Predictry aims to give small retailers Amazon-like predictive powers

Millennials are obsessively attached to the Internet. We depend on it for many decisions, from where we should have breakfast, to which smartphone we should purchase. Googling for answers has become pure reflex:

This phenomenon presents a huge opportunity for those in ecommerce. Amazon has tapped into consumers’ desire to be told what to buy and built a billion dollar business around it. They use an algorithm which customizes the recommendations that appear on every web page you browse. For example, a tech aficionado will see more gadgets appear as they move through Amazon. It is orchestrated as surely as a show on Broadway.

Seng Teong Chua, founder and CEO of product recommendation engine Predictry, is no stranger to Amazon’s tactics – he has been a huge fan of the ecommerce monolith for the past decade. However, upon returning to Malaysia after working in German ecommerce company Rebate Networks, he was surprised to find that most local ecommerce store owners were not as sophisticated.

“I found out that they were only aware of generic recommendation plugins that were very simple in nature – these were made for an era long past,” he explains. “Today, there are so many more things being sold online. How can you use a plugin designed to sell shoes to recommend 40-inch plasma TVs? They are completely different, and so it just won’t work.”

He also found it odd that data scientists hadn’t jumped onto this market opportunity. After some questioning, Chua realized that data scientists from major firms in Germany were aware of this market gap – they just were not willing to work with businesses to improve their own algorithms.

“Data scientists are very egoistic – they always think that their algorithms are the best,” Chua reveals. “They usually end up getting very frustrated when their algorithms fail, because with no ecommerce experience, they have no clue what to track online.”

Chua gave the example of an online food delivery service. Speed is of the essence, because people who order meals online are typically in a rush. The superior online food delivery service therefore provides accurate recommendations as quickly as possible.

“If you understand that, you would know that it’s not necessary to get the best recommender – just the fastest would do,” he explains. “The plugins out there now are just not meeting the needs of the market.”

Some have tried, no doubt. “There are some firms who offer these services, but they are charging exorbitant sums – up to US$30,000 for implementation,” he says. “No startup will be able to afford that.”

“So now there are the generic plugin creators who don’t understand the market, while those who actually do understand are charging an arm and a leg for it. So I thought, if nobody is doing it right, I’ll do it then. Why not?” Chua says with a smile.

Simple, but in high demand

Chua has a hand in several ventures and holds multiple management positions. But he says that Predictry was by far the easiest product he ever had to sell. “I didn’t even need slides. All I needed to ask was, do you want the Amazon trick? I’ll give it to you,” he says.

Cheaper and better

Global interest, local focus