MAKING DIGITAL MARKET FAIRER

Digital Market defined as Marketing using electronic media such as the web, email, interactive TV, IPTV and wireless media in conjunction with digital data about customers characteristics & behaviors (Chaffey, Chadwick, Mayer, Johnson (2009).

Based on the new BCG report on Digital Transformation released today digital marketing presents a tremendous opportunity to engage consumers because the ways in which consumers engage with media have shifted dramatically in recent years—and marketing approaches must be reinvented accordingly.

Now days century, the revolution of Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) has became a great challange all around the world. Everybody talking about it. Human now being scared job in a future will lost because the using of robotic and artificial Intelligence predicted will replace human to doing a job. 4IR has a big impact on digital market because the using of technology, internet of things and multimedia will caused the death of distance and the end of geography. But the main point i want to discuss is about "Making Digital Market Fairer", theme of Consumers Right Day 2018

According to the International Consumers report :
"E-commerce has transformed the way that people shop, giving consumers more choice than ever before. But it has also raised global issues that we can only tackle together. In 2017 global e-commerce sales reached $2.29 trillion, but nearly 70% of consumers worry their digital payments are unsafe. Meanwhile, half the world’s population are still offline"

Think about  "Making Digital Market Fairer", the main aspect will be discussed are access to fair and secure internet for all, action against scams and fraud, and better consumer protection online. 

Access to fair and secure internet for all
In Malaysia, the fairer of internet has a big "Digital Divide" between urban and rural areas because of many factor such as geography location, earth shape, distance, infrastructure accessibility, and etc. It's caused the digital market most used by urban people compare than rural people. That shows the unbalance and unfair of digital market in terms of accessibility to reach and use internet to buy online. The famous online shop in Malaysia such as Lazada, Shopee, Zalora, Mudah, Coursell and mores are the most visited site by buyer. In this case, people who cannot access internet don't know anything about this. In my opinion, lack of knowledge about internet, lack of skills to use technology, accessibility of network and attitude in using internet are the main factors of unfair internet. In other side, based on Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) report in 2017, The survey of internet users was resulted as : 

•  ‘Lack of confidence or skills’ and ‘lack of interest’ were the main reasons for not using the Internet. (58.1% and 46.3%). 
•  Smartphone was the most common device to access Internet (89.4%) Access from other mobile devices such as tablet, laptop and feature phone however declined. 
•  Text communication (96.3%) and visiting social networking site (89.3%) were the most common activities for Internet users as well getting information online (86.9%). 
• Of those who visited social networking site, 97.3% of them owned Facebook account, followed by Instagram (56.1%). 
•  The consumers’ e-commerce participation has increased to 48.8% compared 35.3% on previous year. The main barrier for e-commerce adoption was consumers’ preference to go the physical stores, lack of confidence and skills, as well as security and privacy concern. Online bank transfer is the most common mode of payment for online shopping (63.8%), followed by ATM bank transfer (48.8%). Internet Users Survey 2017
• It is found that online privacy is important to most Internet users (91.9%), albeit most of them did not seem to mind when it comes to sharing their personal information online such as their own photos and real name. However, the awareness on the protection of online privacy is noteworthy as 86.0% of Internet users had taken various measure to ensure their personal information online stays private.
•  The take-up for parental control software was still low among Internet users with children (17.2%). For parents who did not use the software, they cited that they already had their own rules and limits on Internet users (69.2%), as well as never heard of such software before (59.1%).
•  Men outnumbered women in the distribution of Internet users (57.4% and 42.6% respectively) although adoption rate within the gender group shows no significant difference (68.9% of men use the Internet versus 68.1% of women use the Internet). 
•  The mean age of users (33.0 years old) and non-users (53.9 years old) showed increment compared to 2015 (users: 32.4; non-users: 50.7).

