Myanmar E-commerce Trends 2020

Posted byHappio Team Posted onMay 8, 2020 Comments0
Myanmar E-commerce

With the Covid-19, Myanmar E-Commerce will accelerate faster than expected. Previously on Myanmar Media Landscape we have explained briefly about Myanmar E-commerce trends in 2019 which in last year it became more popular in the big cities due to the growth of internet usage in Myanmar. In this article we will continue presenting about Myanmar E-commerce trends 2020. Moreover, we will see that are there any new online shopping trends? And How about the payment and shipping, is there new improvement now?

Myanmar E-commerce
Shop.com.mm is still in the top list of
Myanmar E-commerce Trends 2020

What are the popular e-commerce sites in 2020?

            The E-commerce sites in Myanmar which we mentioned, citymall.com.mm and Shop.com.mm. The citymall.com.mm website entered the Myanmar market in 2017 and followed by Shop.com.mm from Alibaba in 2018. Shop.com.mm became very popular in 2018-2019 by providing special promotion campaigns in many special periods for Myanmar. How about 2020, what are the popular e-commerce sites?

            So far, Shop.com.mm is still at the top of popular online shopping websites in Myanmar. It provides payment options by credit or debit cards and cash on delivery service so buyers can choose the most convenient payment method for themselves.This website also offers buyers to track their order on service@shop.com.mm. So buyers can make sure that their orders are on the way home.  Other than various products on sale, Shop.com.mm is available for delivery all across Myanmar through its logistic partners. Shop.com.mm is now available in an application called “Shop Online Shopping App”. Until now there are over 1 millions installs from Google Play Store.

Myanmar E-commerce
Shop Online Shopping App


Another popular site for mobile phones, electronic items and cars is
OneKyat, a shopping site that now turns to focus mainly on an application called “OneKyat” with over 1 million installs from Google Play Store. OneKyat is a Buy and Sell C2C marketplace for Myanmar and designed to make it simple and easy to use. Users can sell, buy or trade used or new items with each other via the in-app chat function or make the direct phone call to make the deal faster. On OneKyat app, there are a lot of used or new items  such as motorbikes, mobile phones, or fashions items selling there. The biggest thing that they sell on application is a car. OneKyat is also open for users to contact them via Facebook Page and Instagram. OneKyat Facebook Page has over 1,453,491 followers.

Myanmar E-commerce Myanmar E-commerce

         Another one is a popular site that did a very good adaptation during the Covid-19 situation is Rgo47.com. It self-acclaimed to be the leading online marketplace with the stellar reputation of providing excellent customer satisfaction. Rgo47 sells products in many categories such as clothes, children, groceries, mobile phone gadgets and many others. Specially, in the Covid-19 situation Rgo47 is putting more focus on sanitizer products like mask, face field and alcohol. More than that, Rgo47 also sells groceries products online to satisfied people who don’t want to go out in this situation.

       Buyers can order goods directly on the website or hotline call and then buyers can choose whether they would like to pay by online payment like KBZ Pay or cash on delivery. Rgo47 provides delivery services through every city in Myanmar. Rgo47 launched its application called “rgo47 – Online Shopping & Marketplace in Myanmar” with about over 100,000 installs. Besides, now it also offers buyers to make an order via Facebook Page too. Rgo47 Facebook Page has about 3,032,538 followers.

 

Myanmar E-commerce

Myanmar e-commerce is pretty much spread out in 2019-2020 and the websites are improving to application platforms which are more popular amongst buyers nowaday. Most people in Myanmar shop online because of 3 main reasons:

  • First, to get what they can’t buy in the area. As we know,In Myanmar some brands or items are still not available in many towns apart from Yangon and Mandalay such as mobile phone accessories, computers, fashion products, cosmetics and many others. So Online shops are the ways to make their world of shopping closer to their house. They can get what they want with only a few clicks on their phone.
  • Second, it seems to be cheaper than a showroom. Many online shops always offer promotions and campaigns via their media. So people will feel that they get a special price from online shopping. Also in the idea that online shops save the cost of labour and accommodation so they can sell items at a cheaper price.
  • And more convenient, of course online shopping is a very suitable way for people who don’t want to go out or no time for outdoor shopping.

