Capabilities of Viber for MSMEs
Myanmar has been a promising market for companies, both local and foreign due to the abundance of natural and mineral resources, geostrategic location between India and China, and a significant population of aspiring youth.
As per the reports, 126,237 or approximately 99.4% of all businesses in Myanmar are classified as medium, small and micro enterprises (MSMEs). On average, MSMEs in Myanmar account for 5095% of employment and contribute 3053% of GDP in ASEAN member states according to the 2021 research. So, it is safe to say that MSMEs are one of the most important sectors in Myanmar’s economy. But, when it comes to supporting the MSMEs in a country, a lot of awareness is needed on how to best and safely utilize an array of digital and communication tools.
On top of that, it has been more apparent that the pandemic has made it more challenging for many MSMEs to continue their businesses or struggle while doing so. Now MSMEs in Myanmar is witnessing several challenges to sustain their operations from product management, logistics, and financial management to customer engagement. Through this article, let’s understand the on-ground situation and possible solutions.
With the changes in Myanmar’s business landscape, comes the changes in consumer behavior as well. The Myanmar consumer is exercising caution and prudence by prioritizing necessities in their expenditure and shifting the focus from out of home consumption to at-home consumption. On the purchasing journey of customers, they usually prefer traditional trade channels but have recently shown significant interest in learning the digital tools due to increasing internet penetration, social media presence, and conversational commerce. However, the biggest shift towards digital services came when consumers faced limitations to withdraw cash from the bank disabling them to have extra cash on hand.
MSMEs need to establish and increase engagement with their existing and potential customers with curated content just for them. One of the examples of accessible and free communication tools they can utilize is Viber Channels.
Furthermore, MSME owners can create channels that ensure clutter-free engagement on their posts for enhanced customer support. For example, Viber Channels only allows admins and super admins to post in a Channel and the members can engage via the comments feature but can’t see who else is a member of the Channel (except for admins), which allows them to maintain their privacy as well. It is a golden opportunity during the crisis as 85% of today’s consumers will read a message on the messaging app that means they are looking for new brands and ready to explore options.
MSMEs can make more “personal” relationships with the customers even if it’s all online transactions. Personal conversations about MSMEs products and services can be created on Viber through rich media content such as video calls, GIFs, images, and many more. Now explaining the features of the product can be done over a video call with the customer or can be posted as a product demo video on the company’s Viber Channel. Special offers, discounts or any customer-centric branded promotions can be effortlessly created using the inbuilt features of Viber.
