SINGAPORE - (NASDAQ:AMZN) – On the first day of the Amazon Southeast Asia Seller Summit 2022, Amazon Global Selling introduced innovative tools and services to help sellers in Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines grow their brands online locally and on an international scale. Nearly 4,000 small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) joined Day 1 of the Summit physically and virtually to learn how they can sell to international customers on Amazon stores worldwide, with thousands more expected to join on Day 2, covering Amazon Singapore opportunities. The event was organized to provide businesses with the information, skills and tools needed to grow along with the expanding cross-border e-commerce sector, while becoming more resilient against economic uncertainties in the future.
According to an Amazon survey with domestic e-commerce sellers and traditional export companies in Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines, nearly seven in 10 plan to expand to new countries in 2022. Almost all (96%) who were surveyed will also consider cross-border e-commerce activities in the future, motivated by the opportunity to build a global brand, and increase their customer base from overseas.
This comes as the e-commerce sector is projected to continue flourishing in the region. Based on the early commissioned research results by AlphaBeta, the value of Business-to-Consumer (B2C) e-commerce sales earned by Singapore firms from overseas sales has the potential to nearly double by 2027 if they invest in cross-border e-commerce. The share of e-commerce sales for Micro-SMEs is estimated to be 45% in 2022 and has the potential to increase to 69% by 2027.
There are nearly 2 million SMBs selling on Amazon, and third-party sales represent nearly 60% of total sales. Amazon Global Selling empowers sellers and supports their long-term development. Key initiatives in 2023 will focus on making going global faster and easier:
- Support sellers' cross-border digital transformation through Amazon's global scale and resources
- With the addition of the newly opened Amazon Belgian Store, Amazon now covers 22 stores in over 200 countries, and supports 27 languages. At the end of 2021, Amazon had more than 400 fulfilment centers across the globe. Same-day Amazon Prime delivery service now covers more than 50% of the US.
- With the addition of the newly opened Amazon Belgian Store, Amazon now covers 22 stores in over 200 countries, and supports 27 languages. At the end of 2021, Amazon had more than 400 fulfilment centers across the globe. Same-day Amazon Prime delivery service now covers more than 50% of the US.
- Incubate entrepreneurship and support brand owner success globally
- On top of free brand-building tools such as Brand Registry and Brand Stores, Amazon.com has introduced more innovative brand-building tools such as Premium A+ Content and Amazon Creative Services hub. The new Growth Opportunities tool suggests and quantifies the sales impact of valuable actions to improve a brand's storefront.
- Amazon Global Selling is growing its local support for global sellers in Singapore, with expanding local support teams, Seller Community events, forums, and the addition of more Amazon Global Selling Ambassadors such as Naoki Matcha and Pristine.
- Roll out more innovative tools and services to empower businesses at all stages of selling globally
- Amazon is constantly listening to the voice of sellers and has made investments focused on several common themes that sellers face when expanding globally, namely, understanding local demand/preferences, compliance, inventory management and cross-border payments. This year, Amazon.com has launched many new innovative products and services available to global sellers that can help address those challenges, including Amazon Product Opportunity Explorer, Manage Your Compliance dashboard, Amazon Warehousing & Distribution and Seller Wallet.
- Introduce more global initiatives and enhance local support to sellers
- Amazon Global Selling will strengthen cooperation with local partners and third-party providers to jointly drive digital transformation and provide support in areas such as cross-border taxes, overseas warehousing, delivery service and brand compliance. We will continue to improve seller education resources and seller training programs for sellers at different stages of development. Besides, sellers new to selling on Amazon.com and the European stores can avail up to US$50,000 in new seller support, including Fulfilment by Amazon and Amazon advertising credits.
Anand Palit, Head of Global Selling, Southeast Asia, said, "With many small and medium enterprises now selling online, they stand at the cusp of booming opportunities all around them. The opportunity for capturing a slice of the international e-commerce pie is ripe, which small businesses should look to leverage. Our new solutions will help them smoothen the journey in cross-border e-commerce development, and bring the world and its customers closer to them. Whether businesses are just getting started online or have been selling on Amazon stores worldwide, we will continue to support their growth so they can thrive in an international playing field."
With the theme 'Small Businesses, Big Ambitions', the Summit continues tomorrow in a hybrid format – online via an Event App, and in person at the Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre in Singapore. Day 2 of the Summit will dive into selling on Amazon.sg, and innovative features such as Amazon Easy Ship to support local sellers reach and fulfil orders to local customers. The Summit will also explore opportunities to scale and export to Malaysia via a single workflow.