 Myanmar E-commerce


According to MOI in December 2019 donor organizations and stakeholders have a plan to discuss and gather opinion with the aim of coming up with an e-commerce strategy or policy recommendations in relation to marketplace policy, payment systems, logistics, infrastructure, cross border trade, cyber security, etc.
 Beside that, even there are many popular online shopping websites in Myanmar but the most popular way to do online shopping is shopping on social media.

 

Myanmar E-commerce

Social Commerce

         After Social media has become a part of daily life of Myanmar people, all the internet users in Myanmar use social media for consuming news, communication or even searching for information. In 2019, many Myanmar retail sellers are using Facebook, the most popular social media in Myanmar, as a new way to reach clients in Myanmar online market. This kind of social commerce is very popular and becoming a very important Myanmar E-commerce Trend right now.
       For example, Nang San NWTSS Os Facebook Page is a mobile phone gadgets shop with 8,731 followers. It’s doing social commerce on Facebook Page by selling products on the Facebook Feed and providing buyers to order via inbox or phone call. Moreover, they offer door to door (Door2Door) delivery service in Yangon area. (Only in Okkalapa and Hlaingthaya district due to the bicycle delivery which we will talk about in another section). This online shop is famous among young adults and buyers prefer this shop because of its face and active replying not only to inbox messages but also comments.

        Myanmar E-commerce

       For some more examples, next let’s take a look at a big brand. Nature Republic, the company has successfully positioned Nature Republic in the Top 3 Best Selling Korean Cosmetics Brands in Myanmar within 3 years. Nature Republic doing social commerce and social media marketing on Facebook Page name Nature Republic Myanmar with about 4.9 million followers. This brand provides buyers to order products via inbox message and also phone call. Of Course, the brand offers free online delivery service and always gives special promotion for online shopping too.

Myanmar E-commerce

Other than that Nature Republic is not only selling products online but also doing O2O marketing. They try to reach online buyers by offer promotion and lead them to shop at the shop. There are many Official Nature Republic Flagship Stores throughout Myanmar. It’s very popular among Myanmar ladies and receiving good engagement from online buyers on Facebook Page.

Myanmar E-commerce Myanmar E-commerce

Moreover, some brands have come up with online campaigns on Facebook to attract buyers. Hearty Heart, the cosmetic brand with cute character and targeted young girls, is a good example. Recently, Hearty Heart created Stay Home with Hearty Heart online campaign to persuade people to change Facebook Profile picture with Hearty Heart’s  #Stay_Home_Frame.

Person who gets the most likes and reactions will get a special gift from Hearty Heart. Of Course, this campaign got good engagement from their girl fans. Hearty Heart also offers buyers to shop online via Facebook Shop feature and order their product via Facebook message. Hearty heart has about 820,548 followers.    We can say that Facebook online shopping is becoming the most popular way of e-commerce in Myanmar. Because of doing online shopping on facebook, buyers feel that they get convenience, safe time and safe life (especially during the covid-19 situation) together with buyers feeling happier when they can contact the shop and ask for more information directly. Again Facebook also provides a special feature that sellers can use to reach buyers in more interesting ways.

 

Myanmar E-commerce
Live Commerce is a new feature of Myanmar E-commerce Trends 2020

Live & Conversational Commerce

          Facebook live is another new page of Myanmar e-commerce history. Apart from online shopping on Facebook by chatting or phone call, Facebook Live is a new form of communication that many online shops use for selling their products and also get good engagement from people too. For example, Myanmar Snaker 42 – second hand branded shoes shop Facebook Page with 53,700 followers.

