‘E-commerce is for all ages’
Expert: Online sales projected to be 12% of total sales in M’sia by 2020
In the next 15 minutes, there will be 26,000 orders worth RM12mil for food products worldwide. Zhang Hang
KUALA LUMPUR: At 74, he took the plunge into orange farming with his 69-year-old wife in China's Xinping County.
Chu Shijian and Ma Jinfen only wanted to grow the “bingtang” species (sweet and candy orange) which he first tasted and fell in love with while serving a jail term.
According to chinadaily.com which carried the compelling story in 2015, they started their 160ha orchard in 2002 upon his release.
Ma described the orange as small but with a thin peel, more juicy, has less pulp and a strong flavour. The “Chu Orange” – named after Chu who was born in 1928 – went on to be among the top selling items on online platform Benlai.com in China.
The orange was a huge sensation when the platform ran a campaign on Chu's story, which its founder Yu Huafeng found to be extraordinary.
Their orchard has expanded to 5,000ha as of 2015.
Yesterday, Zhang Hang, CEO of Sunbird Technology Sdn Bhd, shared the Chu Orange story with participants at the MCA's 10 Economic Strategic Directions Conference. The theme of the conference is Empowering Malaysian Youth in Agribusiness.
“In the next 15 minutes, there will be 26,000 orders worth RM12mil for food products world- wide," Zhang said, underscoring e-commerce's potential.
With a good product, Zhang's advice is: Go and look for the right partner and right platform.
Datuk Dr Wong Lai Sum, who was the moderator for the session on e-marketing in agriculture, said irrespective of their age, one should not be afraid of e-commerce.
“While the young have a long way ahead and can make a big success in e-commerce, there is no generation gap in the use of e-commerce.
“It is about getting familiar with e-commerce and being prepared to understand how it works,” she said.
She said food products were increasingly popular in e-commerce these days though the platform started off mainly with fashion and beauty some six years ago.
E-commerce is projected to enjoy between 11% and 12% of total sales in Malaysia by 2020, she added.
Jinbaomen (M) Sdn Bhd CEO Ginny Lee said it is important to have an e-commerce partner who knows how to do effective market- ing so that the product gets noticed by the people, using the analogy of a "small fish in a big pond" to describe the competitive landscape in China.
Lee said changes on rules and regulations and language barriers were among areas to take note when doing e-commerce in China.
Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade) China and North-East Asia Section director Ong Yew Chee said those keen to penetrate the China market must get someone to open the doors for them.
He said eight types of Malaysian fruits were now in the Chinese market and pineapple was next on the list.
MCA Youth chief Datuk Chong Sin Woon said Malaysia's Digital Free Trade Zone would steer the way for e-commerce businesses, trade and cloud services for farmers to directly export their produce globally.