Philips adds to e-commerce push with Malaysia store, BlipMy.com

Philips new site, BlipMy.com, offers around 140 Philips 'consumer lifestyle' products now and will expand in phases to include the brand’s full range of lifestyle and lighting products by the end of the year.

“We want our customers to enjoy a seamless Philips experience both online and offline,” said Selina Thurer, Asia-Pacific general manager for Philips Consumer Lifestyle (pictured below). “As such nationwide campaigns and promotions will be offered to all our distributors, in the traditional bricks-and-mortar stores as well online retail stores.”

Philips is entering the e-commerce space at an opportune time as the chanel has been growing steadily in Southeast Asia, she said. “In APAC, digital is an integral part of the decision-making process of our consumers, and we want to be where our consumer is expecting us, both off and online,” Thurer added.

Emarketer estimates that in 2014, for the first time, consumers in Asia-Pacific will spend more on e-commerce than those in North America, making Asia the largest regional market in the world. Asia-Pacific will claim more than 46 per cent of digital buyers worldwide in 2014.

For Philips’ consumer lifestyle business, the e-commerce play began in 2011 as it launched online stores in Japan and Korea. In both markets, it has established partnerships with major online retailers as well as specialty retailers for specific product categories. Singapore and Malaysia are the firm’s most recent launches.” Our view is to innovatively grow Philips’ digital connection to our customers and in particular leverage the large number of online users who are already connected to the Philips brand via social media,” she said. Thurer declined to specify what percentage of sales comes from e-commerce.

“BlipMy.com leverages some of the latest technologies and will have periodic updates to enhance technologies including mobile payments, click-through-purchases, customer tailored offerings and other initiatives,” said Tony Ong, co-founder of Xtrategize, adding that it plans to introduce a mobile site and application by the end of the year.

According to Ong, one of the biggest challenges for e-commerce is trust and credibility of product sold. He said Malaysians also value great user experience and personalised service. “We aim to set a new benchmark for Blip.my with high quality, consistent delivery and innovative e-commerce ideas for consumers.”