comScore just released its report “State of the Internet with focus on Asia Pacific”. According to the report, in terms of online retail reachness, Asia Pacific is still lagging behind the rest of the world and in “infancy stage”. This is not unbelievable considering that the retail site reach is 55.9%, just better than Africa.

China and Japan is leading while India is catching up very fast.

EcomZen has some good points about the rest of the report, read it here.

IAB Singapore is having a “IAB Education and Training Survey” to better understand the market demand for IAB’s upcoming training and education programs like:

“Conversion Attribution
Financial Analysis and Performance Development
Managing Multiple Sales Channels
Measurement, Analytics and Optimization
Media Mathematics
Planning and Integrating Campaigns
Planning and Managing Website Development
Planning Your Digital Career
Producing Digital Creative
…”

The results of the survey will be used to priorities spending and resources when allocating IAB expenditure on training and education.

The whole survey is 8 eight questions long. In total it will take you no longer than 10 minutes.

The Electronic Transactions Act (ETA) has been re-enacted as of 1 July 2010 to harmonise Singapore’s laws on electronic transactions with international developments, facilitate more effective delivery of e-Government services and enhance technology neutrality so that Singapore can better respond to the changing and continued developments in security technology.

Singapore was one of the first countries in the world to introduce legislation to enable electronic commerce, when the ETA was enacted in 1998. With the revised ETA, which included changes to align the Act with the United Nations Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts (UN Convention), Singapore became the first country in Asia to ratify the UN Convention after a ratification ceremony in New York on 7 July 2010. This revised ETA “is of strategic importance given the increasing use of the electronic medium for communications and transactions, and substantial growth in global e-commerce trade,” said Mr Lui Tuck Yew, Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, in the second reading on the Electronic Transactions Bill 2010 on 19 May 2010.

Aligning ETA with the UN Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts
Under the amendments, provisions in the ETA, such as those responsible for defining the time and place of dispatch of an electronic communication, follow the UN Convention, an updated international legal framework for e-commerce that is developed by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).

New provisions that were added include rules on the use of automated programs in the formation of contracts, use of electronic originals in place of the physical originals, and clarifications on the rules in a formation of an electronic contract.

“By harmonising our laws on e-commerce with the UN Convention, businesses in Singapore will not be subjected to different standards for domestic and international transactions,” said Mr Lui. “This prevents any complication arising from different definitions and conventions between local and cross-border electronic transactions.”

Facilitating effective delivery of e-Government services
The second set of amendments to the ETA clarifies that during transactions with public agencies, information can be submitted using electronic forms in the manner specified by the agencies, even if these forms do not resemble the physical prescribed forms required for the transactions.

These amendments provide flexibility for public agencies to design electronic forms suited for online transactions, and hence improve the customer’s overall e-Government experience. For example, public agencies can create integrated electronic forms to facilitate a user’s performance of multiple e-Government transactions from a single point of access. Using the integrated electronic form, the user needs to input his relevant information just once, instead of having to fill in the same information repeatedly in the multiple forms for the different e-Government transactions he is performing.

Under the ETA amendments, Government agencies will also, by default, accept the retention or provision of the required documents in their electronic form. There are also provisions to allow Government agencies to specify additional requirements for the retention or provision of electronic records and originals. However, certain classes of documents and transactions, such as wills and the conveyance of properties, will continue to be excluded from the ETA.

Enhancing the technology neutrality of the ETA
The third set of amendments focus on the regulatory framework for Certification Authorities (CAs) and is aimed at enhancing the technology neutrality of the ETA. Under the original ETA, the CA regulatory framework was largely based on Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) technology, which was one of the most secure authentication architectures at the time.

“Since then, however, new security technologies and solutions have emerged, and changed the authentication and security landscape both in Singapore and globally”, said Mr Lui. Some of these new technologies like biometrics have begun to be adopted, as they have been found to be appropriate alternatives to PKI. To keep pace with these industry developments, PKI-specific references have been removed from the main text of the ETA and moved into an attached Schedule.

The effect of these proposed amendments is that proven new security technologies can now be treated as comparable to PKI in ensuring the reliability and security of authentication services. However, there will be no dilution in the regulatory controls that have been put in place to govern CAs in Singapore.

Mr Lui said with these amendments, the ETA will continue to fulfill its fundamental role of providing a conducive legal framework for electronic transactions to take place in Singapore. “In doing so, we can facilitate the continual growth of electronic commerce (or e-commerce for short), electronic communications and electronic transactions, hence strengthening Singapore’s position as a trusted global infocomm hub.”

For more information on the ETA, please refer to www.ida.gov.sg

For more information on the UN Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts, please refer to the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts’ press release here:www.news.gov.sg/public/sgpc/en/media_releases/agencies/mica-ccd/press_release/P-20100708-1

Sell your products to 1.4 billion Chinese is the dream of every business man. It used to be difficult due to the complexity of local distribution channels, various rules and cultures in different provinces and even cities.

It is now much easier to leverage internet and E-Commerce as an alternative distribution channel, through which you can gain immediate and universal access to hundreds of millions of consumers who are ready to buy. Taobao and Tencent has spent years to educate the market and now enjoying the fruits by having billions dollar transactions per day.

