CPM Global

16/10/2023

Like Middle East wars of the past, the conflict between Israel and Hamas that broke out this past week has the potential to disrupt the world economy — and even tip it into recession if more countries are drawn in.

That risk is real, as Israel’s army prepares to invade Gaza in response to an attack by the militant group. The death toll from the Hamas assault and the ongoing Israeli air strikes on Gaza is already in the thousands. There’s concern that militias in Lebanon and Syria that support Hamas will join the fighting.

The Hamas attack and Israel’s response are taking a heavy human toll. A global economic downturn may follow.

12/10/2023

In 2023, several key trends are driving the global trade landscape. These trends are influenced by a wide range of factors, from technological advancements to geopolitical shifts, and they have a profound impact on businesses, governments, and consumers worldwide.

Digital Transformation of Trade
One of the most significant trends in global trade for 2023 is the increasing digitization of trade processes. From e-commerce to blockchain technology, digital platforms and tools are reshaping the way businesses conduct international trade. E-commerce, in particular, has seen explosive growth, allowing even small businesses to reach global markets. Companies are also leveraging blockchain for secure and transparent supply chain management, reducing fraud and improving trust in global trade.

Sustainable Trade Practices
Sustainability and environmental concerns continue to be a driving force in global trade. In 2023, more businesses are adopting sustainable practices and ethical sourcing. Consumers are increasingly demanding eco-friendly products, leading companies to reevaluate their supply chains and invest in sustainable solutions. Governments are also implementing stricter regulations and incentives to encourage sustainable trade practices.

Reshoring and Nearshoring
The disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic prompted many businesses to reconsider their global supply chains. In 2023, we see a growing trend of reshoring and nearshoring, as companies aim to reduce supply chain vulnerabilities and increase resilience. This trend is changing the dynamics of global trade, with some countries benefitting from the shift while others see a decrease in exports.

Geopolitical Uncertainties
Geopolitical tensions and trade disputes are also shaping global trade trends in 2023. The ongoing trade disputes between the United States and China, for example, continue to impact global supply chains and investment decisions. The geopolitical landscape can create uncertainty for businesses, leading to more diversified supply chain strategies to mitigate risks.

Trade Agreements and Regional Blocs
Trade agreements and regional blocs are playing an increasingly significant role in global trade. Agreements such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) are boosting intra-regional trade. In 2023, we expect to see further negotiations and agreements that redefine trading relationships, reducing trade barriers and facilitating cross-border commerce.

Automation and Artificial Intelligence
Automation and artificial intelligence are transforming various aspects of global trade. In logistics, automated warehouses and autonomous vehicles are improving efficiency and reducing costs. AI is enhancing supply chain management and predictive analytics, helping companies optimize their operations and meet consumer demand more accurately.

The Influence of the Metaverse on Trade
The emergence of the metaverse, a virtual reality space where people interact and conduct business, is an exciting development in 2023. As the metaverse grows, it offers new opportunities for businesses to market products, provide services, and connect with consumers in virtual spaces. It may redefine the way we shop and trade in the future.

11/10/2023

Canton Fair 2023: A Window to the World's Market

The Canton Fair, also known as the China Import and Export Fair, stands as a beacon of global commerce. In 2023, this illustrious event is set to capture the world's attention once again. With its rich history, diverse exhibits, and unrivaled networking opportunities, the Canton Fair has earned its place as a must-attend event for businesses worldwide. This article delves into the significance, history, expectations, and offerings of the Canton Fair 2023.

A Glimpse into the Past

Since its inception in 1957, the Canton Fair has been an essential bridge between Chinese manufacturers and international buyers. It is held twice a year in Guangzhou, one of China's major trade and industrial hubs. Over the years, the fair has evolved into one of the world's largest and most comprehensive trade exhibitions. Today, it hosts thousands of companies from China and abroad, covering almost every industry imaginable.

