The E-Commerce sector keeps growing at an unprecedented pace, and everyone wants a piece of the pie. The fastest-growing sector in the Internet economy, the Southeast Asian E-Commerce market is expected to exceed US$150 billion in market share by 2025[i]! (For a better understanding, at least 5 million online orders are made in this region every single day. Amazing, isn’t it?)

Are you eager to better understand the E-Commerce landscape and seize the opportunities ahead of you? If you’re unsure where to begin, here are a few courses you can take to get yourself better acquainted with all things E-Commerce! There are also great free resources available on the net, some of which we’ll mention below.

*All course fees are accurate as of Dec 2019 and are subject to changes depending on the school/centre. All fees are in SGD unless otherwise stated. This is neither a non-exhaustive list nor an endorsement of the courses listed; please do conduct sufficient research to make sure a course fits your needs!

Short Courses

• SMU Academy – E-Commerce Essentials using WooCommerce

Students will be introduced to different e-commerce platforms suitable for locally-based businesses in this module, before being learning how they can integrate the WooCommerce platform and essential plug-ins into their WordPress site. They will also learn how to optimise and market their E-Commerce platform through best practices and different digital marketing tools.

Interested individuals can go on to take the E-Commerce Order Fulfilment module and six other Digital Marketing modules to be awarded a Certificate in E-Commerce, as well as a Professional Certificate in Digital Marketing. SMU Academy is the lifelong learning unit of Singapore Management University.

Curriculum: Includes content such as an introduction to E-Commerce, an introduction to third-party e-commerce buiding platforms like Lazada and Shopify, optimization best practices, as well as promotion mechanics and Customer Relationship Management
Fees: $1,712.00 (as low as $193.60 after relevant funding). This course is SkillsFuture Credit claimable.
Duration: 2 weekday evenings and a full Saturday.

• Ngee Ann Polytechnic – E-Commerce for Start-Ups: All You Need To Know

Taught by lecturers from Ngee Ann Polytechnic with industry experience in the IT and legal industries, this course will give a broad overview of E-Commerce. Covering its frameworks and business models, students will also learn about sources of funding and important legal aspects to take note of.

This course contains in-class assessments; students who pass these assessments and attend at least 75% of the course will receive a Certificate of Performance.

Curriculum: Day 1 covers an overview of the E-Commerce framework, various E-Commerce models, the benefits and challenges of managing E-Commerce, and E-Commerce platforms. Day 2 covers a basic guide to starting an online business in Singapore, funding, and success factors. Day 3 will cover the legal things, such as how to protect your intellectual property rights.

Fees: $208.65 for Singaporeans and Permanent Residents, as low as $46.15 for those with relevant grants or subsidies.
Duration: 3 days (9am-6pm). The next run will be from 23 to 25 March 2020.

• Singapore Polytechnic – Transform your Business with Ecommerce

Catering to anyone who wants to start an E-Commerce business, Singapore Polytechnic’s 2-day course will give take students through how to set up an online storefront and the E-Commerce selling process.

Students will receive an electronic Certificate of Attendance post completion.

Curriculum: An introduction to E-Commerce, Product Sourcing, How to Select an E-Commerce platform, Digital Promotion, Order Fulfilment, Post-Sales Support, Managing E-Commerce business

Fees: $128.40 for Singaporean citizens <40 and PRs ($48.40 if sponsored by an SME), $48.40 for Singaporeans aged 40 and above, $28.40 for Singaporeans aged 35 and above earning ≤ $2,000 per month. This course is SkillsFuture Credit claimable.
Duration: 2 days, 14 hours total (9am – 5pm). Course dates to be advised

• WealthMastery.sg – eCommerce Mastery Workshop

Providing education in the areas of wealth creation, entrepreneurship and personal development, WealthMastery.sg’s founders Calvin and Patricia share their 5-Step E-Commerce system in a workshop for businesses, entrepreneurs and E-Commerce beginners. Things they will cover include beginner E-commerce mistakes to avoid, methods to find good products to sell, and how to harness social media advertising.

Curriculum: Covers dropshipping, product research, customer profiling, social media advertising, order fulfilment, and platform

Fees: Free

Duration: 2 hours

• Singapore Institute of Retail Studies (SIRS) – Alibaba Global Course Series

SIRS is a Continuing Education & Training (CET) institute of Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP), and was the first ever CET to be set up. Appointed by SkillsFuture Singapore to be the Anchor Provider for Retail Industry courses, SIRS was conferred the National CET Institute status in 2011. The Alibaba Global Course Series is part of SIRS-NYP’s collaboration with Alibaba Group’s Taobao University, in which a series of digital programmes are offered to help local retailers adopt ecommerce and omni-channel strategies. Through the course, participants will learn about facing and overcoming challenges in cross border businesses— focusing primarily on China.

SIRS also offers courses for other platforms such as QOO10, which can be found here.

Curriculum: Includes cross-border E-commerce trends in SEA and China, China cross-border E-commerce trade regulations, branding and marketing strategies, as well as business strategy formulation for cross-border E-commerce initial market entry.

Fees: $160.50 for Singaporeans and Permanent Residents, $60.50 for Singaporeans aged 40 and above, $535.00 for foreigners. This course is SkillsFuture Credit claimable.

Duration: 1 day (dates for next course run to be confirmed)

Online Courses

• LinkedIn Learning – Various E-Commerce courses

LinkedIn Learning offers a plethora of short online courses for individuals keen on upskilling in or exploring various fields.  Currently, LinkedIn Learning has courses covering the Shopify and WooCommerce platforms, as well as project scoping.

Curriculum: NA (Dependent on chosen course)
Fees: The first month of LinkedIn Learning is free. Subsequently, users can choose to subscribe monthly at $39.99 per month, or yearly at $24.99 per month. This fee also gives LinkedIn Learning users access to LinkedIn’s Premium Career features.
Duration: Own time, own target

• Udemy – Various E-Commerce courses

Udemy currently offers a wide selection of E-Commerce courses for different needs. Popular classes include how-to courses for platforms such as WordPress and Shopify, as well as classes teaching marketing strategies and SEO!

Curriculum: NA (Dependent on chosen course)
Fees: As low as US$14.99 when promotions/sales are available.

Duration: Own time, own target

Diploma

• Nanyang Polytechnic – Diploma in Business Management

Nanyang Polytechnic’s Diploma in Business Management provides its students with a broad-based business education, and has E-Commerce and Retail Management as one of its seven specialisations. Graduates of this specialisation can look forward to careers in Retail Buying and Analytics, Omnichannel Marketing, as well as Visual Merchandising.

Curriculum: Study core modules such as Business Law and Digital Marketing and Analytics, General Studies modules, as well as E-Commerce and Retail Management specialisation modules in Retail Management & Visual Merchandising, Omni-channel Management, Retail Buying & Ethics, as well as Retail Merchandising & Analytics.

Fees: $2,985.40 for Singaporeans, $5,915.40 for Permanent Residents, $10,548.60 for international students (per academic year, GST and supplementary fees included)

Duration:  3 years

Some Free Resources

• Magento, an open-source E-commerce platform, has a resources library worth checking out. This includes guides, white papers, and webinars.
• Similarly, other platforms like WooCommerce and Shopify have blogs with articles you can read!

We wish you all the best in finding a suitable course and in your E-Commerce pursuits!

Found any great resources to share? Awesome! Do leave us a comment or message so that we can add it to our list and better help our readers!

[i] Google, Temasek, Bain & Company e-Conomy SEA 2019 Report