1. 06 07
DECEMBER 10 - DECEMBER 23, 2016 DECEMBER 10 - DECEMBER 23, 2016
SME News SME News
‘The whole world is being
uberised’
e-commerce masterclass at
recent expo
Malaysia’s first e-commerce expo saw 62 local and international exhibitors including eBay,
Lazada, Alibaba and iPay88
By Maalinee Ramu
maalinee@malaysiasme.com.my
Pics by Brandon Eu
brandoneu@malaysiasme.com.my
M
alaysia’s first eCom-
merce expo, held re-
cently, opened the
eyes of many local
SMEs to the power of global plat-
forms, while also providing them
advice and opportuni-
ties to go digital.
The Malaysia eCommerce
Association organised Malaysia’s
first eCommerce expo at
MATRADE Exhibition Centre in
mid-November. The Malaysia
eCommerce Expo 2016 focussed on
B2B trading, aspiring to help SMEs,
retailers and entrepreneurs build
eCommerce businesses.
“One of the biggest threats to
Malaysian SMEs is foreign compa-
nies who are attempting to penetrate
theMalaysianmarketthrougheCom-
merce platforms such as Lazada,
Alibaba andAmazon.com. said Hoo
Chong Long, Malaysia eCommerce
Association president, during the
launch ceremony.
“These companies have the po-
tential to lure customers towards
them by offering good products
with competitive prices. Malaysian
SMEs must take necessary actions
so that they do not lose out on the
market share,” he added.
With a total of 112 booths, the expo
had62localandinternationalexhibi-
tors.AmongthemwerePosMalaysia,
iPay88, MOLPay, Lazada, Alibaba,
eBay, Aramex and Taiwan External
Trade Development Council.
Co-organised by V Good
Marketing Sdn Bhd, the eCommerce
Expo was launched by MATRADE
CEO Datuk Dzulkifli Mahmud,
Malaysia eCommerce Association
president Hoo Chong Long and
Leong Weng Keat, general manager
of the concept partner, G & Fast
International Holding Ltd
In 2015, Malaysia and Thailand
werethelargesteCommercemarkets
in Southeast Asia, generating reve-
nuesofUS$2.3billionandUS$2.1bil-
lion respectively.
However, according to Frost &
Sullivan, a global research and con-
sulting organisation, these two mar-
kets are expected to be overtaken by
Vietnam and Indonesia.
Frost & Sullivan predicted the
eCommerce revenues in South East
Asia will exceed US$25 billion by
2020. This is more than double the
US$11 billion revenue
recorded in 2015.
Dzulkiflisaid,“Presently,Malaysia
eCommerce contributes to 5.9% of
the national GDP. eCommerce is a
business that is on the rise today.
Unlike the conventional method of
doingbusiness,internetenablesbusi-
nesses to reach out to a much larger
pool of people.
He added, “The Malaysia eCom-
merce Expo provides businesses an
opportunity to get updated with the
latest technology and demand in the
eCommerce industry. Besides that, it
actsasagoodplatformforbusinesses
to establish business partnerships,
joint ventures and market access
opportunities.”
Several exhibitors spoke to
MALAYSIA SME®
about their com-
panies and how they can assist
Malaysian SME’s. MSME
Mun Kean
Chief Technology Officer
Meekco Enterprise Sdn Bhd
(Shopify partner)
David K.T. Wong
Business Director
M9 Online Sdn Bhd
Lee Eng Guan
General Manager
Gemfive Merchandising
Bosco Heo
Marketing Director
Apphouse Sdn Bhd
Chan Kai Hoong
Application Consultant
Managepay Innovation Sdn
Bhd
Samer Marei
Country Manager
Aramex Malaysia Sdn Bhd
Leong Weng Keat
General Manager
G & Fast International Holding
Ltd
Wong Lin Kai
Project Manager
iByte Solutions Sdn Bhd
Bryant Lum
Country Manager
Shopbot South East Asia
Christopher Joshua
International Business
Development Manager
DDBill International Sdn Bhd
“Meekco is a partner of Shopify, a world-
wide ecommerce platform to help both
big and small merchants to open an online retail
store. Merchants get free 14 days trial with Shopify.
During that time, business owners will be able to
evaluate Shopify’s service and decide whether or
not to continue using the platform.
Merchants can extend the functionality of their
e-store by adding more applications from the 1000
available applications in Shopify.
I want to emphasise that Shopify is an interna-
tional brand, with 13 years of history. They have
built a very strong infrastructure in the world.
This is Shopify’s edge over other local players.
Some of the local companies also provide similar
services, but they may not have the experience in
handling unprecedented complicated situations
as what Shopify does.”
“Many SMEs face difficulty in sourcing for
the best products or processes in terms
of manufacturing, engineering and employee
training. M9 online is a B2B platform that con-
nects SMEs for the purpose of business
matching.
It is a relatively new company. Established in
March 2016, M9 online has close to 4000 SMEs
registered, locally and from Taiwan.
We do product matching for companies which
intent to diversify their business offerings. Or in
the case of wanting to expand one’s business be-
yond Malaysia, M9 online connects the local busi-
ness owners with relevant parties overseas to li-
aise with.
