SMEs urged to go into e-commerce to remain competitive
KUALA LUMPUR: Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) should start going into ecommerce to remain competitive in the global market, said Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan.
“SMEs need to be more creative in their sales approach and ecommerce is the most creative way for businesses to increase their sales,” he told Bernama after launching the Book Truck PTS in Batu Caves here yesterday.
The Book Truck PTS, a mobile book store, introduced by PTS Group Media Sdn Bhd, will be visiting book exhibitions throughout Peninsular Malaysia.
According to the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation, only 10 per cent of SMEs in Malaysia were using e-commerce platform in 2015. Ahmad said the e-commerce system was in line with the government’s aspiration in introducing the Digital Year 2017.
E- commerce will enable the SME sector to contribute up to 41 per cent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2020, he said, adding that currently, the SME sector contributed 36.3 per cent to the nation’s GDP.
Ahmad said SME Corporation Malaysia had introduced a number of programmes to encourage e- commerce and information communication technology usage among SMEs, which included the e-payment project for SMEs and micro-enterprises.
He said as of Aug 31 last year, 184,986 ePayment terminals/ solutions had been deployed, involving 107,810 merchants with transactions valued at RM7.78 billion. — Bernama