Jan Lim, Country Leader Singapore Marketplace, Amazon Singapore, said, "I am proud to see that many local businesses on Amazon.sg, such as Bizgram and Spigen, have started relying on the tools and programs we offer sellers, including Fulfilment by Amazon and Easy Ship. We offer a robust service provider network and educational resources for support in logistics and storage, account management, support to create listings for sellers, and advertising optimization. SMBs are a part of Amazon's DNA so we will keep ramping up investments as part of our firm belief in their success.".
Register now to attend key sessions, including:
- Keynote by Tiffany Lung, retail analyst for Inside Retail Asia, on the 2023 outlook of Asian e-commerce trends and how brands can connect with consumers.
- Amazon Singapore presentation on how brands can make the most of Amazon.sg's merchandizing tools during key shopping events.
- Amazon Singapore's insights into product selection and category trends.
For new and existing sellers to reach customers overseas (Day 1) and within Singapore (Day 2), the free two-day event provides opportunities to network with Amazon leaders, successful Amazon sellers, and third-party e-commerce service providers.
For more information and registration, please visit: https://sell.amazon.com.sg/seller-summit-2022.
About Amazon Global Selling
Amazon Global Selling helps businesses from anywhere in the world to launch a global business, reach Amazon customers around the world and build international brands. Through selling on Amazon online stores, sellers of different types and scale can reach Amazon's millions of Amazon customers worldwide, including 200 million+ Prime customers in overseas Amazon online stores; and more than five million business and institutional buyers in the USA, Europe, and Japan.
For more information about selling on Amazon, please visit http://sell.amazon.sg
Appendix
Amazon Sellers featured at the Amazon Southeast Asia Seller Summit 2022
Stev Tam, founder of Petite Simone, a bags and accessories brand on Amazon (North America) said: "Built upon the concept of fast and approachable fashion, we listen to the needs and wants of consumers, and push out designs to cater to their feedback. Based on consumer reviews, we can optimize a product and make it available online within 30-40 days. This has helped us in our sales by setting Petite Simone apart from other brands in this saturated industry. This is how we stay true to our tagline 'crafted to your style'. Besides using Amazon brand tools, our marketing team works with local influencers, key opinion leaders & live streamers, which has allowed us to gain more brand awareness and wider exposure. These are the main factors contributing to our month-on-month sales growth of 80-90% even as a relatively new brand."
Quanda Ong, founder of Gnome & Bow, a brand offering leather bags and wallets inspired by storybook classics on Amazon.com, said: "For local Singapore brands, we need to dream big. I do strongly believe that Singapore can be known for craftsmanship, design, creative flair, and we can share this with the world. Within the first month of listing our products on Amazon.com, we received over 2 million views for 1 product – impressions we could not possibly see in Singapore alone. Now, we have our sights set for sales from North America to make up half of our total sales as the potential is huge. We are excited to offer consumers in Singapore, the US, and Europe good quality leather goods without breaking the bank."
Steven Teo, Marketing Director for Baby K, a baby products brand for modern parents on Amazon (North America), said: "As parents ourselves, we understood first-hand what to look out for in baby products. As a marketer, Amazon's rich data on consumer trends, searches, and reviews are a marketer's dream. These two starting points helped us blend the art and science of product R&D. With the new Product Opportunity Explorer tool, we can collect even more product information — directly from Amazon — about popular or up-and-coming baby accessories that should be on our radar based on consumer preferences. Such data-driven insights help us make more confident decisions on what North American consumers want."
Niraj Agarwal, Co-founder, Bizgram, a computer and IT hardware brand on Amazon Singapore, said: "Since August 2021, we have grown tremendously on Amazon.sg and increased our monthly sales by more than 300%. We are thrilled to be able to expand our selection and now offer more than 3,000 products. These new products have helped increase our revenue too, thanks to Amazon's support with optimized pricing, Sponsored Ads, help with customer service and sales events such as Prime Day. We hope to continue growing in Singapore and beyond with Amazon."
Joon Seo An, founder of Spigen, a Korean phone cases and accessories brand on Amazon Singapore, said: "Our volume of products sold via Amazon has increased by 400% within a year, from July 2021. Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) has allowed us to focus on strengthening our brand and strategizing on new product launches, instead of worrying about our sales or operations. We are excited to increase our reach via Amazon.sg and soon start selling in Southeast Asia and other countries."