E-Commerce Growing but Are They Shopping?

I can’t deny it but E-Commerce has grown significantly in 2019. My last mood was ‘whatever’, it was moving but nothing to get giddy about. Still not giddy, but enough that I can’t ignore or dismiss it. It’s not an elephant in the room, but the room has something.

Does that sound like good news? The answer is yes. I can say for sure that we’re heading in the right direction. But have we turned a corner? I think so. Regardless of how the rest of the year turns out, next year will be much bigger.

A few weeks ago (Nov 14, 2019) even WiPay had a ‘big reveal’ (what they called it), that would be big for online shopping in the Caribbean, and more on that below. That on the heels of Republic Bank acquiring a 20% stake in WiPay’s Nobis BaaS, a subsidiary (announced Oct 2019), so you do the ‘mats’.

Now added to that I’m set to launch five new online stores for December, three being Magento, and I’ve observed quite a few new online stores advertising on Facebook and even radio; a mix of Magento and WordPress, it’s something I can’t just dismiss.

For argument’s sake, let’s call that the good news. The bad news is, I’ll question if they’re making money. We’re still in an economic crunch and all indicators show that we’re going to stay that way at least till general elections in 2020. And that’s notwithstanding the observations to the contrary by your government, who’s obviously discovered a wormhole and living in an alternate reality. According to them we’ve turned a corner and reaping the benefits of their excellent governance.

I’d love to eviscerate them here and call them out as the corrupt cancer that they are, but that would alienate my readers who support them. Then I would have to be fair and call out the opposition waiting in the wings as the equally corrupt cancer they are, but that would alienate theirs. So I’ll refrain from doing so for my own self-preservation.

I have no doubt that there are many in the works, but because they take long to build and deploy, only a handful could be launched in a year. Not all may go fully public via Facebook ads; smaller sites, usually those by individuals and small businesses, generally opt to start with their customer base before mass promotion to the public.

But the numbers are growing and the interest as well as most of the inquiries I get daily are about E-Commerce, and the main questions are about, you guessed it, online payment options.

When you see well known names add their digital storefront to the marketplace it’s a sign right there. You can now order your contact lenses and have them delivered to your door from one national chain of optical stores. And my own example, I launched well known national brand Stecher’s Ltd., around middle of this year.

Other new entrants are just entrepreneurs with dreams who see the growth opportunities in local E-Commerce. Lately on Facebook I’ve seen at least four new online stores promoting themselves. One was already claiming to be number one in T&T which is quite a stretch, as I’m sure even they don’t believe that. Take my word for it, NOBODY is number one right now.

When I see these Facebook ads I’m always curious to ‘maco’ the sites to gauge their quality, and to see what platform they’re using. Surprisingly there is no clear winner as I’m seeing a mix of WordPress and Magento, the number one and two platforms worldwide, and to a lesser extent Shopify, the hosted solution.

Generally the quality of these new online stores are not totally first class but there are many reasons for that both on the web designer’s side and that of the client. WordPress is popular for many reasons, the main being affordability, faster deployment and user-friendliness. However, I discourage comparing WordPress vs Magento head to head as it’s really comparing apples to oranges.

I’ve had many inquiries from people who felt savvy enough to build their own WordPress store and still called asking for pointers which I’m always happy to give. I’m still a small, boutique operation (and staying that way), and fortunately I’m never out of projects so it doesn’t bother me. I like to help, I just don’t like people calling to pick my brain.

I’ve also noticed some companies doing it in-house in an attempt to save the money. Again, I have no problem with that in today’s economy, can’t say I blame them. Bottom line is that maybe one can do a decent job on their own but as the saying goes, results will vary, and that goes for the look and feel of the finished site, its performance upon launch and its ultimate competitiveness against a professionally designed rival.

Basic stores have small catalogs, flat rate or free shipping to Trinidad & Tobago with the WiPay payment method, nothing fancy, WYSIWYG, standard both front-end and back. More complex stores have integrated shipping like UPSL (Universal Packaging Systems for local) and FedEx/DHL (for international), First Atlantic Commerce payment gateway, multiple Magento stores in single installation and inventory syncing with accounting systems,

I’ve done both which is why I know, and by now Forward Multimedia is more adept at it having figured out the optimal approach that gets around needing a plug-in or extension to sync inventory. Lately the projects have been mostly the complex kind.

Right now, there are local insurance companies offering online renewal of policies. I myself was involved with the roll out of Gulf Insurance’s similar offering. Many service oriented businesses like phone and cable TV have long since had online bill payment via credit card. More government services can be paid for by credit card which is part of their National E-Commerce policy. And with credit card and you can even order a pizza and of late, donuts.

Online retail still rules as this is the way to go if you want to take some business away from Amazon. it’s a tough ask but not impossible. Note, only some business can be redirected from Amazon, there’s never going to be a Trini Amazon because it will have to be done by a Trini. And if done by a Trini merchant, I’ll bet my firstborn it won’t come close to Amazon.

These two remain the only game in town for online payment. For those who follow my articles, when I say the only game, I mean it. People are still asking me about PayWise, especially as they’ve ‘relaunched’ this year after clearing some regulatory hurdles but it remains a purely offline payment method and I still don’t see the point.

Whatever the point, it’s now moot with WiPay’s new Visa Debit Card for the unbanked— their ‘big reveal’. You will be able to top up your WiPay account at an agent anywhere in T&T and then use their debit card at online stores, no bank account necessary.