Table 1 :  Reason for not using Internet, 2014 and 2016

Source : Internet Users Servay 2017 by MCMC

1  Action against scams and fraud

• Along with benefits, e-commerce raises key issues for consumers such as: access to fair and secure markets, being sure there is redress when things go wrong, and being exposed to scams and fraud. Scams affect every part of life. These people try to trick you out of your personal information and your money. The most common types of fraud fall under these categories:

·         Banking

·         Bankruptcy

·         Health

·         Housing and Mortgage

·         Immigration

·         Internet

·         Mass Marketing

·         Passport and Visa

·         Postal Mail

·         Telemarketing

·         Telephone

 Most Popular Scams

Get the information you need to protect yourself from being a victim of the latest scam tactics:   

• Advance fee scams - Don't fall for claims that you have won a lottery, prize, or can invest in a great opportunity, if you have to pay a small fee in advance.
• Chain letters - These letters promise to help you get rich quickly if you participate and forward the letter on to your friends and family.
• Charity scams - Scammers take advantage on your willingness to help people in need and charitable causes. They may collect your donation and keep it for themselves instead of using it to help those in need..
• Dating scams - Scammers may create fake profiles on online dating sites and express interest in you, just so he or she can convince you to send them money.
• Debt relief scams - Some scammers hope that you are as eager to get rid of your debt as they are to scam you out of your money. Know the warning signs so you won't be their next victim.
• Free security scans - Don't be tricked by messages on your computer screen that claim that your machine is already infected with a virus. The realistic, but phony, security alerts exploit your fear of online viruses and security threats.
• Government grant scams - Despite ads that say you qualify for a government grant, these are often scams. Be wary of responding to offers, email, or claims that use government agency names.
• Health product scams - Be wary of trusting all claims. Take time to get the facts about a product first.
• International financial scams - A variety of scams offer entries into foreign lotteries or international investment opportunities.
• IRS-related scams - Be careful with email that is supposedly from the IRS. Scammers try to gain access to your financial information in order to steal your identity and assets.
• Job scams - Be wary if you have to pay money or supply your credit card number to a company to apply for a job. Some scammers make big promises with work at home opportunities, but these may require you to engage in illegal activities.
• Jury duty scams - Someone calls pretending to be a court official who threatens that a warrant has been issued for your arrest because you failed to show up for jury duty.
• Mass Mailing Fraud - You receive a letter promising wealth or good fortune. 
• Military romance scams - Someone falsely claims to be a member of the U.S. military, stationed in a combat zone. This false soldier gets in an online relationship with someone on social media or a dating website, and asks for money for fake service-related expenses.  
• Phantom debt scams - Beware of letters and calls, supposedly from "debt collectors" or "court officials". These scammers make threatening claims requiring you to pay money that you don't owe.  
• Pyramid schemes - These investments offer big profits, but really aren't based on revenue from selling products. Instead, they depend on the recruitment of more investors.
• Scams that use the names of the FBI or CIA - Avoid falling victim to email schemes involving unsolicited email supposedly sent by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and/or Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The email appears to be sent from email addresses such as mail@fbi.gov, post@fbi.gov, admin@fbi.gov, and admin@cia.gov.
• Service members or veteran scams - Scammers target bogus offers of government resources or financial services to trick active duty military personnel and veterans out of their money.
• Smishing, vishing, and phishing - All three of these scams rely on you replying to an email, phone call or text with personal information, such as your bank account or credit card numbers.
• Social Security imposter scams - Someone calls you, posing as a Social Security investigator. This person claims that there is a problem with your social security account. They then tell you to call another number to resolve the problem. 
• Subpoena scams - Scammers send bogus email, supposedly from a U.S. District Court, stating that you have to come to court. These messages are fake and may contain links that are harmful to your computer.
• Tech support scams - Scammers pretend that there is a problem with your computer and then try to convince you to pay them to fix it.
• Text message spam - Not only can text message spam be annoying and cost you money on your mobile phone bill, but the messages are often for scams