So if you have some products, and you want to sell to Chinese consumers, you shouldn’t miss E-Commerce as one key distribution channel. In other countries, this means you have some shopping cart on your companies website. In China, this is not enough. You must have some presence on Taobao, Paipai, Youa, on top of your own website in order to reach out to all potential customers. This will create some headache, however, when managing multiple shopfront on different platforms, which may affect your customer experiences.

Shopex is the one-stop solution to the problem. As a leading e-commerce solution provider in China having a market share more than 50%, they propose the “Whole Network E-Commerce” where your products are presented on all e-commerce platforms mentioned above and can be managed centrally in shopex system. Shopex is invested by Alibaba, but can work with other e-commerce platforms like paipai and youa seamlessly.

As a gold member of ECAS, shopex wants to help Singapore merchants to penetrate China market easily with lower cost and higher ROI. For more info, please visit www.shopex.cn or contact ECAS.

During the Global Mobile Internet Conference (www.gmic2010.com), the famous angel investor in China, Mr. Lei Jun, has commented that mobile devices will replace pc as the center of personal computing in next 10 years time.

He specially mentioned iPad, which he originally thought was just a bigger iPhone.  But after experiencing iPad by himself, he felt that this device is going to change the mobile industry to a new era.

Mr Lei Jun is also the investor of UCMobile, the dominant mobile web browser in China.

More details can be found from http://www.gmic2010.com/gmic/EN_index.html

Techcrunch also has a report about GMIC: http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/30/geeksonaplance-at-the-gmic-and-chinict-tech-conferences-in-beijing-learnings-from-china/

All the top B2C E-Commerce operators are gathered during this event including taobao, tencent, shopex, baidu, amazon..

The topics are insightful. More reports can be found: http://tech.sina.com.cn/z/b2csummit2010/index.shtml

One interesting topic is from Shopex, the biggest independent online shopping cart solution provider in China. They believe E-Commerce will be successful only with attention to details – and they have a complete end2end system to help merchants including visualizing the complete conversion process and auto-synchronization of product info to multiple third-party B2C platforms.  Check out for more details here: http://tech.sina.com.cn/i/2010-04-28/17064123449.shtml

Singapore – May 6, 2010 – ad:tech Singapore 2010, to be held on 3-4 June at  Suntec Convention Centre, will bring together movers and shakers of the global digital marketing industry to  share insights into the major digital trends in 2010.

Marketers from all levels and backgrounds can expect intense debates and thought-provoking discussions on wide-ranging topics from Industry veterans and thought leaders including Andrew Pickup, Chief Marketing Officer, Microsoft – APAC, Julian Persaud, Managing Director of Google Southeast Asia, Francesco Lagutaine, Chief Marketing Officer (APAC) for Citigroup, as well as Shawn Warren, VP Marketing, Asia Pacific, Kraft Foods. In addition, delegates can get insights and updates on global best practices, learnings and case studies on how marketers can leverage the digital wave for increased brand awareness and growth.

“As more and more people in the Asia Pacific region spend more time online, Google believes that advertisers need to be where their potential customers are and invest more in digital media,” said Julian Persaud, Managing Director of Google Southeast Asia. “ad:tech Singapore 2010 gives us a strong opportunity to connect with advertisers from across the region and convey to them that digital media has indeed gone mainstream.”

Bigger and better this year with full support from the Media Development Authority and the Singapore Tourism Board, ad:tech Singapore will see industry icons, veterans and leading brands from all over.

“ad:tech’s commitment in bringing the industry together where global best practices can be shared amongst professionals has effectively helped create a successful platform to explore the power of digital and how its transforming the marketing and branding landscape”, said Paul Beckley, Vice President, ad:tech Singapore.  “With a rapidly-changing media landscape, the only way that the industry can continue to push frontiers in utilising digital media is to keep sharing at the industry level”.

As part of the industry exchange to bring greater synergies, the exhibition will see over 30 companies including publishers and media owners taking part.  Among them, technologies and solutions from mobile marketing to analytics, e-mail marketing to Search Engine Optimisation will be showcased. In addition, attendees can look forward to more networking opportunities that have been organised in association with Dentsu, Google, Wall Street Journal and the Rubicon Project.  These networking parties aim to create opportunities for more meaningful conversations amongst industry practitioners to explore the trends shaping today’s market and on the way forward.

More information on the panels and the networking sessions is made available on www.ad-tech.com/singapore.

A view on the keynote sessions:

Day 1: 3^rd June 2010

1. I. The Future of Brands on the Internet

Alex Hunter, Independent Brand Consultant

What is the future for brands online and how can brands turn customers into evangelists? How can small companies use the power of social media to take on the biggest brands in the world…and win? What does loyalty look like in the future? Drawing upon his experience overseeing the digital strategy for some of the biggest brands in the world together with case studies from Digg, Qype and other respected brands, Alex will explore these topics and more by looking at how customers, communities, and brands will intersect and how online behaviours will dictate how companies market their brands in the next few years. Join this keynote and see how lessons learned in European and American markets are translated into actionable marketing insights for Southeast Asia.