I’ll hasten to state that both are the only game in town— for now. FAC remains out of reach for small business, unfortunately due to no fault of their own. The expensive integration fee and ongoing monthly costs charged by all local banks makes it so. But it is the optimal solution in my opinion.

However, I see more entrants and other developments that’s going to ‘disrupt’ the space. At the moment I’m evaluating a third option (those who follow me on Facebook will already know this). The winner will be the you, the merchant when it starts to get more competitive.

The market is growing in demand and supply of online marketing services, especially social media. And by social media, I mean Facebook. I see many new ‘professional’ service providers crawling out of the woodwork and it’s anybody’s guess if they provide the value they’re charging for. I’ve had several firsthand reports of popular and seemingly premier providers disappoint.

‘Professional’ social media promotion costs from $3,000 to $8,000 TTD per month more suited for larger companies who can afford. So you’ll find smaller businesses and individuals choosing to do it themselves. But it’s not just to save money, it’s also because some are actually savvy enough to do it. My client Kamri Glass has done a spectacular job on their own, and continues to do so just on Facebook. So much so, their website has been updated for a long time because Facebook is working much better.

Note, Forward Multimedia only provided social media services as part of a project but will offer the service à la carte in 2020 as I see what’s coming.

Soon ALL banks will offer a Visa/Linx debit card that’s linked to your bank account. It will work the same as a credit card because it’s a similar process of checking available funds for a transaction. All credit card owners have bank accounts but not all bank account holders have credit cards. And as you know, credit card penetration locally is about 10% which leaves out a huge chunk of the market. It’s that same 10% that does a billion dollars in international online shopping. Care to do the ‘mats’?

WiPay Rebel Visa Card completes the trifecta as they pull in the rest that have no bank accounts. For all intents and purposes, EVERYONE will be able to shop online, no excuses.

Actually, for what I know, the Rebel card would be either a Visa/MasterCard attached to your WiPay account with USD limits but hasn’t rolled out yet. I’ve also personally heard radio advertisements promoting the new Linx card with ‘Visa Chip Technology’ so it will be a matter of time for all banks to offer it. I’m aware that some are already.

Prepaid cards have been around forever where you apply for one at your bank and load it with funds for online purchases. Most banks put the brakes on these cards at the onset of the foreign exchange USD shortage as businesses were trying to game the system by loading and maxing the cards to obtain US currency to pay for imports.

These cards are linked to your bank account so there is no need to ‘load’ which saves a step. They’ve been around for decades and are not new, just new to T&T. I suspect that our local banks deliberately kept these out of the market to capitalize on credit cards. There’s no money to be made if people only use the money they have; no late fees, and minimum charges.

That detective… is the right question… my original question. When ALL the obstacles, stumbling blocks are no more, every single one of them. When there is NOTHING preventing the set- up of an online store, nothing to hack to make work, all moving parts are bona fide available. The million dollar question is “is the peeple dem shopping?”

Sadly, the answer is not as much as merchants would like. And it’s not the bad economy— that has very little to do with it.

Unfortunately, Trinis are still wary about local online stores. One reason is the security of their credit card transactions. Some don’t understand that no processing is done on the merchant’s site which uses WiPay or FAC and the transactions are just as safe as shopping on US sites. This is no fault of the merchant.

It’s also unfortunate that it’s falling to the merchant to defend the security of WiPay and FAC because only the industry insiders like us: the banks, web designers and merchants seem to know them. WiPay’s big billboard on the Beetham only says “WiPay. The future of payments is now”. One big maco billboard for that. And don’t get me started on the banks.

Companies with an established user base from their brick and mortar stores are obviously faring much better. Such businesses have the advantage all round:

• They hit the ground running with ‘ready-made’ customers to market to
• Less ‘hard-selling’ to do as customers already know and trust company
• Higher conversion rate potential
• Leveraging existing customers shortens growth and learning curves

The above sounds good in theory but in practice not so cut and dried. However, it’s a way better position to start as opposed to starting completely from scratch.

I developed a Magento store for a well known company with a chain of stores back in the earlies when FAC was now starting to take hold. But after two years they abandoned the site letting all that work go to waste. I mean, it was totally abandoned, nothing was kept. True that the market was in its embryonic stage but old fashioned thinking got the best of them and they concluded that it wasn’t working.

A few months ago they launched a new WordPress online store, which tells you right there. They used another web designer too, which should also tell you right there, you know, something is wrong with me,

The Facebook ads I’m seeing are so run of the mill and ho-hum, hardly compelling. You can’t win the heart, minds and money from Trinis with 10% discount promotions; we want fantastic launch specials and unbeatable deals. And even unbeatable deals doesn’t always work, can you believe that?

Take my advice and stay in the game if you’re already in, and if you’re out, get in the game QUICK! The writing is on the wall and if you snooze, you ‘looze’. Notwithstanding the economy and failed state conditions we live in, we can’t lay down and die, we have to persevere despite.

The good news is that general elections is in 2020. Many goodies will flow to fool gullible party supporters. But thanks to social media, political parties are not fooling us like they used to— and I’m referring to the two cancers I mentioned in my opening. Trinidad & Tobago will be better off without both of them and I wish they could just disappear. Imagine, both of them even have the same campaign slogan “We tief less”. Lawdie!

Again, can’t promise that it’s going to be sunshine and roses in 2020, my advice is to keep doing what you’re doing. Your online store is not going to be an overnight success as we’re painfully seeing right now. But down the road when E-Commerce in Trinidad & Tobago becomes a thing— and the day WILL COME, you’ll thank yourself for putting in the work now when it was nothing. I guarantee you it’s absolutely inevitable.