The Canton Fair's journey from a regional event to a global platform for trade and business cooperation showcases the transformative power of China's economic rise. It has consistently adapted to the ever-changing needs of the global market, making it an enduring symbol of China's commitment to openness, cooperation, and development.

Canton Fair 2023: What to Expect

The Canton Fair is renowned for its vast array of products and industries represented. In 2023, participants can expect to explore a wide range of sectors, including electronics and household electrical appliances, lighting equipment, vehicles and spare parts, machinery, hardware and tools, building materials, and more.

One of the highlights of the Canton Fair is the innovation displayed by Chinese companies. In recent years, China has invested significantly in research and development, resulting in groundbreaking products and technological advancements. Visitors to the fair can expect to see the latest trends and innovations across various industries.

Networking opportunities at the Canton Fair are unparalleled. It's a meeting point for international buyers and Chinese suppliers, fostering relationships that drive business growth. The fair features various events, such as matchmaking sessions and industry-specific forums, to facilitate networking.

Navigating the Canton Fair

With its sheer size and complexity, navigating the Canton Fair can be a challenge. The fairgrounds are divided into three phases, each dedicated to different industries. It's crucial for attendees to plan their visit according to their interests and business needs.

Phase 1 typically focuses on electronics and household electrical appliances, while Phase 2 covers consumer goods, gifts, and home decorations. Phase 3 encompasses industries like textiles and garments, shoes, office supplies, and cases and bags. Understanding the fair's layout and scheduling is key to making the most of your visit.

For international attendees, arranging accommodation, visas, and transportation is vital. Guangzhou has a range of accommodation options, but booking early is advisable as the city gets crowded during the fair. Preparing all necessary travel documentation, including a Chinese visa, well in advance is essential.

The Impact of the Canton Fair

The Canton Fair plays a significant role in boosting China's exports and imports. It has been instrumental in strengthening trade relations between China and the rest of the world. For international buyers, it provides an excellent platform to source products, identify suppliers, and negotiate deals. The fair's positive impact on global commerce is immeasurable.

For Chinese manufacturers, the Canton Fair offers an opportunity to showcase their products on an international stage. It serves as a gateway to reach a global customer base, facilitating business expansion and brand recognition. In addition, the fair's focus on innovation encourages Chinese companies to stay competitive and relevant in the global market.

Environmental Initiatives at the Canton Fair

In recent years, the Canton Fair has also made strides in promoting sustainability and environmental responsibility. China's commitment to green development has extended to its largest trade fair. Eco-friendly practices, such as reducing waste and energy consumption, have become a priority for the fair's organizers.

The Canton Fair's promotion of sustainable practices sends a powerful message to the global community about China's dedication to environmental conservation. It also encourages exhibitors and attendees to adopt eco-friendly business practices.

The Future of the Canton Fair

As the global economic landscape continues to evolve, the Canton Fair adapts to remain relevant. With the Belt and Road Initiative and China's commitment to opening up its markets, the Canton Fair is poised to play an even more significant role in global trade in the coming years.

The Canton Fair 2023 promises to be a celebration of the fair's rich history, a showcase of the latest innovations, and a platform for international cooperation. As the world looks towards Guangzhou in eager anticipation, the Canton Fair remains a testament to the enduring spirit of commerce and collaboration.

In Conclusion

The Canton Fair, often referred to as the heart of global trade, has a remarkable journey. From its humble beginnings in 1957 to its current status as one of the world's largest trade exhibitions, it has consistently served as a bridge between China and the world. The Canton Fair 2023 is set to continue this legacy, offering attendees a chance to explore diverse industries, foster international partnerships, and witness China's commitment to sustainability.

As the fair approaches, businesses, buyers, and enthusiasts from around the world eagerly await the opportunity to experience the vibrant atmosphere, innovations, and opportunities that the Canton Fair 2023 will undoubtedly bring.