1. II. Digital Marketing in Southeast Asia – Market Observations (Vietnam, Indonesia and Philippines)

Moderator: Megan Clarken, Managing Director APAC, Nielsen Online

Panelists:     Nam Ji Hee, VP Digital, SEA&China, MTV Networks Asia

Ken Mandel, Regional VP of Advertising Sales and Marketplace, Yahoo! Asia Pacific

Ruth Stubbs, President Asia Pacific, MediaBrands

Ian Chapman-Banks, GM Consumer Division, Dell APAC

1. III. Digital Marketing in Southeast Asia – Market Observations (Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand)

Moderator:  Megan Clarken, Managing Director APAC, Nielsen Online

Panelists:     Julian Persaud, Managing Director, Google Southeast Asia

Helene Blanchette, Go-to-Market Strategy Manager, International Business Group, Fuji Xerox

Varsha Rao, CEO – Singapore, Singtel Digital Media

Sam Chan, General Manager, G2 Direct Interactive Kuala Lumpur

Following unprecedented demand from you, we have scheduled two consecutive panel discussions addressing the changing nature of the economy, enterprise and what that all means for digital media across South East Asia.

Led by Megan Clarken and with opinions from leading regional experts, these two deep-dive sessions will ensure you understand how to position your campaigns, your products and your business to make the most of emerging opportunities across South East Asia in the coming 12 months.

1. IV. Marketing in the Customer-Participation Era: The Windows 7 Launch Campaign

Andrew Pickup, Chief Marketing Officer, Microsoft – APAC

Over 1 billion users and 8 million beta-testers helped to design, develop and launch Windows 7 – recently described by both Wired and The Wall Street Journal as Microsoft’s “best-ever operating system” and voted by BusinessWeek as one of the Top 10 consumer innovations of 2009. In this case-study session, learn from Andrew Pickup, Chief Marketing Officer, Microsoft – APAC, on how listening closely to customers and leveraging the power of social media was at the heart of the launch here in Asia-Pacific.

Day 2: 4^th June 2010

1. V. Setting a goal of truly effective digital marketing.  Are we missing the point?

Francesco Lagutaine, Chief Marketing Officer – APAC, CitiGroup

There is an accelerated rush to look at digital channels as the new frontier in marketing. Everyone is experimenting in social media as the latest “must-be-in environment” of marketing communication but the development of the Internet shows that being first is not always an indicator of ultimate success. Through this session, Francesco Lagutaine talks about how taking more time to develop Digital as the glue to how we do business rather than a channel to do business in may pay greater rewards.

1. VI. Driving Marketing Excellence Through Digital – The Kraft Foods Asia-Pacific Journey

Shawn Warren, VP Marketing, Asia Pacific, Kraft Foods

Oreo, Cadbury, Jacob’s, Tang and Kraft Cheese, power brands under the helm of the world’s second largest food company, Kraft Foods. Vice President of Marketing for Asia Pacific, Shawn Warren, will discuss the important role digital marketing plays in building power brands across Asia Pacific. Whether as part of an integrated campaign, or as a stand-alone program, digital marketing is increasingly a key component in building marketing excellence at Kraft Foods across Asia-Pacific.

VII. What to Take Away from ad:tech Singapore 2010?

Moderator: Adrian Moss, CEO, Asia Digital Holdings

Panelist: Alex Hunter, Independent Brand Consultant

Panelist: Francesco Lagutaine, Chief Marketing Officer – APAC, CitiGroup

Panelist: Shawn Warren, VP Marketing, Asia Pacific, Kraft Foods

More information on the sessions is made available on www.ad-tech.com/singapore.

ECAS announced the initial findings of their Singapore E-Commerce Survey during “The Internet Show”, conducted nation-wide with a focus on local SMEs. The survey covers SMEs’ current E-Commerce capabilities, challenges, most-wanted features, and budget for future projects.

Some findings include:

• · While most SMEs agree Singapore’s overall E-Commerce level is good and understand the importance of conducting E-Commerce, they are apparently not satisfied with their own E-Commerce capabilities. For more than half of the participants, revenue related to E-Commerce (directly or indirectly) accounts for less than 10% of their overall revenue.

• SMEs have clear and specific requirements for e-commerce features on their website like shopping cart, booking system and payment system where a better online payment system is of bigger interests. They are also interested in having emerging features like mobile site and live casting on their website.

• SMEs are price-sensitive to both implementation cost and operational cost. Due to budget and knowledge limitation, they are facing challenges during implantation or enhancement of their online presence.

• · SMEs expect online marketing as a channel to reach wider audience at lower cost. As a result, they are not prepared to allocate big budget for online marketing. Furthermore, the lack of knowledge and traceability of online marketing (in SMEs minds) are the biggest challenges for SMEs to conduct and benefit from online marketing.”

• …

The survey is to let SMEs have a clearer understanding of their E-Commerce positions & capabilities compared to industry peers.

ECAS also invited a few keynote speakers, e.g. Vice President of Tencent – the biggest internet company in China, to share their E-Commerce experiences with local SMEs. Other keynote speakers are top management from Paypal, GTpayment and CrazyJohn’s.