           This shop is selling second hand branded shoes on Facebook Page by posting selling posts and Live streaming. In the live video with about 1-3 hours long, the seller will show many shoes and talk about their details. Some viewers who have questions about the products can ask through the comment and the seller will answer immediately. If someone wants to order shoes they can just send a number and a name of the shoes (as the seller said) on the comment to reserve it. Most of the live video has over 10-20k viewers.

           Live and conversational commerce is on its way to becoming one of the popular Myanmar E-commerce Trends due to the interest, convenience, and fun. This kind of e-commerce is suitable for retail shops or brands that want to do online campaigns and provide promotion in a more interesting way. In 2020 there are various ways that make doing business online much easier. Nevertheless, processes after sale like payment and delivery in Myanmar are still challenging but not that so hard as before.

 

Myanmar E-commerce Myanmar E-commerce Myanmar E-commerce

E-Wallet

             According to MOI, In terms of payment systems, digital payment systems in Myanmar are one too many. Wave Money is the leader of E-wallet in Myanmar and closely followed by KBZ pay There are at least ten other licensed operators. Plus at least five more in the application pipeline expected to be in operation, before the end of the first quarter of 2020. Yet the key to success in digital payments is being the one and clear cut early mover like WeChat pay or having a large user base, like Alipay.                Recently, in early April 2020, the first celebrity application appeared in Myanmar and in the world. It’s called Sai Sai Pay (from Sai Sai Kham Leng’s name). This app  will create a digital lifestyle ecosystem, support the local music, film industry and raise funds for COVID-19 and provide a digital lifestyle ecosystem including live-streaming, music store, e-commerce, and rewards.
As an E-wallet app users can do wallet top-up, mobile top-up and online transfer via this app too. Sai Sai Pay also includes a fan club feature that allows users to interact with the local artists. This wallet app was launched by UAB bank, the leading bank in Myanmar. Lately, there were over 100k downloads from Google Play Store. Sai Sai did his first live-stream called
Sai Sai Birthday Show” in Bedroom on April 10th and this show received about 50 million mmk (about 35,195 dollars) donation from Sai Sai’s fans.
It’s a new step of E-wallet in Myanmar and on its way of growing. Also it is very interesting to follow that this app will be a new popular Myanmar E-commerce Trends by this year or not. 

             No doubt that the E-wallet or internet banking in Myanmar is still mostly used only in the group of people in the big city, young generation, people who have credit or debit cards and some business man. Many people who do online shopping via websites or social media still use cash on delivery for their payment. So it is very important to note that payment and delivery are very important things for brands to consider before starting e-commerce in Myanmar.

 

Myanmar E-commerce
Food delivery service is the new Myanmar E-commerce Trends that accelerated by Covid-19

E-Logistic 

           As mentioned above, most people that do online shopping are in big cities like Yangon and Mandalay. So there are some companies that provide delivery services. For example, Yangon Door2Door is the premier online food ordering and delivers the items service in Yangon.
It self-acclaimed that delivery will be predominantly through bicycles, ensuring a greener, faster and more efficient delivery service. The company may also deliver by cars on an as-needed basis for larger orders or specialty items. Many restaurants and brands in Yangon are using this company to deliver their products to customers. Anyway, Door2Door still has limitation on delivery areas. Because of the delivery by bicycle so it is available now only in Yangon Door2Door and Mandalay Door2Door.

             Apart from the delivery company in big cities, there are other interesting ways of shipping in Myanmar which are shipping by bus express and delivery team. If customers are in other cities far away from Yangon, most of the online products will be delivered by bus and the buyers will pick-up their items at the bus station or depend on their convenience.
Another way is
Delivery Team, for example in Mandalay, there is a Facebook group named “Delivery Service (Mandalay Team)”. If you want to ship something, you can just post into the group to find someone who will ship items for you. Then, those who are interested will leave the phone number and negotiate about the fee. Anyway, if you are an online shop that wants to use this kind of service you should remember that it is important to make sure that you get the delivery man who is trustworthy.

