Singapore, March 9th, 2017— Singaporean SMEs Tech2Cool, Faire Belle, Falconpev alongside 23 e-commerce merchants in Southeast Asia were honored at the inaugural iPrice E-Commerce Merchant Awards (iEMA) 2016 at the eTail Asia Conference in Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. Voted and nominated by tens of thousands of consumers across Southeast Asia, the awards were organized by iPrice Group in partnership with eTail Asia, Trusted Company and UseInsider, with the aim to celebrate and honor the efforts of Southeast Asia’s top e-commerce merchants in the booming industry.
With the assistance of Trusted Company, each consumer was validated and allowed to vote only once for iEMA 2016. The voting and nomination period began on 15th November 2016 and ended on 31st January 2017. All merchants in Southeast Asia were automatically enlisted and qualified for the voting session.
Winners of the inaugural iEMA includes Tech2Cool winning both Quality Award and Popularity Award for Singapore. Present to receive the awards was Prasenjit Sarkar, CEO of Tech2Cool at the iEMA 2016 awards ceremony.
“On behalf of Tech2Cool as well as all other small yet ambitious e-commerce merchants, I am extremely grateful to iPrice, Worldwide Business Research, Trusted Company and UseInsider for giving us a fair opportunity to be recognized by consumers. Your support inspires us to re-dedicate ourselves to serving customers even better.” said Prasenjit.
Prasenjit Sarkar (R), CEO of Tech2Cool receives the Popularity Award from David Chmelař (R), Co-Founder and CEO of iPrice Group
Tech2Cool was founded in 2011 and markets computer hardware accessories and peripherals to individual consumers and businesses through their website. To date, the Singaporean startup has expanded their portfolio to more than 45 brands and have serviced customers from 24 countries outside of the city-state.
When asked about their secret in keeping their customers happy, Prasenjit said that it is vital to personalize their service according to their specific needs. “We acknowledge every order personally and take end-to-end owner of every shipment until it is delivered. We ensure that we only sell new products and for every warranty request, we liaise directly with the manufacturers’ Authorized Service Providers. Though these efforts can be time consuming, we believe this is vital in creating happy and loyal customers”
Other finalists for the Quality Award was Faire Belle, an e-commerce that markets a wide range of fashionable and high quality products and Falconpev, a specialist electric scooter and electric bicycle company. For the Popularity Award category, Lazada and Zalora both took finalist positions for Singapore.
The Absolute Winner of iEMA 2016 Awards
Bukalapak, a C2C e-commerce platform was declared the overall winner of iEMA 2016, garnering the highest number of overall votes in Southeast Asia. The startup began their operations in their garage with the passion to create a marketplace that is reliable and trusted by consumers today. When asked what made them successful Evi Andarini, PR Manager of Bukalapak mentioned that they constantly find ways to be creative and innovative in meeting their customers’ needs.
In addition to this, a special award to honor notable achievements by an e-commerce was won by BloomThis, a Malaysian startup who utilized their website and social media pages to provide an unparalleled premium flower gifting service.
The full list of winners:
The Absolute Winner of iEMA 2016:
- Bukalapak
iPrice Special Award
- BloomThis (Winner)
- Althea (1st Runner Up)
- BMS Organics (2nd Runner Up)
Quality Award – Country Winners
- Singapore : Tech2Cool
- Malaysia : Livlola
- Indonesia : Mazaya
- Philippines : Starmobile
- Thailand : Advice
- Vietnam : Alovendor
Popularity Award – Country Winners
- Singapore : Tech2Cool
- Malaysia : Lazada
- Indonesia : Bukalapak
- Philippines : Lazada
- Thailand : Advice
- Vietnam : Alovendor
The Absolute Winner and iPrice Special Award of iEMA 2016 were presented a special trophy while other winners and finalists received a certificate and an e-badge for their e-commerce platforms. In addition to this, products from all winners and finalists of all categories will be given a special highlight on all iPrice websites across Southeast Asia.
Further details such as list panel of experts, rules and regulations can be found at the iEMA 2016 microsite.
About iPrice Group
iPrice is Southeast Asia’s leading Meta-Search platform, connecting consumers with hundreds of e-commerce merchants through a great shopping experience. Since October 2014, the platform has established itself as the fastest growing in its segment across seven markets: Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines and Hong Kong.
iPrice currently operates three business lines: price comparison for electronics and health & beauty; product discovery for fashion and home & living; and coupons across all verticals.
About eTail Asia
eTail Asia is a one-stop shop for everything multichannel and E-Commerce; an event where business owners and entrepreneurs have opportunities to learn, be inspired, find innovative solutions for their businesses, and build lasting professional relationships. The annual eTail Asia conference aims to provide unrivalled networking opportunities, high quality content guided by research and experts conducted at top tier resorts. First organized by Worldwide Business Research LLC (WBR) in 1999, the conference production company now runs over 80 industry conferences and networking events on a worldwide scale.
About Trusted Company
Trusted Company is a review platform for e-commerce businesses in emerging markets like Southeast Asia and India. Motivated with the goal of educating businesses and consumers to facilitate good e-commerce practice, Trusted Company aims to be the most transparent go-to-place for business reviews. As the current state of emerging e-commerce in the Southeast Asia Region holds tremendous opportunities for solutions that tackle scam, fraud, and other types of abuse, Trusted Company strongly believes that creating trust through third-party verified reviews is the best manner to overcome these issues.