London, February 4th 2020 - This February kicks off with our co-founder, Syed Ali Ridha Madihid being recently featured in an article by UK-based eCommerce news and insight website, Tamebay. Ali was interviewed for the article at The Delivery Conference 2020, where he spoke about the Southeast Asian opportunity for cross-border sellers.

The Delivery Conference 2020 is an event for all businesses involved in eCommerce, such as brands and retailers to carriers, to meet and review the Christmas season and start planning for the following year. This event was organised by Metapack and hosted at the Royal Lancaster London hotel on the stated date.

In Tamebay’s article, Ali shared about how Southeast Asia is an upcoming market provides a great opportunity for international eCommerce merchants to enter. Ali explained that the region is driven by its large population and rising disposable income and also shared some tips on how to enter the region. He mentioned that Southeast Asia is split into two main areas - Indochina and Nusantara.

In Indochina, a retailer needs to be highly localised when it comes to language and presenting their value proposition to consumers. Nusantara, on the other hand, have consumers who have been heavily influenced by the West, are mostly English speaking, and are more receptive to buying from Western websites. For those interested in entering Nusantara, Ali recommends investing in social media to reach consumers there, in particular Instagram, using local micro-influencers and key opinion leaders.

At the end of the article, Ali mentions that logistics is one of the main challenges one will face when selling into Southeast Asia. With Southeast Asia’s population of 630 million spread over thousands of islands, it will be tough to find a single partner or service provider who can serve the whole region. You’ll ideally want a shipping partner who can offer end-to-end service but is flexible enough to integrate with your existing supply chain.

Tamebay is a leading provider of intelligence and news targeting anyone who trades on online marketplaces based in the UK. You can find the original story on their site.