SITEC hosted its fourth e-Commerce class of 2019 at the Selangor Digital Creative Centre (SDCC) in i-City, Shah Alam, with an Introduction to E-Commerce session on Logistics and Fulfillment led by Coach Ng Chet Chiang, CEO of leading logistics company, Logistics Worldwide Express Sdn Bhd. Three guest speakers also had company sharing sessions after the class. The class saw an attendance of 135 people.
Coach Ng started off his lecture about the challenges that cross-border e-commerce faces, such as customs & regulations, cross-border logistics and warehousing, lack of local industry insights, fragmented local cultures, languages and marketplaces, international tech integration & payment gateways, and local government agencies and incentives.
Shipping and customs restrictions can also be a challenge for sellers, often with restrictions by countries on products such as powerbanks, nutritional supplements, alcohol, cosmetics and certain electronics. He shared the example of Indonesia, which requires strict product registration for cosmetics and supplements, and requires certification for GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices), as well as the strict requirement of only allowing these products to be sold through a local agent or distributor.
He then shared about the various import duties and taxes – for example, Australia has a generous AUD 1000 import limit with a 10% GST imposed above AUD 1000, whereas the UK imposes a 20% VAT (Value Added Tax) on imports exceeding GBP 15 in value.
According to Ng, China has various inbound import modes to consider – through the government, via China Post and via eExpress by Hong Kong post. He also went through in detail about the kinds of import limits, taxes and requirements imposed through each inbound mode. For example, going it is easier to send heavier products via the China government, as they have a weight limitation of 30 KG vs 10 KG through Hong Kong post, with a generous value limitation of RMB 2,000 per order.
However, going through the China government imposes a maximum of RMB 20,000 per person per year, and is more complex as it requires the receiver to to be registered so that they can track that they do not exceed RMB 20,000 in imports per year. Conversely, going through Hong Kong Post’s e-Express has no such yearly import limitation for the receiver, but each order may not exceed RMB 800 in value.
He then spoke about the consumption patterns of local buyers, content and currency localisation, and media and communications restrictions in China. For example, as China bans Google, they rely on Baidu as a search engine. As Youtube is also banned in China, they use Youku instead, so sellers can leverage these sites to market their products to mainland customers instead. He then spoke about localised staffing management, shipping models and costs, regional and local warehousing options, and cross-border returns management.
Chun Jan Bong, Marketing Executive of logistics provider Pgeon, shared more about his company and highlighted the top 5 delivery problems that businesses face – and how sellers can overcome them. They include: poor parcel packaging, weight disputes, lack of pricing knowledge, delivery of prohibited items, and miss parcel pick ups.
Nadhra Fauzi, Co-Founder of TresGo spoke about managing efficiency and inventory through TresGo, a logistics provider. She touched on inventory and order management, operations costing, data intelligence, and provided a few case studies.
Crystal Chin, National Sales Manager of Aramex, spoke about regional and local key e-commerce trends. She went through the e-commerce value chain from procurement to payment for esellers, and how Aramex can solve issues within the fulfillment supply chain.
