You have probably heard this, ‘Cold Calling is dead.’ And most likely from a new age salespeople and/or the marketing departments of social professional networking platforms. And when quoted with statistics below, one can even conclude that cold calling is futile. Cold calling results in about a 1-3% success rate for getting an initial appointment and it’s generally abusive to both parties. When that same call is made with a referral, the rate jumps up to 40% and even much higher when that referral comes from within the company. - Mahan Khalsa, co-author of  Let’s Get Real of Let’s Not Play   "Don't SELL on your first warm call" But cold calling has always got a bad rap, since the time of landline telephones supported with the yellow pages. With a huge number of customers in many countries having the option of DNC (Do-Not-Call) registry,it can seem even more for the case of cold calling. But the truth is that this is still an effective way to reach

‘It feels like the end of the world!’ ‘What should we do now?’ No doubt these questions crept into our minds at one point in time since the beginning of this year. The Covid-19 pandemic is unprecedented, and the entire economy is floating (or sinking) into uncharted territories as lock-downs are being extended and social distancing has slowly become the strict rule for safety and rightly so. Daily reports of infected cases and deaths fluctuate and information is inconsistent and irregular but one common thread is that the momentum of rise in the number of infected cases has not slowed. As of 5 th  May, China has recorded the maximum deaths of 4643 , followed closely by India at 1568 , Indonesia, Philippines and Japan among the other APAC countries according to a survey done by  Statista.   And this means that the lock-down could very well continue, affecting people and businesses.  No doubt, businesses have had to rethink how they can continue to engage with their cust

After the World War II that claimed nearly millions around the world and brought a huge economic slowdown, it is to be noted that certain more recent natural disasters like the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and Tsunami killed roughly over 230,000 people in fourteen countries. For most of us, a global pandemic such as COVID-19 is the first of it's kind we are facing in our lifetimes. COVID-19 seems to be extremely catastrophic not just for people but is also seen as one of the biggest known disasters in recent times to have slumped the world’s economy in matter of weeks. According to the Guardian , the number of Global COVID-19 cases has crossed 750,000 with a death toll of over 36,000 across the world.  When COVID-19 was creating havoc in China and few other European nations during early Jan'2020, its impact was hugely under-estimated by the rest of the world. Slowly, with the norms of “social distancing” and “Stay at home” becoming the mantras among everyone, the e

Based on a report by Google and Temasek Holdings, Southeast Asia’s (SEA) digital market could exceed US$200 billion before 2025. Southeast Asia’s digital economy is forecast to triple its size in the next 5 years. Read more on the challenges faced as a seller in the E-commerce marketplace, to help you decipher and be part of this immensely growing economy. E-commerce stores are on the rise due to a numerous reasons.  As far as market association is concerned, E-commerce sites already have an existing network of buyers. So, selling your products becomes relatively easy as branding and advertising is already taken care of.As  Sigmund Freud 's had rightly said  “ I carefully consider my decisions as everything comes with pros and cons! ”  Marketplace Management When it comes to South-East Asian E-commerce market, the most underestimated struggle is  Fragmentation  i.e. there are a number of e-commerce platforms in ASEAN countries attracting significant traffic, making

Some call it an upgrade while others call it a reinvention. Either way we have to face that the development of artificial intelligence or AI is very promising. AI enables companies to collect and process their outgoing and incoming eCommerce data in real time. This helps to increase sales and build relationships with end users, while people who work in the company can channel their time towards more intelligent work. There are a number of ways AI has already changed eCommerce over the years, and it has just marked the beginning of a long and fruitful journey between man and machine. A research statistic conducted in 2019 plotted a marked growth in finance as well as for top start-up companies in the Southeast Asia region such as Lazada, shopee, tokopedia and blibli.com. These companies have come to thrive in recent years and are growing exponentially with the assistance of AI. Apart from Europe & USA, the major hub for global AI development is now Singapore that has made

M-Commerce or Mobile commerce is one of the game changing trends available to shoppers around the globe today. M-Commerce , a terminology coined by Kevin Duffy In 1997 is a way to shop with one’s mobile gadget to access various online markets that sell goods and services. This not only makes buying easy but also makes selling easier and gives an opportunity for e-commerce sellers to position their products to global consumers at the click of a button. Mobile e-commerce sales in India is expected to hit nearly 38 billion USD by 2020, as published by the Statista Research Department and this stupendous growth is attributed to the growth and explosion of smartphone and mobile phones market as well as the internet industry. Based on insights from Datareportal , it is to be noted that more than 400 million people across South East Asia use internet actively. Global retail e-commerce sales are projected to reach $27 trillion by 2020. e27 reported that Indonesia, Thailand and Philip

One of the oldest professions in the world has been buying and selling of goods. The famous silk route(more than a thousand years old) originated from China to Rome supplying wool, spices and a whole lot more. The global trade map is now connected and interdependent on each other with the economy of a country depending heavily on trade. In the 1950’s, the US, post WWII, to revive consumerism created the concept of “Black Friday” though it became more popular in the later decades. In the mid 2000’s, the National Retail Federation coined the “Cyber Monday” concept to make people buy online. This has led to a worldwide phenomenon with perhaps a $100 Billion in sales changing the fortunes of companies for good every year. E-commerce companies such as Amazon, Walmart, Tmall, Lazada, JD.com, and a host of others have immensely benefited. Many companies have banked on these two days to catch up on their yearly revenues. Circa 2009:  Not to be left behind, China based Alibaba