Alibaba’s Largest Competitor in Singapore Hopes to Gain Competitive Edge with Blockchain

Ku Young Bae, a South Korean serial entrepreneur based in Singapore, is most known for his company Qoo10. Qoo10 is one of the largest online malls in Singapore. The company’s sister marketplace QuuBe now plans to utilize blockchain technology to get a leg-up on its competitors. Mr. Ku says that blockchain tech could help to make the inner workings of his business much cheaper by allowing him to remove the fees currently charged to merchants. In time, he believes this will attract more sellers to his platform. A payment system is also planned for the e-commerce platform which will attract new shoppers and run on Q*coins, native to the QuuBe app. Mr. Ku remains optimistic, telling the Straits Times that ‘more than 5,000 merchants have registered some 2.3 million products on QuuBe in the past three months.’

Shifting the Paradigm in E-Commerce

Although Qoo10 isn’t the first e-commerce company to utilize blockchain, it definitely stands out. No company has gone all in on blockchain technology quite like Qoo10. “This is my attempt to shift the paradigm,” Mr. Ku says. Outside of southeast Asia, Mr. Ku is not well-known. Keeping a low profile, he has nonetheless managed to make his company number one in Singapore even with Amazon’s entry with Prime Now in 2017. Alibaba has also been making heavy investments in the country which has furthered Ku’s resolve to implement blockchain technology. With the help of blockchain, Qoo10 is looking to automate e-commerce transactions and reduce the human labor required for its everyday activities. Online shops will, in turn, be easier to set up. Trust will also be enhanced since all transactions and activity can be easily tracked on the distributed ledger. Mr. Ku is convinced that blockchain will expand his company tremendously, stating:

“I want to show the world that we can prevail by using technology, instead of throwing money around.”

If Mr. Ku is successful, Qoo10 could soon prove to be a case study on the benefits of blockchain in the e-commerce space. Are e-commerce and blockchain technology a natural fit? Do you see other large firms adopting similar strategies to rival competitors? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. 

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