14/08/2023

Cross-Border Shopping Trend in E-commerce: Opportunities and Challenges

In the era of global connectivity, e-commerce plays a pivotal role in expanding business horizons beyond national borders. The cross-border shopping trend has swiftly emerged as a noteworthy phenomenon, bringing both opportunities and challenges for businesses and consumers alike.

1. Opportunities of the Cross-Border Shopping Trend:

Market Expansion: E-commerce has eliminated geographical barriers, enabling businesses to easily access a global customer base. This opens doors for market expansion and increased sales revenue.

Diverse Product Selection: Consumers have the ability to access goods and services from various countries, offering a broader range of choices and options.

Competitive Pricing: Global e-commerce competition encourages businesses to provide competitively priced products, resulting in cost savings for consumers.

2. Challenges of the Cross-Border Shopping Trend:

Shipping and Delivery: Cross-border shipping of goods may face challenges regarding delivery time and shipping fees. To ensure reasonable delivery times and costs, businesses need efficient solutions.

Taxation and Customs Management: Varied taxation regulations and customs procedures across countries can pose hurdles for cross-border shopping. Businesses must navigate these intricacies carefully.

Cultural and Language Differences: This can lead to difficulties in creating a user-friendly shopping experience for customers from diverse nations.

3. Strategies to Leverage Opportunities and Overcome Challenges:

Market Research: Businesses should thoroughly understand the target markets and grasp the preferences and demands of customers in different countries to tailor products and business strategies accordingly.

Collaborate with Local Partners: Partnering with local service providers, such as shipping and customs management services, can help address cross-border challenges effectively.

Build Multicultural Shopping Experience: Offering a flexible and user-friendly shopping experience across different countries through product information, policies, and services in various languages can enhance customer engagement.

The cross-border shopping trend in e-commerce presents compelling opportunities for businesses to expand their markets and consumers to enjoy a diverse array of products. However, challenges related to shipping, taxation, and cultural aspects need to be addressed through adaptability and collaboration. The key lies in smartly and effectively harnessing the benefits of global e-commerce while navigating its intricacies.

14/08/2023

Facebook was going to compete with Google for some advertising sales but backed away from the plan after the companies cut a preferential deal, according to court documents.

14/08/2023

Malaysia remains attractive for e-commerce

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia remains an attractive market for e-commerce in Southeast Asia, thanks to its dynamic economy, developed enrapture for digital technologies, qualified talent pool and sizeable young population.

Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi said Malaysia's e-commerce sector was on a growth trajectory, benefiting from the implementation of programmes under the National eCommerce Strategic Roadmap's (NeSR) six thrust areas.

The National eCommerce Council (NeCC), comprising various ministries and agencies, was established to drive the implementation of the roadmap towards doubling Malaysia's e-commerce growth rate.

The government's intervention in six thrust areas namely to accelerate seller adoption of e-commerce, increase adoption of eProcurement by businesses, lift non-tariff barriers (e-Fulfillment, cross-border, e-Payment, consumer protection), realign existing economic incentives, make strategic investments in select eCommerce player(s) and promote national brand to boost cross-border e-commerce

"Malaysia's e-commerce market had in fact tripled in size since 2015 by exceeding US$3 billion in 2019 and is projected to reach US$11 billion in 2025," he said in an opening keynote address at the virtual 2021 Malaysia Economic and Strategic Outlook Forum, here today.

Alexander said the growth's trajectory was in fact strengthen by the global pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns in its various guise that had interrupted and disrupted the traditional commerce and transactions.

He said Malaysia had about 25.84 million active internet users (80 per cent of the population) with extremely high rates of mobile phone pe*******on.

Of the 32.25 million Malaysians, 25 million were social media users, 40.24 million mobile subscriptions, and 24 million use social media on their mobile devices, according to January 2019 data.

With the MyDigital and Malaysia Digital Economy (MDE) Blueprint recently launched by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, the establishment of a Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and Digital Economy Council will ensure Malaysia to head in the right direction in terms of digitalisation.