Myanmar E-commerce


How about if a buyer has no exact address? How to deliver? 

There are 2 main ways to solve this issue.

  • First way, pick-up your item from the shop branch nearest to you instead. If the buyers buy items from big brands or websites which have their own offices or shops in other cities. Just like shop.com.mm they offer buyers to pick-up items from one of their office locations. Shop will notify buyers when items arrive so that buyers may collect the orders at a time convenient to them.
  • Second way, use street, village, city and phone number. Normally, people who have no specific address will leave their street name, village and phone number for the delivery name. So when the delivery man is close to the place, he will make a call and the buyer can direct the way on the phone.

How much is the delivery fee and how long does it take?

           Generally, the delivery fee has to be paid by the buyers and the costs undertaken by Shop and logistics companies depends on the distance and item size.  Delivery fee in Yangon downtown is generally around 1,000-2,000 mmk. Yangon to Mandalay by bus express, the fee will be considered by the size of your items. Generally around 2,500-4,500 mmk.  About time, It mainly depends on the distance between the seller’s location and the destination. According to Shop.mm.com, here is the standard delivery timelines.

Myanmar E-commerce

*FBS Myanmar အွန်လိုင်းကုန်သွယ်မှု အကျိုးဆောင်ကုမ္ပဏီ (FBS Myanmar Incorporation Co., Ltd.)
**Fulfilled by Shop (FBS) timelines are only applicable for some products.

           Anyway in 2019-2020, there are many delivery companies apart from Door2Door or bus express that started their business in Myanmar to provide food delivery services in Yangon such as Foodpanda, Grab Food, Hi-So, Food Mall and Fresh Gora. Especially in the Covid-19 situation, many restaurants and brands in Myanmar (mainly in Yangon) are providing online delivery services by the shops will manage their own way of delivery. Food delivery is becoming very popular in Myanmar market 2020.

 

Conclusion of Myanmar E-commerce Trends 2020

            As of today, 27th April 2020, due to Covid-19 pandemic Myanmar E-commerce is growing rapidly. Especially social commerce on Facebook that is becoming very popular not only for people in big cities but also through every part of Myanmar. Because of the convenience of asking for more information and making orders make buyers satisfied. Coming up trend that is popular now is also shopping through Facebook Live.  About significant parts, payment and logistics, many companies are trying very hard to improve their services to support every user in Myanmar. As a brand, choosing the right media and using the easiest payment and delivery service would be a handicap in doing E-commerce in Myanmar market.

If you are interested in doing E-commerce in Myanmar, here are fundamental questions that you should answer…

  1. What do you want to sell and who is the target group?
  2. Which online media is the best way to reach them? (Website? Facebook? etc.)
  3. How to generate sales leads?
  4. What is the most appropriate way to do the payment and delivery for your product?

If you are not assured about the answer,our Happio Team is here to find the best answer for you. We are ready to be your partner for doing Myanmar marketing with our professional experience in the Myanmar market. Drop us an email or a call if you need more information.
We would appreciate every contact.

References:
https://mm.myanmartechpress.com/online-shopping-websites/
https://inmya.com/news/2019/10/03/66276
https://www.facebook.com/Nang-San-NWTSS-Os-2080175818726566/
https://www.facebook.com/HYPEClothingOnlineShop/
https://www.facebook.com/MS42secondhandbrandedshoesshop/videos/228465828299849/
https://www.kbzbank.com/mm/blog/news-mm/35960/
https://communalnews.com/my/heavy-growth-in-mobile-wallet-market/
https://www.uab.com.mm/news/media-releases/uab-bank-and-sai-sai-partners-first-celebrity-app-raise-funds-covid-19
https://burma.irrawaddy.com/lifestyle/entertainment/2020/04/10/220450.html  
https://helpcenter.shop.com.mm/page/knowledge?pageId=14&category=1000001240&knowledge=1000006818&language=en

 

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