As was reflected in the soaring stock prices for Amazon and other
online players, ecommerce boomed as consumers stayed at home and shopped
online. But it wasn’t only the giants of the internet making gains. Smaller,
more nimble players were quick to advance their digitalisation agendas in the
wake of the pandemic.
E-commerce projects squeezed into 10 months
The challenges of the coronavirus pandemic have brought a silver
lining for some companies – both new and established. Co-Founder & Chief
Executive Officer Chang Wen Lai of Ninja Van, a technology-enabled logistics
company, found the surge in home deliveries was good for his six-year old
business, while for more established companies, the shift to digitalisation
accelerated.
Mahesh Kini, Head of Cash Management for BNP Paribas in Asia Pacific
told a recent Greenwich Coalition panel that despite Asia Pacific accounting
for around 50% of global e-commerce, it has taken the pandemic to propel
clients to move from a process of electronification to rapid digitalisation. Some businesses saw three-year e-commerce projects compress into 10
months, as stringent curbs on the physical movement of people upended their
business model. For companies in sectors such as luxury goods, this
hyper-acceleration may emerge as a blessing in disguise.
Younger companies may not have the
challenges of legacy technology and consumer behaviour, but the global pandemic
still made them rethink some aspects of their business, Ninja Van’s Chang Wen
Lai said in a live webinar session recently hosted by BNP Paribas in Singapore.
Covid-19 revealed the joys of online shopping
Many have changed their opinions about e-commerce, and companies old
and new have had to adapt. With some customers coming online to buy for the
first time, they have learned to appreciate the convenience and transparency of
the experience.
Photo courtesy: Ninja Van
Chang Wen explained, “People viewed e-commerce as a little more
troublesome compared to purchasing goods in a shop, just cheaper. During
lockdowns, because consumers had no choice but to buy online, they realised the
entire experience was one where it was actually pretty convenient.” Mahesh of BNP Paribas agreed, and added that the speed of adaptation
by some companies to the new normal was “surprisingly fast”.
“In Asia, the first wave of Covid-19 prompted a strong reaction. By
the time waves two and three hit, companies had well and truly evolved. It’s
really been quite remarkable.”
New world, new opportunities
Chang Wen left banking to start Ninja Van in 2014 in Singapore,
e-commerce was expanding but deliveries were still archaic. No one was getting
their parcels delivered on time, Chang Wen remembers: “It was just a very
broken process, and so we took the opportunity to enter the market.”
From their early days, Ninja Van focused on being a problem solver rather
than aiming to revolutionise logistics with an overly ambitious grand vision.
Merging technology with operations, Ninja Van today has 100% coverage across
Southeast Asia and employs more than 30,000 employees that help to deliver more
than 1.5 million parcels a day.
Photo courtesy: Ninja Van
The Covid-19 boost to
e-commerce also came with its challenges and operational
difficulties for Ninja Van: “The reality on the ground is that this is a people
heavy business,” Chang Wen said. “And when our ability to travel, to connect
with our local offices and to build that level of trust goes away, you start to
see that it’s not as easy to operate.”
Managing the transition
The accelerated transition to e-commerce comes with new distribution
models and methods, explained Mahesh. “Think about a sector like luxury. Even
in 2020, their business model was built around customers coming into the store
and buying what they want. In lockdown, the luxury business has to come to the
consumer via e-commerce.”
Mahesh continued: “Around the second quarter of 2020, we had
customers in the luxury segment come to us wanting to implement e-commerce
portals and connect new payment channels. They wanted it completed within 30
days – which in most cases we were able to do.”
Empowering a digital transformation may mean setting up new
distribution models that are better suited to e-commerce, or selecting new
digital tools to manage inventory, track deliveries, or to integrate and
reconcile electronic payments with Treasury Management Systems (TMS) and
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platforms.
Banks are moving fast to help businesses in this transition, added
Mahesh, with fintech collaboration key to unlocking timely and transformative
digital technologies.
Ninja Van developed an interlinked set of proprietary systems and processes, including AI-assisted tools, that enable the end-to-end tracking of parcels across every step of the delivery life cycle. That means all parcels are electronically tracked from the moment they are packed to the moment they are delivered.
Ninja Van’s technology is designed to be intuitive, ensuring new hires become efficient with their tools quickly. This enabled the company to grow rapidly to meet significant demand through the lockdowns.