Exploring cross-border opportunities for local firms
SMALL businesses may be able to better expand their export by leveraging on a closer relationship between the government and e-commerce giants like Alibaba.
At a roundtable discussion and open dialogue meeting co-organised by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) and Alibaba Group last week, representatives from various government agencies and businesses came together to talk about the ‘Opportunities and Challenges in Cross-Border E-Commerce’.
In his opening speech, Deputy International Trade and Investment Minister Dr Ong Kian Ming noted that the adoption and growth of e-commerce was vital to Malaysia’s economic future.
“We hope that through this collaborative session, SMEs will have ease and gain better benefits in their journey via the e-commerce industry, a significant move for them to be visible on the global front. “Close to 99% of established businesses are SMEs that have the potential to become global companies. Having a stronger association with Alibaba and Matrade will urge more local SMEs to expand their exports business and help in achieving an e-commerce annual growth rate of 20%, from a 14.3% posted in 2017,” he said.
The event was aimed at providing a platform for government officials, agencies and business partners to share and learn how participating Malaysian businesses have successfully leveraged on the power of global cross-border trade opportunities and benefitted from Alibaba’s innovative technology and robust ecosystem.
Among the representatives at the event were officials from MITI, Matrade, Malaysia Digital Economy Corp (MDEC), Alibaba Group, and participating Malaysian merchants comprising Kooperasi Usahawan Groom Big Perlis Bhd (KUGPIS), Megix Industries, TRL South East Asia and PT Swift Marketing Sdn Bhd, among others.
“As a corporative association, we are constantly trying to help the small rural entrepreneurs, especially the low income earners (B40). There is a challenge for us in terms of having limited financial facilities in helping these groups to reach out to the right audience in the B2B market.
“The Alibaba platform has helped us in obtaining the right information to excel forward. For instance, we have managed to hit orders in small quantities from countries like Africa, UAE and the Philippines and successfully secured a 12-month contract with Ghana and 24-month contract with China. This is the effect of Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ) for us,” said Mohd Nordin Jafri, chairman of KUGPIS.
He added that the cooperative is also looking to tap into other Alibaba platforms, predominantly in big data and the cloud computing system, as this will be an opportunity for them to customise marketing efforts to push its products in China.
“Over the last few years, we’ve seen the e-commerce industry taking off positively in Malaysia. During the initial phase we encountered issues like forex, logistics and custom declaration which were addressed by the Alibaba platform. This helped our business tremendously and our customers grew exponentially ever since,” shared Francis Ng, managing director of Megix.
Meanwhile, TRL sales director Adrian Yoong said the platform has enabled the company to generate at least 70% more customers from both domestic and international markets.
“Moving forward, by tapping into Alibaba’s robust ecosystem, we wish to open more new markets and increase our sales through the B2C market, via our participation in Tmall,” said Yoong.
“As an organisation that markets bird’s nest, it is vital for us to understand our consumers’ needs and buying behaviours. By joining the Alibaba platform, it has allowed us to gain more market insights and understanding towards our customers’ demands as business advices, data bank and customer operation platform is readily available on the platform. This has been a vital factor in the success of our online marketing efforts,” noted Datuk Dr Abd Aziz Jamaluddin, executive chairman of PT Swift.
The roundtable discussion is part of Alibaba continued commitment to the Malaysia market.
The group had established the first international eHub in Malaysia under the eWTP initiative in hopes of making it easier for small businesses to participate in cross-border trade. Placing emphasis on facilitating exports for Malaysian SMEs, Alibaba has since built the infrastructure to support global trade with services encompassing e-commerce, logistics, cloud computing, mobile payment and talent training.
“Empowering local businesses to go global via e-commerce is a critical long-term strategy of ours. We are building the future infrastructure of commerce to realise a digital economy where global trade is possible not only for multinational corporations but small and medium-sized businesses as well such as those in Malaysia.
“Thanks to the support from the Malaysian government, Alibaba and local businesses have been able to make great progress as seen through the success cases shared by our local business partners. We look forward to working with more Malaysian businesses to help them seize export opportunities to markets around the world,” said Yao Yao, director of global business of Alibaba Group.