Enhancing last mile delivery, consumer experience with SMS Services

E-commerce is a fast-moving game and major forces are changing the rules. Forward-thinking retailers are investing to maximize the potential of both physical and digital channels. Global players that once stood on the sidelines are now poised to compete in South East Asia. Just recently, Indonesian department store chain MatahariMal raised $500 million to develop their e-commerce venture. Alibaba too, has invested $249 million in SingPost to expand their delivery network in SEA.

As the world’s fastest growing internet region with 260 million users, South East Asia is fast becoming a unique e-commerce market. Primed for tough competition, e-commerce companies are fast prioritizing customer service as a way to stand out from their competitors. Keeping customers at the heart of their business strategy, and delivering the best possible value to them is becoming more important than ever.

Today, last-mile delivery has become a priority for both e-commerce companies and their customers. Ensuring speedy, but prompt delivery has been proven to give companies an edge in the competitive landscape, while showing customers that companies could go the extra mile for them.

In fact, local and regional players have still emerged as early winners, largely due to their ability to provide a better-tailored experience for local consumers than what global competitors usually offer. For instance, Singapore-based Lazada built local logistics footprints in each market to increase delivery reliability, and added motorbike fleets to provide speedier options to traditional truck deliveries.

That said, enhancing last-mile delivery for consumers in the region comes with its own set of challenges.

 Consumer trust, diversity, slow infrastructure serve as roadblocks

Firstly, the lack of consumer trust is one of the challenges the Southeast Asian e-commerce market is facing. Consumers today are wary of making transactions online due to various security issues such as fraud. According to the e-conomy SEA report by Google and Temasek Holdings, 58 percent of citizens in South East Asia expressed concerns over financial information being shared online. With cyber attacks on the horizon, trust between customers and e-commerce companies have been shaken and today, assurances must be given to customers on a consistent basis to maintain strong relationships.

The region also encompasses a wide range of ethnicities, languages, consumer preferences and regulations, coupled by a politically and economically complex landscape. With such diversity, consumers in different markets have conflicting preferences and expectations, which means more time and money must be invested carefully into business planning to ensure that this is addressed adequately.

Despite the immensely positive steps taken towards ASEAN economic integration, there are still socio-political and economic issues that can put a dampener on overall business growth of regional delivery companies.