KUCHING: Lazada Malaysia hopes to bring more Sarawakian companies on its online e-commerce platform by initiating more efforts to overcome the e-commerce obstacles here.
These efforts include reducing the logistics problem by providing a warehouse here in Kuching as well as introducing an over-the-counter payment method for purchases from Lazada.
Lazada Malaysia’s chief executive officer Hans-Peter Ressel, who was also a key speaker for the recently concluded International ICT Infrastructure and Digital Economy Conference 2017 (IDECS 2017), revealed that there is a lot of potential in Sarawak as there are numerous businesses here selling unique products that could attract purchases worldwide.
“There are a lot sellers here in Sarawak that sell local products but they are not able to expand their businesses because they do not have the knowledge or skills to market their products online.
“They could start selling nationwide immediately if they start online. We need to tell them, show them and educate them on how to do this (e-commerce) the right and successful way.
“We need to bring them online, we need to nurture entrepreneurship here,” Ressel commented.
He added, “Seeing the potential of customers here in Sarawak, we think that the market here is clearly unrepresented in terms of e-commerce.
“We need to come up with local solutions to empower local customers to tap into the adoption of e-commerce. Usually it structures around the availability of products.”
Therefore, Lazada Malaysia is introducing various Sarawak-specific efforts which could entice more Sarawakian companies to delve into the world of e-commerce. Initially, Ressel noted that there were a lot of ‘blockages’ to e-commerce here, mainly in terms of trust.
“However, I found that there are more people who are aware of this platform with 20 per cent of the internet population in Malaysia coming from East Malaysia,” he said.
He also pointed out that the internet penetration here in Sarawak is growing, and Lazada Malaysia saw a business growth of 19 per cent from East Malaysia.
However, he noted that only eight to nine per cent of our market comes from Sarawak while only six per cent of its traffic in Malaysia comes from East Malaysia.
To improve those figures and boost the e-commerce ecosystem here, Ressel highlighted that Lazada Malaysia aimed to reduce some of the biggest e-commerce obstacles including logistics fees, online shopping anxieties, and more.
In 2015, Lazada Malaysia rolled out its first warehouse in Kuching. It is also currently working with another partner in Sarawak, to roll out another warehouse here.
“These are things that will reduce the cost of shipping products into Kuching or into this region.
“Adding to that, we have discounts on shipping and I think this is creating opportunities for the e-commerce to thrive here, bringing it to a level where it is constantly accelerating,” Ressel remarked.
Kuching was also the first city Lazada Malaysia had introduced the ‘same-day delivery’ system.
To further improve the e-commerce industry here in Sarawak, he also noted that for the first time, Lazada Malaysia had introduced an ‘over-the-counter’ payment here.
This, he pointed out, was to reduce the trust issue which is a major obstacle when it comes to doing e-commerce.
“We all talk about the digital economy. However, there are still people that would not trust placing finances online.
“There are a couple of ways to deal with that. For Lazada, one of our biggest enablers here in Kuching was over-the-counter payment. Kuching was the first city where we roll out this system.
“That created the trust in terms of payment,” he added.
To further sharpen the skills of sellers on Lazada, Lazada Malaysia also has a training curriculum called the ‘Lazada University’. There, Lazada will show sellers how to market their products, how to process orders, and how to optimise in specific areas.
Lazada Malaysia also plans to increase its commitments to Sarawak. Of note, Lazada Malaysia had recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with SME Corp to bring about 25,000 start-up companies nationwide online, for the next two years.
Ressel said, as Chief Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg is determined to push the digital development here in Sarawak, Lazada Malaysia plans to bring 5,000 more Sarawakian companies onboard Lazada’s platform.
“This 5,000 companies will also hire more people to help them with the system and this would overall help the economy and job market,” he commented.