DISCLAIMER: These are purely my personal opinion based on the experience compared in Malaysia and UK.
Currently, less than 12 hrs before 11.11.2020 ends, I better keep it brief and right to the points for the shoppers. I have found out that recently #Shopee seriously has changed from good to worst. The current practice is somewhat like what was practiced by #Lazada years ago. You can refer to the issue I encountered with Shopee on 00:00,11.11.2020....as per the image above.
Actually, online platforms have been competitive. The emergence of Lazada years was also plagued by very lousy system, low efficiency and error-laden UI. But over the years, they have improved, but incomparable to the western online commerce. Because Asians are too calculative to really give you good deals. In fact, I really dare to say this because, my UK shopping experiences were mostly positive (up to 95 %). I will list out main three items by comparing both experiences.
I was not really an avid online shopper, until I reached UK 5 years ago. The smooth transition and crazy deals online always made me unstoppable in UK, yet, the same feeling/ experiences were unfelt in Malaysia. This is mainly because e-commerce was dominated by several main platforms such as LAZADA, SHOPEE, HERMO, etc. But in UK, most of the merchants have their own online purchasing platforms, and mostly easy to navigate. This truly showed the maturity of UK online system compared to Malaysia.
Top 1: Marked-Up Pricing and Promo Code Issue
I tell you, in UK. When they give you sale price, they really genuinely give you sale price. Hike of prices, based on my personal experience, was uncommon, except for Train ticket which surprisingly changed according to time. But most of the items sold in UK had quite a stable pricing over my course of stay.
They have their own in-store promo, which differs from online promo. If you cannot wait, you can always go to their store, usually at times, they will have 3 for 2. Meaning, any items even with different prices, they can be bought together for the price of two! (This was really no seen in Malaysia, if you want to know more, PM me). But of course, with online purchasing, you will experience more discounts. Usually, they have very strict and unified pricing. Let say if I buy this item in H&M Edinburgh for 2 pounds, it would be the same across UK and Europe. Usually, they do not hike the price then only offer for this discount. For new arrival, even in discount season, you can get 10 - 20 % discount. THAT'S GENUINE unlike some merchants in Malaysia. Especially Black Friday and Boxing Day, those days are the holy days for shoppers, with discount up to 90%, but of course, you need to queue and fight for them.
Their promo code counts in UK were mostly time-dependent (from 1st - 11th Nov), instead of number-dependent (limited 1000 users in Malaysia), during my time in UK. Therefore, this really despises me a lot after my recent encounter with SHOPEE. The issue with discount in UK, will always be the running out of stock. But the promo codes are almost unlimited. Currently, Watson, Shopee and even Lazada are doing this all the time, to cap the number of vouchers. But to be fair, it is their term and condition. WHAT I REALLY DISLIKE WAS EVEN AFTER GRABBING THE PROMO CODE, I WOULD STILL NEED TO COMPETE AGAIN FOR PAYMENT. So, you tell me what's the benefits of grabbing it early? At least yesterday, I have to compliment Lazada for having true discount! For 3 years straight they sucked. But this year, I am going to them very good ratings.
Top 2: Unstable Payment System
I would say all platforms would encounter this issue. However, many times an user would need to face this? So far, in almost 95% of my purchase in UK, I have no problem at all with their payment gateway and system, except for once with #CathKidston (sadly, they have now closed down all physical stores).
For yesterday, Lazada had improved their system stability I guessed, and payment was a bliss, excellent job. Yet, now, Shopee was giving me problem. I have topped up in Shopeepay, yet payment was slower than my friends who are using credit card and Iphone. This was seriously insane. With the promotion being off on 11.11.2020 itself for the items I want to buy, a lot of unused fund was left in the shopeepay wallet. This was also another unfair term on the customers.
Top 3: Delivery Benefits
The delivery issues were also associated with Lazada, but recently, they provided a lot actual FREE SHIPPING automatically. Now, I have problem with Shoppe new terms on shipping. Actually, I could lodge a consumer complaint to government regarding misleading term used in online merchant. When you write FREE SHIPPING, means RM 0, that's free. But, if you only discount like RM 2 or RM3, please change the voucher name to DISCOUNT SHIPPING VOUCHER. Shopee, in this delivery benefits, was the worst, even compared to Lazada. They misled you with "Free Shipping", and on top of that, even Free shipping vouchers are also limited as well. Hope the management will look into it.
Overall, I would say Malaysia online commerce has a long long way to go. It is the system and the mentality which limits the progress. If they can study more, and refer more to other successful models, I believe it will be better. Yet, if money-minded all the way, how can you improve?
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