March 29, 2024

Exporters can leverage digital marketing tools to grow their business amid the increase in ecommerce.

Anna Nguyen, senior marketing manager at Amazon Global Selling Southeast Asia, cited data indicating the scale of e-commerce will exceed $3.3 trillion by the end of 2020.

“In 2022, e-commerce growth rate will far exceed the growth rate of in-store sales. The growth of ecommerce sales is six times the rate of in-store sales… Cross-border e-commerce removes the complexity of traditional export,” she said in a webinar.

Nguyen said entrepreneurs can start launching a business on Amazon by first choosing a selling plan, and then register.

“All sellers need to think about before you start selling online. So one of the first few things that we usually advise sellers to do is to decide what product you want to sell. In this process, it is very important for you (to determine the) tools that you could use to understand the market niche,” she said.

Nguyen said Amazon will be asking for a few basic information about the seller, as it protects both the customers and the sellers.

“And on Amazon, we have sellers on social platforms. It is a one-stop shop basically for you to manage your selling account and there is a lot of training in seller, university on seller, where there are step by step instructions to teach you how to start selling on Amazon,” she added.

Nguyen said sellers also need to select the right fulfillment options suited for them, such as the Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) wherein they offer free shipping on eligible product orders.

“It is also good to see one of the best practices in a free tool that we usually offer for sellers. You can just go to Amazon.com and search for the product category and the product type that you are selling and see what your competitors are selling, what are the top trending products, what are the reviews and customers are talking about, (and) the competitors’ products even before you launch products on Amazon,” she said.

Nguyen said they can start selling on Amazon products without any specific conditions, such as office products and supplies, shoes, and handbags, among others.

“Some products have restrictions, for example alcohol… Amazon might be asking for certificates to prove the quality of your product, but it doesn’t mean you cannot sell your product,” she added.

Nguyen said Amazon also has tools to help the sellers determine how their products are ranking, the market trends, feedback of customers about their products, and even their competitors’ products.

“This feedback will be very important for you as a seller to know what the demand is, what customers feel, what they like about your product. They can even suggest like, what are the other things that they like, product and the selection they want. We have seen many successful sellers who have also shared how they actually grow their business by a few hundred times a year because it takes feedback into (consideration) and improves their selection,” she added.

Flo Yeow, Philippines Country Lead-Google Customer Solutions of Google Philippines, said exporters can use Google’s Market Finder to determine the right market to export to.

Yeow said they can also create an account for their business through Google My Business free tool.

“(These are the) tools that you can leverage upon to really help your business be found, be discovered and also people to contact you as a business and that’s my personal opinion. It has not to be the only one, they can be complement on the products and solutions and tools that you are really using; this can be the supplementary one as well,” he added. – Press release