Live Streaming Revolutionises Malaysian E-Commerce with CDNs
The digital landscape of Malaysian e-commerce is rapidly transforming, with live streaming emerging as a powerful tool for retailers and brands to engage customers, showcase products, and drive sales. As high-speed internet and smartphone adoption continue to soar, Malaysians are increasingly turning to live streaming platforms like Shopee Live to discover new products, interact with brands, and make informed purchase decisions on the go.
The numbers speak volumes: top-performing Shopee Live sellers across Malaysia have collectively raked in a staggering RM4.6 million in sales over the past year, hosting a whopping 2,300 livestreams. As of late 2023, a remarkable one million Malaysians have embraced Shopee Live, joined by over 450,000 homegrown sellers, influencers, and affiliates, collectively shaping the dynamic e-commerce landscape nationwide.
This massive business opportunity isn’t without its challenges, however. Malaysia’s diverse geography, varying internet speeds, and fluctuating network conditions present significant obstacles, which may impact the live streaming experience and overall customer engagement.
“In order to maximise the potential of live streaming in benefitting Malaysia’s flourishing e-commerce sector, integrating robust CDN capabilities with advanced streaming media technologies is essential to maintain video quality, keep customers engaged, and unlock new revenue streams,” says Yien Wu, Head of Sales, SEA & ANZ at CDNetworks.
A Transformative Force in E-Commerce
By leveraging a CDNs’ distributed network of servers, businesses can overcome geographical hurdles, varying network conditions, and scalability issues. CDNs especially address video quality and latency concerns by distributing content from servers closest to viewers, reducing data travel distance and improving delivery speeds. Businesses are able to implement customised media processing, content management, and a comprehensive platform for web performance, storage, VOD, and live streaming acceleration, enabling a reliable, low-latency experience even during peak events.
Cybersecurity Challenges and Solutions for Live Streaming E-Commerce
As e-commerce live streaming gains traction, cybersecurity has also become a paramount concern for businesses operating in this space. The real-time and interactive nature of these platforms, coupled with the exchange of sensitive customer data makes them an attractive target for cyber criminals.
Primarily, live streaming e-commerce platforms are targets for cyber threats like Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, data breaches, and content theft attempts due to the wealth of personal and financial data exchanged during transactions. The risks are multifaceted, and the consequences can be severe, potentially leading to sales disruptions, account takeovers, data leakages, and reputational damage.
As major shopping festivals approach, e-commerce platforms must proactively address cybersecurity challenges to ensure a seamless shopping experience and protect their brands. Effective solutions include CDNs for caching and resilience against traffic surges, DDoS protection, bot management systems, web application firewalls (WAFs), API security, and real-time monitoring and visualisation.
“At CDNetworks, we’ve seen how the integration of our CDN capabilities with streaming media technologies has enabled major e-commerce platforms, including a major Southeast Asian e-commerce company, to maintain consistent video quality, minimise buffering and latency, scale to meet demand surges during events, provide uninterrupted nationwide viewing – all while keeping themselves and their customers protected against related cyber threats,” added Yien.
Ultimately, with CDNs at the helm, live streaming will no longer be a mere trend but a transformative force, propelling e-commerce into a future where the lines between digital and physical retail blur, and the customer’s journey becomes a multisensory adventure. Businesses that harness the potential of CDNs will not only elevate the art of live streaming e-commerce but also etch their names in the annals of innovation, setting the stage for a retail revolution that redefines the very essence of online shopping.
