KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 19 — Lazada Malaysia has increased the number of new small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that have digitised their business by three fold compared to the pre-movement control order (MCO) period in January 2020, leading to a 1.5 times increase in the number of active sellers to date.
Chief executive officer Leo Chow said as companies continue to take a cautious approach to employees returning back to work, and many given the option to continue to work from home.
He said Lazada Malaysia has seen this trend continues as Lazada’s tech accessory products (computer and laptop devices, etc.), grocery, home and living, as well as home appliances categories saw a six to seven times sales uplift during Lazada’s 8.8 Budget Bonanza campaign.
“We believe this uptrend in online shopping will remain, as consumers become more reliant on e-commerce for more than just their essentials, but also their convenience and needs in the ‘new normal’,” he told Bernama today.
The leading e-commerce platform is focused on its efforts to support the government’s initiatives to aid local SMEs and Malaysia’s economic recovery, as well as support its community of brands, sellers, and customers bounce back and grow their business since the MCO, said Chow.
“About 10 per cent of the sellers Lazada onboarded in the past three months were able to grow their sales during the 8.8 campaign to about 10 times their daily average in a normal month, driven by our purpose to grow SMEs in collaboration with the efforts from the government during this very crucial time,” he said.
Lazada Malaysia will continue to focus its efforts to support government programmes, promote local sellers with homegrown brands and the local community through their initiatives and campaigns, including the much anticipated Lazada 9.9 sales campaign.
“Our recent ringgit-for-ringgit pledge to support the government’s micro and small and medium enterprise (MSME) e-Commerce campaign is a follow up of our RM10 million Pakej Kedai Pintar (Smart Shop Package).
“The campaign aims to enable Malaysian SMEs to go ‘digital’ and features a series of customised incentives which include zero-per cent interest-free financing support for successful MSME loan applicants,” he said.
Previously, Lazada’s Pakej Kedai Pintar, which ran from April to June 2020, saw more than 17,000 new small businesses onboarded onto the platform and gain access to an alternative revenue stream, Lazada University training, and micro loans. Local SMEs saw an overall growth of over 110 per cent in sales due to the initiative.
In August, Lazada also launched the Buy Malaysia and Shop Malaysia Online campaigns which aim to promote local sellers and products, as well as boost the country’s digital-led economic recovery.
“With most people needing to stay home more even as we enter the recovery phase, Malaysians have been adapting to the outbreak, and obeying the standard operating procedures (SOPs) and regulations.
“Malaysians are continuing to depend on e-commerce platforms such as Lazada for their essentials, we have seen millions of orders placed on the platform, with an increase of nearly 80 per cent on average in daily orders compared to pre-MCO,” he said.
