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SINGAPORE: Build it and they will come. Or so the saying goes.
This seems to be the e-commerce site of the strategy that Qoo10 is adopting as it seems to make things tremble in the online shopping space.
The Singapore-based online business plans to officially launch its blockchain-based e-commerce site, QuuBe, in the new year. When he does so, he said he will introduce a new way of dealing with e-commerce as a business, eliminating the need for service or transaction fees usually imposed on online sellers.
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Founder and CEO Ku Young Bae told Channel NewsAsia during an interview ahead of the launch that the adoption of blockchain was the simplest, simplest and most sustainable approach to trade in general, not just in online space.
New users of Qoo10 will have to register with the company and create a digital wallet necessary to store the digital currency – Q * Coins.
A Q * coin is equivalent to $ 1 US. The day that Channel NewsAsia spoke to the CEO, a Q * currency is worth $ 1.38.
Qoo10 says that people who buy more Q * coins will be entitled to a 10% discount for a limited period at launch. (Image: Qoo10)
Buyers can then use the currency to purchase items on QuuBe, which lists product prices only in Q * coins.
"We seem to be taking a step back in the adoption of a prepaid digital wallet system, but this will help consumers to develop markets that do not have credit cards, for example, to buy online again," Ku explained.
A blockchain is a distributed registry system that records and stores transactions carried out between digital portfolios that are safeguarded by cryptographic algorithms that are difficult to decipher. Information on these portfolios can only be changed if you have the right key and you can not make any changes to the ledger once the transaction is verified.
Because QuuBe is designed to be a private blockchain, users' digital portfolios and content will only be visible to their owners, the CEO clarified.
He added that beyond the blockchain rules, Qoo10 designed its platform in such a way that the payments made are kept in storage until there is proof of a successful delivery – either from the buyer's confirmation or from an update by the logistics partner. This, he said, is an additional layer for the protection of buyers.
Furthermore, it eliminates the need for a third party to verify and process the transaction, as is currently the case for online payments, thus eliminating another cost component for retailers who, hopefully, could transfer savings to consumers, explained Ku.
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With the elimination of payment processing costs and the reduction of IT system expenses needed to keep things like databases, Mr. Ku said these savings are then transferred to resellers. For example, online sellers no longer have to pay service fees from 7% to 12% at Qoo10 when they list on QuuBe, he said the CEO.
In turn, higher profit margins mean that sellers have more flexibility to lower their prices, which could bring benefits to consumers, he added.
A NEW WAY OF PURCHASE
The CEO shared that QuuBe was launched in a soft way on November 1st of this year, with 100 retailers on board offering around 500,000 products. Since then, around 10,000 transactions have been conducted, he added.
A trader on the blockchain e-commerce platform is the travel agency THK Tour. The CEO Erica Huang told Channel NewsAsia via email that the company has signed a contract with Quube due to its past relationships and his trust with the online shopping platform.
"Previous sales from Qoo10 are pretty good," said Ms. Huang. "Marketing for sellers is also quite good and effective. (These) give me confidence in QuuBe."
On the blockchain system on which QuuBe is based, he said he understands that all offers will be based on Q * coins and is a "new shopping or lifestyle platform" that people will want to get on board.
The fact that QuuBe is removing transactions and listing fees has also been an attraction factor for the company.
"(This) means that we are saving our business costs on e-commerce and are more flexible in our prices," explained Ms. Huang. "We can also have more promotions for our customers because of cost savings."
BLOCKCHAIN STARDUST?
In the end, QuuBe will not replace the main Qoo10 e-commerce site, but will act as a complementary offering, Ku said.
The CEO of Qoo10, Ku Young Bae, believes that blockchain is the way to reach people who have little or no access to the benefits of online commerce. (Photo: Qoo10)
He added that getting online merchants and shoppers to engage in a prepaid digital currency method also helps convince people to develop markets that may not have easy access to credit or debit cards to engage in business. e-commerce.
The CEO acknowledged that other digital payments players like Grab and Fave are also trying to tackle this obstacle through their respective mobile wallet offerings, but is advocating blockchain technology as a deciding factor for this.
It also helps to grow the footprint of the e-commerce platform in the Southeast Asian region.
The Business Times reported in April that it sold its Japanese assets to eBay to increase its coffers in preparation for a battle with other market players such as Lazada and Shopee – both backed by embalmed supporters of Alibaba and Tencent.
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In figures from the online shopping aggregator based on Malaysia iPrice showing traffic to these e-commerce sites until November, Qoo10 was the most visited by Singapore-based buyers with an average of 10.2 million visits. Lazada was close to 7.3 million, although it quickly surpassed the leader in November, which "could be strongly guided by the 11.11 (online shopping event)," iPrice told Channel NewsAsia in a statement. email.
However, the Qoo10 domain here is not reflected in the other regional markets in which it is located, such as Indonesia and Malaysia.
The figures from the iPrice third-quarter E-Commerce map showed that it is not on the list of the five best e-commerce platforms in Malaysia or Indonesia. The e-commerce unit of Lazada and Sea, Shopee, was at the top of the list in Malaysia, while Tokopedia and Bukalapak were the platforms of choice for Indonesian buyers.
So, will QuuBe be the key to unlocking the door so that Qoo10 is more than one race in these regional markets? The CEO Ku is optimistic that the blockchain game places him for future growth.
"While the many economies of Southeast Asia continue to grow financially and technologically, e-commerce platforms must be ready to welcome new users with very different requirements," he said in Thursday's press release announcing the launch of QuuBe .
"With blockchain technology as QuuBe backbone, we believe it is ideally positioned to build and grow a true global e-commerce community.
