The giants fought in Myanmar.
Editor’s note: This article is from WeChat public account “7 o’clock 5” (ID: Asia7_5) < / a>.
Giant shift of vision
For a long time, the Southeast Asian market has not lacked the presence of Chinese giants. As early as 6-7 years ago, Chinese investors began to grab the Southeast Asian market and penetrated in all aspects such as e-commerce, payment, cloud services, and logistics. . This has also made fiery markets such as Singapore and Indonesia have been flagged by giants. In recent years, with the acquisition of Myanmar enterprises by giants such as Alibaba and Grab, Myanmar’s Internet market has gradually entered the attention of investors.
The giants in Myanmar
In May 2018, Alibaba completed the acquisition of Daraz Group, the parent company of Myanmar’s largest e-commerce platform shop.com.mm, and officially entered the Myanmar e-commerce market. Daraz was launched in 2012 and currently has coverage in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Nepal. Shop.com.mm is one of the largest online shopping platforms in Myanmar. Here you can buy the widest range of mobile phones, electronics, fashion, household appliances, children’s products, etc., and provide nationwide delivery and free returns. Focus on providing a superior customer experience, comprehensive customer care and accessible returns.
In addition to Alibaba, local online shopping relies more on online transactions on social platforms such as Facebook. Vendors generally create a Facebook page to promote their products. If consumers agree to purchase a product, usually through Facebook’s chat service, they will pay by bank transfer or mobile payment service provider. After the payment is completed, the buyer will present a screenshot of the receipt to the seller and the seller will begin dispensing the goods. This relatively primitive method makes e-commerce not very reliable in Myanmar, and there are still some difficulties to change this situation.
In addition to the e-commerce industry, domestic express giant SF has opened an international standard express business from China to Myanmar in August 2016. Until March 2019, SF Holdings invested USD 4 million in a strategic investment in KOSPA Limited, a Myanmar logistics company, to acquire 25% of its shares and enter its board of directors. KOSPA is a major provider of logistics services (including transportation and warehousing) in Myanmar. Is a joint venture established by Yoma Strategic Holdings Limited (Myanmar) and Kokubu & Co. (Japan).Fast Moving Consumer Goods and other customers provide end-to-end logistics solutions dedicated to using the latest technology and proven quality standards to provide best practices in logistics management for temperature-sensitive and environmentally-friendly products.
The in-depth cooperation relationship between SF Holdings and KOSPA will help consolidate KOSPA’s leading position in Myanmar’s integrated logistics service provider, while expanding KOSPA’s services to other forms of logistics solutions, express delivery and cross-border delivery. SF’s strategic investment has also brought more possible cooperation opportunities for China-Myanmar trade.
In recent years, the rise of mobile financial services and fintech has created new opportunities for Southeast Asian markets. The same is true in Myanmar.In the payment space, companies like Wave Money make it easy for local users to send and receive funds using their mobile phones. Wave Money is a joint venture between Norwegian telecom operator Telenor and Myanmar’s Yoma Bank, and is the country’s first non-bank institution to provide mobile financial services. The company received a government-issued license in 2016. Since its inception, Wave Money has grown rapidly, reaching 1.3 million users in February 2018. But they can only access their own banks through Wave Money, other banks are not open. In addition, almost all fintech companies in Myanmar are focusing on digital or mobile payments. OnePay is also one of the local apps for e-wallet services. Myanmar AGD (Asia Green Development Bank) is the official bank partner of Onepay. Similarly, with Onepay, users can only access AGD bank customers. With the escalation of smartphone penetration in Myanmar, this will continue to promote the growth of mobile payments, and mobile payments will also lay the foundation for market loans in Myanmar.
Grab has already entered the Myanmar market as early as 2017, but in the take-away area, it was not until November 2019 that Grabfood established partnerships with some famous restaurants in Yangon. District customers provide food delivery services. In addition to the giants, Myanmar’s local incubators are also contributing to the Myanmar market. Phandeeyar (Myanmar Innovation Lab) is a technology startup acceleration based in Yangon, Myanmar. Phandeeyar was formally established in 2015 to provide incubation and investment for emerging startups.
Phandeeyar was formerly called “Code for Change Myanmar”, and later received Omidyar Network, the United States Institute of Peace, andFunding from the Open Society Foundation and the Schmidt Family Foundation has gradually become the most influential innovation incubator in Myanmar, helping the digital and technological transformation of Myanmar society. It has also recently announced a new investment plan aimed at investing in pre-seed and seed stage startups in Myanmar.
With the further advancement of China-Myanmar’s “Belt and Road” policy, many policies and business opportunities have been formed that can be used by entrepreneurs. Although Myanmar’s future development will still face many obstacles, Myanmar now has a relatively stable politics and economy. If it wants to develop, it must strengthen infrastructure, which makes it a good choice to do business in Myanmar.
Edit | Yun 晞 @ 出海
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