Top News

Philippines leads SEA for online scams

Scam leader

Between February and April 2022, the Philippines stood out in Southeast Asia with the most cases for online scams, according to cybersecurity firm Kaspersky.

These scams, mainly phishing attempts, aim to trick people into sharing personal details by pretending to be trustworthy sources.

What the numbers say

In 2023, the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) revealed that the Philippines had the highest rate of shopping scams at 35.9% among 11 Asian economies they studied in a survey of about 20,000 people. Scammers take advantage of the Christmas shopping rush when people are buying more online. 

Alibaba and JD.com debut refund only option

What it is

Two major players in online retail, Alibaba and JD.com, have introduced a refund-only option, allowing buyers to receive refunds without returning the purchased items.

The OG rollout

This innovation follows the initial rollout by Pinduoduo in 2021, which sparked both praise and criticism due to concerns that refunds could be processed without merchant approval, potentially granting customers free products. However, despite the controversy, it proved to be an attractive offer, drawing in new customers and consolidating its foothold in the market.

A new way to track

To monitor this refund mechanism, Taobao, a subsidiary of Alibaba, has announced plans to utilize data analysis by evaluating different factors, including the product's nature, the merchant's track record, and the type of complaints received.

Featured News

Rite Aid’s facial recognition gets a 5 year ban

What happened

Rite Aid, a company that used facial recognition technology to track potential shoplifters and suspicious behavior, has been directed to cease using facial recognition technology for the next five years. They are also obligated to erase the collected data and inform customers if their information is used similarly in the future. Some of its alleged concerns were:

• The technology was predominantly deployed in neighborhoods with a high concentration of non-White residents.

• Employees reportedly trailed flagged customers without their knowledge

• The system matched a Black woman with a white woman from the database, leading to the police being erroneously called

Other disclosure issues

Surprisingly, when the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) inquired about the prevalence of facial recognition technology in top retailers back in 2018, only 10% of surveyed companies were open to disclosing their usage. 

Shopee Live reports 50x more orders last 12.12 Sale

Fast facts on Shopee 12.12

Shopee Live witnessed an unprecedented surge during the 12.12 Sale, reporting a staggering 50-fold increase in orders. Some of its data states that:

• 12 million items were sold in two minutes

• Local buyers peaked at 46x higher than their usual numbers because of holiday and gift giving trends

• Home & Living emerged as the top-selling category with a 5x increase in purchases, followed by Women’s Apparel and Mobile Accessories.

Brand Winners

Noteworthy among the success stories were top-performing brands that dominated the platform-wide orders, including Uni-Care, Maybelline, and Issy & Co. O.two.o.ph, Uni-Care, and Lovito.ph also secured the highest number of orders within Shopee Live.

Moxii Minutes

🇨🇳 Amazon plans to win over Chinese sellers - Amazon is set to inaugurate its Global Store Asia-Pacific Innovation Center in Shenzhen, a bustling tech and ecommerce hub. It will emphasize product launches, brand development, and digital transformation for online sellers. 20% of Chinese-branded sellers on Amazon experienced a sales surge of more than 50% during high-traffic shopping periods.

🛍️ Walmart gets buy now, pay later at their self checkout - Walmart has partnered with payments network Affirm for this move. For orders above $144, it doesn't require additional interest charges, late fees, or hidden costs and enables shoppers to split payments over a period ranging from three to 24 months when making purchases at the self service kiosks.

📝 Japanese firm files patent lawsuit against Alibaba - BWB Inc, a Tokyo-based logistics and ecommerce patent expert, has filed an injunction against Alibaba on Nov 15, 2023, alleging that Alibaba's practices may infringe upon BWB's patented technologies such as a system designed to streamline the registration of merchants' goods with customs, ensuring a hassle-free process at a fixed tax rate. The legal dispute is centered on four of BWB's e-commerce patents in the U.S. and several other countries.