THE Year 2020 will go down in history as a year of major upheaval and change. Little did anyone expect, as we celebrated the dawn of a new decade, that the Covid-19 pandemic would soon sweep throughout the world, effectively grinding economies to a halt as the battle is being fought to minimise loss of lives.
A huge impact can be seen in lifestyle changes, whereby everyone has to adapt to staying in under movement control measures put in place in response to the crisis.
However, such adversity has seen the dawning of opportunities in seeking new commercial possibilities in the form of the World Wide Web – to quickly adapt to the current situation, many suppliers and buyers have turned to online platforms to fulfil their needs without flouting the movement control order imposed by our government. This trend is backed by the performance of online platforms such as Amazon US and Alibaba in mainland China.
Meanwhile, the popularity of cross-border e-commerce platforms has indicated an outstanding increase in foreign trade platform sales performance, especially in industries related to anti-epidemic amanities and food.
The turnover of Taiwantrade in February was 24% higher than in January. In support, TAITRA (Taiwan External Trade Development Council) released a free shipping allowance for Taiwantrade's EP membership and started to assist manufacturers for customised e-commerce consulting services since March; the "Digital Trade Workshop" was launched on March 17.
To fulfil demands of consumers today, B2B e-commerce platforms have actively upgraded their online performance in response to online procurement needs during the pandemic to win over suppliers and buyers.
Global Sources is a professional B2B trading platform combining a professional offline exhibition experience combating the problems of indefinite network information, continuous network fraud and information fragmentation, to provide buyers and sellers a smooth combination of the online-to-offline professional trading platform, creating integrated O2O services.
Its Global Sources Online (GSOL) platform has been awarded the most trusted by suppliers and buyers. It breaks away from time and geography, enabling both buyers and suppliers to trade online anytime, anywhere.
The latest English and iPad version of GSOL has been released. It is more user-friendly and subjects are updated quarterly. For improved navigation, columns have been clearly renamed and the content and pages of advertisement reduced.
Also, the page and process of obtaining a quote has been simplified, and light-quantity procurement services are recommended.
In response to the complex and changing environment today, Global Sources also provides a series of supporting measures to overcome the difficulties of suppliers and encourages suppliers to communicate with overseas customers, fighting against the pandemic to stabilise orders and win time and space, while encouraging buyers to get the new product information of from any "Verified Supplier" and order samples through GSOL.
When it comes to solving difficult orders, addressing difficult performance, poor international logistics and other external problems, enterprises can rely on foreign trade platforms such as Global Sources – a complete digital foreign trade website to make orders from overseas buyers a smoother and more seamless experience.
This unprecedented outbreak has greatly pressured the retail industry in terms of slow-selling goods and weak consumer demand, sparking off a chain reaction throughout the entire industry. In response, many enterprises have accelerated transformation to online business.
To play a key role in the industrial chain, e-commerce and foreign trade platforms also provide various assistance plans for enterprises.
This worldwide crisis has made enterprises aware that digital transformation is imperative. Many are now using live broadcast tools, production and marketing platforms as well as logistics systems provided by e-commerce to find a solution.
As an added bonus, the e-commerce platform also provides a variety of assistance programmes for enterprises, including online marketing, website traffic support, financial perks and human resources coordination.
The impact of the pandemic on the economy is as heavy as the financial crisis in 2008. However, many experts believe this will also create new opportunities for some industries. The demand for collaboration platforms, cloud computing, robotics, artificial intelligence, big data, and goods and materials of epidemic prevention may increase. For example, as many enterprises have started to work from home, it could accelerate the popularity of telecommuting.
Traditional industries or SMEs should seize the chance to train employees to telecommute and make good use of cloud collaboration tools for avoiding business shut down, or avoiding greater negative economic impact.
Source : https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2020/04/22/adapting-to-the-times