GoverMedia CEO: Foreign E-Commerce Markets Offer Untapped Opportunities

In a recent interview with INN, GoverMedia Plus Canada (CSE:MPLS) CEO Roland Bopp discussed the company’s mandate, its recent partnership with cryptocurrency exchange company, EXMO, and its plans for the future.

Bopp also provided an in-depth look at the emerging e-commerce markets in Southeast Asia, China and Latin America and indicated the opportunities they pose for e-commerce companies.

Below is a transcript of our interview with GoverMedia CEO Roland Bopp. It has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Investing News Network: Please give our investor audience an overview of GoverMedia and its proprietary e-commerce platform.

GoverMedia CEO Roland Bopp: GoverMedia Plus Canada Corp is a publicly traded company that owns the Russian internet technology company GoverMedia Plus LLC in Kazan and its wholly-owned US subsidiary, Media Plus USA Inc. in Delaware.

Over the last 2 years, GoverMedia Plus LLC has developed a scalable, state-of-the-art internet platform, which focuses on the online B2B and B2C retail markets in Russian-speaking regions. The platform offers e-commerce, social media, blockchain-based services, cryptocurrency trading and crypto-payment processing solutions, crowdfunding capabilities as well as corporate database, corporate auctions and multimedia services. Currently, our platform serves approximately 240,000 active users, but it can handle over 15 million.

GoverMedia Plus recently signed a commercial partnership agreement with EXMO, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in Europe. Through this partnership, GoverMedia has integrated cryptocurrency and blockchain-based technologies to provide its users with the possibility to directly trade large number of cryptocurrencies on the GoverMedia ecosystem, through a facilitated process. In February 2018, GoverMedia Plus Canada Corp. also successfully completed its IPO and raised approximately C$1.8 million.

Our success can be attributed to our encryption and engineering teams, who manage and enhance the technical requirements for our platform and have extensive experience in social media, mobile analytics, cloud technologies and IT. One of the unique features of our e-commerce platform is the embedded digital signature, which allows users to sign contracts that are compliant across jurisdictions.

INN: Please tell us about the current landscape of the global e-commerce market. Who are the global players?

RB: The B2B business model contributes the largest portion of the global e-commerce market which accounts for 84 percent of sales. The market is growing rapidly due to increased internet access and the ongoing rise in global wealth, and all e-commerce sales are expected to reach approximately US$4.5 trillion by 2021. Additionally, seven of the largest e-commerce markets are in non-English speaking regions including Russian speaking countries, India, Southeast Asia and Latin America.

As non-Western e-commerce sales grow, the US, the second largest e-commerce market in world, has seen its share of sales decrease rapidly. By 2020, the US will account for approximately 17 percent of the global e-commerce market, down from 20 percent in 2015. Meanwhile, beyond the US, China now has the world’s largest and fastest growing e-commerce market as the country’s middle class expands and brings in a large pool of online consumers.

Russia is the ninth largest e-commerce market in the world and, alongside other Russian-speaking nations, offers one of the largest pools of internet users with approx. 300 million in Europe. However, currently only two percent of purchases made by Russian consumers are conducted online. Based on market studies conducted by independent consulting firms, the Russian e-commerce transaction value is expected to increase from approximately $30 billion in 2017 to over $90 billion in 2025.

Additionally, markets in Southeast Asia should also see remarkable growth in the next five years. Southeast Asia accounted for approximately $5.5 billion in sales in 2015 and is expected to generate approximately $90 billion by 2025. Indonesia alone has accounted for approximately $46 billion in 2015, much more than the predicted $1.7 billion. There’s also growth potential in Latin America where Colombia and Mexico are expected to surpass Brazil, the region’s leader, in the next few years.

INN: What opportunities do you see for deploying e-commerce in non-Western regions? What are the success factors for doing this effectively?

RB: Companies that successfully establish their brands in emerging regions early on will have a massive advantage over those who move in after the market has matured. However, entering a foreign market cannot be done hesitantly. Even Amazon has had difficulty entering some foreign markets due to its west-centric business history. Consumers in these markets tend to prefer e-commerce sites that are offered in their own language and currencies.

The opportunity lies in having a strong understanding of the market requirements, particularly when it comes to local culture, language, demographics, market, population size and internet access. While global access to technology is on the rise, there’s still a lot of variance in the quality of internet infrastructure in emerging markets.

INN: What is next for GoverMedia and how does that fit into the company’s long-term plans?

RB: We want to grow our active user base by executing our organic business growth strategy in Russia and other Russian-speaking countries where there are approximately 300 million potential users. We’re also finalizing plans to establish a subsidiary in China, where we expect consumer interest in our products and services. In parallel, we are also finalizing a strategic partnership agreement with a wireless company in Eastern Europe.

As part of our external growth strategy, we’ll be targeting companies that could rapidly increase our user base over the next two years. Our current target is to organically reach one million users. For the long term we are working on a plan for cryptocurrency ICOs and the blockchain market.

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