Giancomo Ficari
KUCHING: Sarawak’s online retail market seems to be picking up with no signs of slowing down, said Lazada’s director Giancomo Ficari.
According to the director, the East Malaysian market seemed to be a very promising prospect with one out of every three item sold was from East Malaysia with majority from Sarawak.
“Sarawak is expected to be particularly promising because of the increased purchasing power that will come from investment in the area, and projects such as the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy,” said Ficari.
Online retail has been rather slow to pick up as Sarawak was still rather conservative on online purchases, but Lazada felt that the change was no doubt in effect.
“Before, most East Malaysians were rather skeptical on online purchases due to payment security but with added security features nowadays from banks and credit card companies, the trend is catching on. The convenience of online shopping is slowly making its way into Sarawak and we feel that with increased confidence, the online retail market would only look up.”
“As for us, our presence is highly visible in the virtual arena. We are amongst the top online advertisers in the region and we are working with experts on all the marketing channels that allow us to achieve our goals.
“But we do not rely purely on our marketing strategies, when we came into Malaysia we did our research, we understood what was missing and what we have to give to the consumers in order to gain their trust and loyalty. Considering these factors, we crafted unique services that have never been offered before and I think that is what it takes to gain the confidence of the Sarawakian market,” Ficari added.
For a company that was only founded rather recently, Lazada found the potential of the Sarawakian market rather quickly with 27 per cent of sales from East Malaysia and 17.6 per cent were from Sarawak specifically.
“We feel that with growing confidence in internet security and trust in the companies involved in online retail. This is one market that shows a very large potential in the east Malaysian market.”