Besides that, M9 online also does exhibitions
where we put our members’ products on display.”
“Established a year and a half ago, Gemfive,
an online shopping site, is presently open
for Malaysian consumers.
Products in Gemfive are divided into six catego-
ries, namely mum & kids, health, fashion, beauty,
electronics and home & living, making browsing
simpler. The site belongs to Hong Leong Group.
Hence, merchants selling their items in Gemfive
have the advantage of leveraging on the large cus-
tomer database that Hong Leong Group has.
We definitely have plans to add more categories
to our product array. And in the next two to three
years, we target to launch Gemfive overseas. But
our primary focus now is to stabilise the
Malaysian business.”
“We create mobile apps and websites for
SMEs. And presently, we are focusing
on designing ecommerce specific apps.
Basically, customers approach us with the kinds
of features they need in their application and we
create according to it. Some of the features include
company profiles, loyalty programmes, voucher
systems and shopping carts.
Apphouse has been in Malaysia for the past two
years. Our service is presently set only in Malaysia.
Although we do online marketing to reach out to
potential customers, most of our clients come in
through referrals.
We are new, we are young and we deal with
diverse industries, giving us an edge to advise
businesses with creative ideas.”
“Manage Pay is a payment gateway com-
pany. Our traditional business is renting
credit card terminals to SMEs. We are appointed
as the third party acquirer for banks to rent out
credit card terminals to small businesses or SMEs
of less than 50 staff strength.
This had been our core business for the past ten
years until the emergence of e-commerce.
Managepay is now expanding the business to on-
line payment gateway. One of our latest products
under online payment is mobile credit card
readers.
This allows sales personnel to immediately col-
lect payments when meeting customers. We have
now custom-made this product to suit insur-
ance companies.”
“Aramex stands for Arab American Express.
Our core product is express courier and
along with UPS, DHL, FedEx and TNT, we are
one of the top five logistics companies in the world.
The world is trending towards eCommerce and
that is why we are here. eCommerce is a chain,
with logistics connecting the buyers and sellers.
Therearemanyindividualsellerswhodonothave
time or a warehouse. So Aramex does warehousing
by storing the products in Aramex’s facility. Upon
receiving an order, we pick, pack, ship and deliver.
The whole world is being uberised. The concept
of one or two day delivery time is going to change
in the future, especially for domestic operations.
If you buy it now, you want it now. Aramex app
solution aims to connect merchants with buyers
without Aramex’s involvement.
That is, by allowing random people to partner
with Aramex to pick the products from merchants
and deliver them to buyers, within three hours.
This solution is already implemented in Dubai
and is expected to go live in Malaysia in the first
quarter of 2017”
“We are a one stop logistics centre where
we offer services such as import, export,
freight forwarding, shipping, customs declaration
and warehousing.
Being in the industry for the past 13 years, we
have our headquarters in Hong Kong and offices
in China, Indonesia, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand
and Malaysia. Logistics stands as a strong pillar
of support for e-commerce companies.
Our future plan is to develop an app for local
parcel delivery. This is mainly due to the trans-
portation challenges particularly for logistics ser-
vices in Malaysia. Anybody can become a boss
through this app. That means anyone who has
registered as a partner with G & Fast can do par-
cel deliveries. This ensures local buyers to receive
purchased goods on the same day.”
“iByte Solutions is an SAP partner in Malaysia,
which offers cloud based SAP solutions.
Previously, people used to have the perception
that SAP is expensive. But iByte Solutions offers
SAP on a subscription basis, making it more af-
fordable for business owners.
Customers pay a one-time setup and configu-
ration fee. This is followed by a yearly subscrip-
tion to the system. iByte Solutions will host and
manage the system for customers.
Along with SAP cloud, customers can also sub-
scribe to Sana Commerce which links e-commerce
platforms to accounting software, allowing real
time sales updates.”
“Shopbot is a price comparison website. It is
a B2C business which helps consumers sur-
vey for best deals for products.
Merchants are charged on a cost per click basis.
That is, merchants’ are charged every time con-
sumers click to view their products, whether they
make a purchase or not. The world’s conversion
rate (number of purchases over number of clicks)
is below 1%.
However, consumers who compare prices are
serious buyers. Hence, Shopbot’s average conver-
sion rate is higher than 2.5%. Merchants who reg-
ister with us are able to yield more than US$300,000
revenue a year. We have plans to expand to
Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines in
the near future.”
“DDBill International Sdn Bhd, headquar-
tered in Shenzhen, China started as a pay-
ment gateway platform through its subsidiary,
Dinpay. Its other two subsidiaries, Dindin and
DD4 act as cross border online shopping
platforms.
DD4 has its website in English and serves con-
sumers and merchants across the world whereas
Dindin’s website is in Mandarin and caters to con-
sumers in China. Merchants registered on Dindin
however, may come from any country.
With 1.5 billion population size, China is a good
market to tap. The sign up fee on Dindin is low.
Upon signing up, merchants can upload their
products for free and have Dinpay take care of
online payment.
Dindin has established connections with cus-
toms in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Hangzhou,
Chongqing and Fujian.”