Asian E-tailing Summit opens

9 December 2020 – Organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), the fourth Asian E-tailing Summit (AES) opened today and runs until Friday (11 December), featuring more than 40 business professionals from e-tailing service giants, online retail platforms and brand representatives. Through a series of online webinars and presentations, the summit will examine the current business practices of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and share e-commerce success stories and solutions from across the region, helping enterprises capture the opportunities brought by digitisation.

Today’s online opening session was officiated by Paul Chan, Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).

Margaret Fong, Executive Director of the HKTDC, welcomed international delegates to the virtual summit, saying: “While the global pandemic has brought disruption to our economic and social activities, it is also accelerating the development trends for online commerce. As a result, the AES has an even more important role to play this year. Under the theme ‘Embracing Change and Unlocking Opportunities in the New Digital World’, the summit has gathered a quality line-up of international industry experts to explore the latest insights, market intelligence and trends. This year’s summit has been extended to three days to ensure more networking opportunities between industry players. With more than 40 invited speakers, topics such as the latest cross-border e-commerce solutions, mobile commerce trends and personalisation in digital customer engagement strategies will be explored in detail, assisting enterprises to adapt to the new normal and grasp business opportunities.”

Summit examines e-commerce opportunities

Cross-border e-commerce growth has been further accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, with more shoppers looking to buy products online. The global market for cross-border business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce is expected to reach US$4.8 trillion by 2027. The summit kicked off with a webinar on the theme “Cross-border E-commerce in the New Digital Era”, featuring heavyweight speakers from the United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Malaysia and Taiwan, including corporate representatives from FedEx Express, KPMG, Dubai South, eRomman, Priceza Co, Ltd, SAP, Global-e, JD.COM and PayPal. The session explored the success stories of world-renowned brands in cross-border e-commerce and how they developed strategies to meet growing market demand. It also examined the latest technologies for improving supply chain management and the delivery process to help companies adopt cost-effective models and enhance their stock flow to enable expansion in the cross-border e-commerce market.

In this new digital era, numerous enterprises have highlighted the importance of data-driven business to help define new business models. In the “Seeking Business Success in a Data-driven Economy” session, elite speakers from Singapore, the Philippines, Myanmar and South Korea discussed how to use data analytics to build more precise business plans, which can help business leaders make appropriate decisions more effectively. While companies are racing to digitise their businesses in response to the new normal, blockchain has becoming one of the key factors in helping companies automate their services seamlessly. In the session titled “Blockchain’s Role in Customer Relationship Management and Supply Chain”, local start-ups and blockchain experts from Germany and Vietnam explained how blockchain has made access to and use of customer data more convenient and reliable, enhancing customer relationship management (CRM) and resolving some of the challenges faced by enterprises.

The second day of the summit will feature several topical issues including mobile commerce, personalised customer experiences and omnichannel retailing. By 2021, it is estimated that 73% of all e-commerce sales will be made on a mobile device. In the session “The Rise and the Reach of Mobile Commerce”, Kazuhisa Iwamoto, Director, Business Creation Department, Smart-Life Division, NTT DOCOMO, INC, and other international e-tailing experts will explain how 5G can contribute to the development of mobile commerce, discuss trends in live commerce, the KOL (key opinion leader) economy, virtual reality and artificial intelligence, and also explore how to tap into the huge mobile-user market.

In a session titled “Making the Customer Journey a Personal Experience”, Senti AI from the Phillippines and other industry experts will share how to create tailor-made messages and content by using the latest digital customer engagement strategies to drive customer loyalty and increase revenue. In the “Navigating the Future of Omnichannel” session, representatives from iClick Interactive, Pandora Jewelry Asia-Pacific Limited, Snaptee and The Great Eagle Company will explore how businesses can adopt omnichannel strategies to connect with customers and gain a competitive edge.

On the summit’s final day, several international e-commerce elites will provide advisory services to companies interested in setting up their own e-commerce platforms. Jonathan York, Consulting Manager, Euromonitor International, will analyse how companies can succeed in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) market through e-commerce and explore the digital consumer mindset in the region. Frankie Ng, Hong Kong Lead, Shopify, will share how the brand uses a blend of technology and strategy to win in the increasingly competitive online environment, while Harrace Lau, Co-founder of eOneNet, will introduce a 10-step internet success system to help companies turn around their online business and expand globally. And with e-commerce in Southeast Asia increasing in value from US$5.5 billion in 2015 to US$38 billion in 2019, Fione Tan, President, 28Mall, will help business owners who wish to enter this market to resolve problems relating to cross-border logistics, customs clearance and import duties, local customer services and last-mile deliveries.

In addition to the key activities at the AES, the third Asia’s Best E-tailing Awards, with the HKTDC as a strategic partner, concluded today. The awards aim to recognise the exceptional and inspirational accomplishments of the region’s best e-tailing merchants, specialists and service providers.

Website

Asian E-tailing Summit: http://www.hktdc.com/ncs/aes2020/en/main/index.html

Media enquiries

Please contact the HKTDC’s Communications & Public Affairs Department:

Christine Kam           Tel: (852) 2584 4514                       Email: christine.kam@hktdc.org

Cathy Lee                  Tel: (852) 2584 4393                       Email: cathy.wk.lee@hktdc.org

About HKTDC
The Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) is a statutory body established in 1966 to promote, assist and develop Hong Kong's trade. With 50 offices globally, including 13 in Mainland China, the HKTDC promotes Hong Kong as a two-way global investment and business hub. The HKTDC organises international exhibitions, conferences and business missions to create business opportunities for companies, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in the mainland and international markets. The HKTDC also provides up-to-date market insights and product information via trade publications, research reports and digital news channels. For more information, please visit: www.hktdc.com/aboutus. Follow us on Twitter @hktdc and LinkedIn