlessly.

With omni-channel, your online business is available and integrated with your brick and mortar (if you have one) where customers can call in to place an order with the phone or complete the checkout process via social media like FB, Twitter, Instagram, etc.

The omni-channel sales experience is crucial to ensure that your customers have a good buying experience be it in person, mobile, desktop and social media.

What Do Businesses Need To Do?

For a start, make sure your online business have a mobile friendly and responsive site so consumers can have a good mobile shopping experience with your site.

Ensure that your business is found on social media like Facebook where visitors can complete their purchase directly in FB without being bounced all over in the checkout process.

If you’re selling items that are :

Fashion related stuff : clothing, accessories, sport wear, eye wear, watches, jewelry, etc
Beauty : skin care, cosmetics
Food & drinks
Baby products
Pet products
Crafts
Consumer electronics
Auto accessories
(I may have missed out some other categories as these are the main ones)

Please have an Instagram and Pinterest account to upload images of your product being worn and used in every day life scenarios to make it easily shareable.

 

The new generation of mobile shoppers rely on image heavy social media recommendations from friends.

And they love to share and communicate via mobile.

We have a WhatsApp share feature where visitors can easily share your site and product page to their friends on WhatsApp which is great tool for product recommendations.

If you need help getting your online business to be mobile friendly, omni-channel with a good marketing strategy, contact us and we’ll be more than happy to help.

From the team at InstanteStore to you, Happy Selling as you prepare for the holiday shopping crowd.

5 Ways To Make Your Website More Trustworthy

5 Ways To Make Your Website More Trustworthy

With any new relationship, trust is always the first emotion we need to feel toward each other in order to move forward. In this case, your customer needs to be able to trust you before buying something from you. They need to trust that you are who you claim to be and your products are what you say they are. But how do you get a complete stranger to trust you when they probably know nothing about you? This post will cover 5 ways you can gain a customer’s trust just by using your website.

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3 EASY Mistakes : E-Commerce Businesses Make

EASY MISTAKES- E-commerce Businesses Make

3 Mistakes E-commerce Businesses tend to make. Building your own e-commerce store might be easy, however it does involve quite a bit of thought and dedication. This blog post will show you the 3 main mistakes people tend to make when starting up their online business.

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Discounts and Offers: Can It Be An Advantage To Your Business?

How Offers and Discounts Can Be An Advantage To Your Business Instantestore

Everyone loves a good discount, I know I do. You’re probably wondering how offers and discounts can be an advantage you. Yes, your profit might not be that much. However, at the end of the day you’re still profiting (at least a little) from the sale. Which is not completely a bad thing! And here’s why…

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