"With the prevalence of the Covid-19 pandemic, many have opted for online shopping as their primary shopping method to satisfy their buying needs while attempting to keep safe from the virus.

"As more and more online retailers emerge in this ever-growing and ever-advancing market, the number of online shoppers has increased too. As a result, instances of online retailers taking advantage of their customers using unethical or even illegal advertising or marketing tactics to attract more customers has also increased as well," he said.

While e-commerce is delivering unprecedented product choice, convenience and price transparency, Alexander said the platform had also presented consumers with a number of new risks, such as identity theft and theft of credit card information.

"Fraudulent offers and transactions also are increasing at alarming rates. In addition, e-commerce platforms are increasingly vulnerable to a growing illicit industry distributing harmful, unsafe, substandard or faulty products – including counterfeit and pirated products."

He said online shopping platforms should also consider improving their policies when it comes to allowing businesses to use their platform to arbitrarily price their goods.

"These platforms should heighten their controls over these businesses so that when a problem such as fake/misleading discounts arise, these issues may be dealt with in a speedy and satisfactory manner to the consumers affected by such tactics," he added.

14/08/2023

How To Maximize E-Commerce in Southeast Asia

E-commerce in Asia and the Pacific is booming. It is already the world’s largest retail e-commerce market with the bulk of sales (47 percent) coming from China, but total sales are expected to almost triple from $1 trillion in 2016 to $2.7 trillion in 2020. The main drivers of this are an expanding middle class, rapidly increasing mobile and Internet pe*******on, growing competition among sellers, and improving logistics and infrastructure.

However, recent ADB research shows that Southeast Asia is lagging far behind the rest of the region. In Southeast Asia, the e-commerce market is still at a nascent stage, due to underdeveloped digital payments infrastructure and a weak logistics framework.

The share of companies in Southeast Asia that have their own websites and use email to communicate with clients—an important element of B2C (business-to-consumer) interactions, which comprise almost 50 percent of e-commerce turnover—are both well below the Asian average.

But this will soon change, thanks to social media.

Social commerce—sales driven by social media—is a potential game-changer for e-commerce in Southeast Asia. It accounted for 30 percent of all online sales in the region in 2016 and will likely increase its share in the coming years.

Social media platforms offer greater accessibility, more dynamic elements, and cost-efficiency benefits compared to email blasts and online stores. These benefits are particularly vital for small- and medium-sized enterprises and users with limited resources and expertise to maintain websites.

In Thailand, the world’s biggest social commerce market, 51 percent of online shoppers have purchased goods directly via a social media channel. In Malaysia and Indonesia, every third online shopper connects to a social media network to purchase goods.

Social Media Users Going Mobile
It is Southeast Asia’s relatively young population and improved access to the Internet on mobile devices that propels the growth in social commerce. According to a 2017 study by Hootsuite and We Are Social, about 47 percent (306 million) of people in Southeast Asia are active social media users. 42 percent of the population (273 million) accesses social media networks via mobile devices.

Seven Southeast Asian countries have social media pe*******on rates higher than the global average of 37 percent: Brunei Darussalam, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia. In fact, the growth in the number of active social media users in these countries between January 2016 and January 2017 is above 20 percent.

Indonesia (39 percent), the Philippines (32 percent), and Vietnam (41 percent) are ranked among the top ten countries with the highest growth of mobile social media users during the same period.

So, could social media be the future of online retail in the region? Facebook and Instagram, for instance, could become the preferred platform for SMEs. Pinterest and Twitter are also emerging niche players, despite their relatively smaller user base.

Creating an Environment Conducive to Growth
For social commerce to be successful in the future, it is imperative to develop the necessary market infrastructure and legal frameworks to facilitate transactions. One solution to unlock the region’s e-commerce potential could be messaging apps. By engaging customers directly online and making business communications more private, these apps could help build consumer trust in the online transaction process and partly address the lack of security and confidence around online payments and delivery.

