Liat Beng Neo, one of the co-founders of Arrow and a veteran in the Fintech and payments space talks about how businesses in Southeast Asia can rise to the evolving challenges of providing a seamless omnichannel experience for their customers.
EITN: What are the main differences between omni-channel and social commerce?
Neo: Omni-channel commerce is seen as the combination of brick-and-mortar stores as well as online platforms. On the other hand, social commerce takes place through social media platforms such as Instagram, Whatsapp, and Tiktok.
When a retailer is looking to take an omni-channel approach to their sales strategy, integration of in-store, online platforms, and social media may take place. This strategy not only provides more channels for potential purchases to take place on, but also improves the overall shopping experience for consumers, supporting them on their favourite platform to shop from.
It is crucial to note that omni-channel success depends on the alignment of back-end operations and consumer-facing services such as marketing, checkout methods and inventory management.
When a retailer is looking to take an omni-channel approach to their sales strategy, integration of in-store, online platforms, and social media may take place. This strategy not only provides more channels for potential purchases to take place on, but also improves the overall shopping experience for consumers, supporting them on their favourite platform to shop from.
EITN: In your observation, what are the drivers for social commerce? What would you say the ecosystem that supports these drivers, is like?
Neo: According to research, one of the main drivers for social commerce is the presence of social commerce constructs, such as the ability to leave ratings and reviews for products, make recommendations and referrals, and forums for customers to share their purchase experiences (for example, whether it was seamless or difficult to checkout) and information.
For example, when Arrow first entered the Indonesia market, we quickly found out that customers want to interact with someone to answer their questions on the product, pricing, fulfilment etc. before purchasing. Social interaction within social commerce is an expectation for customers, based off the idea that they are being valued and understood.
EITN: What are the basic functions of an e-commerce checkout solution and what must it be able to deliver?
Neo: A successful e-commerce checkout solution, in a nutshell, must contribute to the overall consumer user experience – quick, and secure. We recognised that checkout processes are broken across Southeast Asia – the checkout funnel is significantly longer in the region, with tedious forms to be filled followed by inconsistent payment flows due to the range of non-card payment methods that customers expect merchants to support, such as bank transfers.
Besides providing the customer a seamless checkout experience, the ideal solution must also bring value to the merchant side by tightly integrating into merchants’ storefronts and existing backends, as well as have a wide range of supported payment gateways and payment methods – it should not be adding further complications to the already complex tech-stack businesses maintain. Working with the right partner will also enable the seller to expand into new channels and platforms.
The solution should address all the above and include capabilities that cater to the nuances and unique e-commerce habits of the region. Some examples of value-added functions include a one-click function that enables the customer who has saved their details before to experience an accelerated checkout process, as well as consolidating the customer’s shipping information, affiliated loyalty programmes, favourite payment methods, and relevant discount codes all in one place.
Besides providing the customer a seamless checkout experience, the ideal solution must also bring value to the merchant side by tightly integrating into merchants’ storefronts and existing backends, as well as have a wide range of supported payment gateways and payment methods – it should not be adding further complications to the already complex tech-stack businesses maintain. Working with the right partner will also enable the seller to expand into new channels and platforms.
EITN: What are future trends of e-commerce you see, that checkout solutions must be able to cater to?
Neo: The e-commerce industry in Southeast Asia’s six largest markets is set to continue growing, likely reaching US$172 billion in value in 2025, according to Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company. Of which, mobile shopping will continue to be one of the main platforms that drive sales within the e-commerce landscape. Customers who shop via their phone will look to the added convenience and ability to make digital payments, seamlessly. Along the same line, social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram have emerged as a new channel for retailers to sell their products directly.
Checkout solutions must be optimised for mobile payment integrations to capture these opportunities.
EITN: What is your solution able to offer now, and in the next 3 years?
Neo: Arrow was founded in 2021 in Singapore, and we’ve quickly expanded into Malaysia and just made our first hires in Indonesia in February.
We offer a seamless mobile checkout for cards and alternative payment methods like e-wallets, bank transfers and buy-now-pay-later, catering to the high propensity of mobile-first shoppers across the region.
Our checkout-as-a-service solution can be embedded across all digital shopping channels such as e-commerce sites, chat, social media and digital ads. The platform already supports all major payment methods widely used in these 3 markets, including Atome, GrabPay, Boost, GoPay.
The latest seed funding raise will enable us to grow our team and establish ourselves on the ground in key markets. In the coming years, we’ll be aiming to venture into other Southeast Asia markets such as the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Ultimately, we see ourselves empowering merchants through the region by creating significantly improved checkout experiences on locally relevant sales channels.
Our checkout-as-a-service solution can be embedded across all digital shopping channels such as e-commerce sites, chat, social media and digital ads. The platform already supports all major payment methods widely used in these 3 markets, including Atome, GrabPay, Boost, GoPay.
