Retail Asia 2018 RA September.October 2018 (Online) | Page 48

E-COMMERCE
used a tech-powered strategy that has
helped them surge ahead and make the
most of this growth opportunity. While
incorporating localisation, innovative
marketing strategies and customer-
centric strategies are vital in winning
the market, technology has proved to be
the most crucial and defining element.
The most successful players in the region
today were the early adopters, who
recognised and adopted technology and
aligned themselves with e-commerce well
in time.
Product Information Management
(PIM), Master Data Management
(MDM), Order Management System
(OMS) or Multi-Channel Management
(MCM) — call it through any acronym.
Ultimately, digitisation has been the
keystone in riding this wave of change,
for all e-commerce operations, whether
multi-channel selling, logistics, payment
or warehousing. ra
Millennials in Asia will heavily influence online purchasing patterns in the region.
Fake e-commerce store stresses
loopholes in elephant ivory trade
IN August this year, online ivory
shop Ivory Lane promoted its
business on Facebook, which
prompted a strong public outcry in
Singapore.
It was later revealed that the
brand and e-commerce platform
were set up by World Wide Fund
for Nature (WWF) to highlight the
loopholes in local wildlife laws, as the
sale of elephant ivory remains legal in
Singapore under certain conditions.
“It is not easy to understand
wildlife laws and what is legal and
not, a reality that is often misused
by illegal traders. The general
uncertainty leads to illicit wildlife
trade hiding in plain sight. We set up
the online shop, Ivory Lane, on the
same legal premise that the real ivory
traders use to operate in Singapore,”
said Elaine Tan, chief executive officer
of WWF-Singapore (World Wide
Fund for Nature, Singapore).
Ivory that entered the market
before 1990 are still permitted for
sale in Singapore. According to
WWF, this continues to facilitate
illicit ivory trade globally as recently
poached ivory could masquerade as
vintage ivory. WWF’s investigations
found over 40 shops in Singapore
selling ivory products and
numerous online listings
on popular e-commerce
and classified platforms.
In physical stores, traders
explained how to smuggle
ivory across borders
undetected, showing WWF
investigators how easily the
loopholes in the law can be
misused.
Ivory that entered the market
before 1990 are still permitted
for sale in Singapore.
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Retail Asia September/October 2018
“Businesses involved in the sales
of illegal wildlife products — whether
as retail platforms or actual shops —
need to understand that by doing so
they are facilitating an illicit trade
linked to criminal organisations,”
Janissa Ng, spokesperson, WWF-
Singapore, told Retail Asia.
“The rise of online platforms has
created additional channels for illegal
wildlife traders to ply their products.
Online platforms may not be directly
selling these products but are critical
to closing online markets for illegal
wildlife trade. Google, Microsoft,
Facebook, Ebay and Alibaba are
some global companies that have
committed to take action. Putting in
place policies against selling illegal
wildlife products are a first step. These
companies can also help detect and
report any suspected illegal wildlife
trade activity taking place on their
channels,” she continued.
Ng also encourages businesses
involved in the sale of wildlife
products to “operate responsibly in
line with local and international laws
aimed at preventing the exploitation
of biodiversity”. ra