Low levels of financial account ownership and credit/debit card pe*******on in Southeast Asian economies remain a huge challenge. Currently, e-commerce remains largely domestic. Ultimately, for social media to encourage more cross-border e-commerce, Southeast Asia must significantly expand consumer access to advanced payment systems that operate in several countries and develop a robust shipping network.

Finally, SMEs and local startups could be the prime beneficiary of social commerce through reduced costs and improved market access both domestically and across borders. Here are four key policy recommendations for Southeast Asian countries eager to capitalize on social media for e-commerce:

boost market access by removing barriers to digital trade;
introduce legal, regulatory and institutional reforms to accommodate electronic business, facilitate access and connectivity, and enable e-payments;
foster an enabling environment for digital businesses through investment, especially in local startup networks/ecosystems; and
improve the availability and quality of connectivity infrastructure.

13/08/2023

Changing consumer and merchant habits are creating opportunities for logistics companies—if they can cater to new needs and meet more exacting standards.

Changing Southeast Asia e-commerce habits are creating opportunities for logistics companies—if they can cater to new needs and meet more exacting standards.

13/08/2023

Why choose e-commerce business in Indonesia

The Indonesian e-commerce industry is experiencing rapid growth in recent years, making it one of the most dynamic and promising markets globally. With a

13/08/2023

Exploiting e-commerce's full potential

In the pre-pandemic days, all discussions about e-commerce were largely centred on promoting it as a way of doing business. With the physical movements severely curtailed during the pandemic-induced shutdowns, e-commerce or online business became the only way left open. Small wonder that compared to what it was before, this form of business has witnessed a 166 per cent growth during these pandemic months since the end of March. Seeing that it saves time and is relatively hassle-free, more and more people are choosing the online mode of transactions to get their goods or services delivered and work done. Considering e-commerce's increasing acceptance and popularity among the public, it is time its stakeholders and the government worked more closely to address the challenges facing this fast emerging sector. At the same time, they would need to take steps to remove the impediments to its growth and formulate policies to that end.

A recent online discussion event in the city saw business and government leaders, ICT experts, start-up pioneers as well as consumer right advocates turning the spotlight on these and other issues pertinent to e-commerce's continued growth in the country. First and foremost, for full realisation of the online business potential, a policy framework has to be in place that is business-friendly. It should also involve measures to improve ICT's present physical infrastructure, enhance pace of technology adaptation as well as extend the various fiscal and non-fiscal stimulus packages of the government to this sector that mainstream businesses enjoy.

Currently, the size of the online business is around US$2.0 billion and growing by 50 per cent annually. If the present trend continues, by 2023, this sector will be poised to grow into an industry worth US$3.0 billion. However, to facilitate its uninterrupted advancement, the government would be required to create a supportive environment for e-business to run smoothly. Easing conditions for issuing licence to an e-business entity and levying VAT and supplementary duties on it more rationally are some of the measures that will help this sector get mainstreamed. At the same time, a sound e-commerce marketing and advertising policy has to be formulated with an eye to the privacy of data. Also, better and stabler internet connectivity, easier and a user-friendly online digital payment system are some of the pre-conditions for its expansion at a faster rate. However, the key to creating a sustainable e-commerce ecosystem in the country is protection of the rights of its consumers. That would involve ensuring quality and reliability of service, evolving a standard product pricing policy and a secured payment system.

While formalising this sector, a line has to be drawn between e-commerce in general and its offshoot, f-commerce, that is, its facebook-based version. This branch of e-commerce needs to be brought under strict monitoring through appropriate regulation and mandatory registration so that bad players shall be kept out of the f-commerce market which is valued at around Tk 3.0 billion. Adoption of such regulatory measures has become essential. Notably, at present, some 36 million people are hooked to the social media of whom 8.4 million are facebook users. It has to be understood that e-commerce is not just one of the business sectors. With further advancement of ICT, it is going to be a major, if not the sole, mode of business in the future. So, the government should look at its development from that perspective.