Asian eCommerce Korean Cosmetic Boom!

International corporations faced bankruptcy in the beginning of 2000.

This allowed the southeast Asian countries to dominate the Internet with blogging, social networking, and other websites and we see that Korean cosmetics and e-commerce had grown massively.

Global businesses no longer only transport their products to that country, but really provide them in addition to products and services which are tailored to that country's particular needs, done through local offices and warehouses. Even though Photobook Malaysia was founded in 2005 with a seed investment of RM1.4 million, which provides individuals with the ability to produce photo books using digital pictures, it is already an international enterprise with revenues exceeding RM100 million.

Today we see power houses like YesAsia (YesStyle) dominating the Korean Cosmetic Market.

Zalora was the first large-scale firm to join the online retail industry in the area with its fashion venture, Rocket Internet, based in Singapore. The Amazon-like venture Lazada Malaysia followed on the heels of Rocket Internet's initial success. The approach was to get into the Southeast Asian market by providing the chance to buy the same goods obtained from international corporations along with other local goods sold through an on-campus e-commerce business that was located nearby. Regardless of whether method is chosen, delivery takes only a few days when delivery previously took up to a month. Lazada Malaysia and Zalora are among the leading and most frequently visited websites in South-East Asia. Because JP Morgan, Kinnevik, and Summit Partners saw the tremendous potential of the Southeast Asian market, they each invested millions of dollars in Lazada.

Ascend Group, the spin-off of True Corporation and subsidiary of C.P. Group, founded WeLoveShopping in 2004. In the last several months, the site has switched to a commission-based business model. When the customer receives the merchandise, only then will the vendor get compensated. It wasn't long until Ascend Group established iTrueMart as a B2C e-commerce platform in 2013. iTrueMart made the transition to AWS for their e-commerce website in 2015, and began operating in the Philippines.

e-companies adapted themselves to the market and its challenges in order to overcome the mistrust of the customers. A spokesperson for Rocket Internet commented that the payment methods including credit card and cash on delivery were selected by the company in order to provide consumers additional payment options. Moreover, they revised the old-school business procedures to match the demands of the market: They established the “14-day return” policy and free and speedy shipping throughout the world to rekindle customer loyalty.

Rakuten, Japan's leading B2B2C online retailer, soon after the debut of Lazada and Zalora, also launched Rakuten in Malaysia to enter the same market. The 2010 launch of their Malaysian business is their largest accomplishment in the region. As well, to keep up with the demands of the customers, they had to provide attractive payment options and superior customer service.

The Philippines is the second-largest country in Southeast Asia, and is quickly expanding as an e-commerce market. Currently, the Philippines has 37.75 million eCommerce users, and 18.2 million more are projected to begin using the platform by 2022. Soon, 45.77 million eCommerce customers will spend $48.72 on their eCommerce purchases each month. A total of US$1.49 billion of Philippine e-commerce revenue is anticipated to increase to US$2.62 billion by 2021. The electronics and media products are now the top selling products in the Philippines, with a total market share of $618.6 million. These products are followed by the toys, hobbies, and DIY (do-it-yourself) merchandise, which have a market share of $336.5 million. Fifty-seven percent of Filipino customers prefer paying in cash upon delivery.

As internet businesses proliferated, price comparison websites grew in prominence. Before redirecting, the merchants' websites are visited by individuals who have been sent from the product database website. An example of these websites is Priceza, which is called iprice outside of Asia. Other similar websites include PricePanda, Pricetory, and NowCheapCheap.

Despite a lack of confidence in e-commerce and a variety of cultural problems, e-businesses have seen double-digit growth, and appear to be ready to become profitable.