Teleport aims for 300 East M’sian food market
KUCHING: AirAsia’s logistics arm, Teleport, is looking to gather momentum in East Malaysia with its target of 300 merchants to sell food items online on OURSHOP, AirAsia’s e- commerce platform by September.
According to Teleport head of marketing Grace Chin, this was the reason behind its recently launched OURSHOP East Malaysia Campaign.
“We just launched this on August 13, and are gathering momentum in East Malaysia. Some of the East Malaysian merchants who are in the midst of onboarding with us are Tamoi Seafood and Sabah International Dairies, just to name a few,” Chin told The Borneo Post in an interview.
“Food producers have largely been our focus, as we saw a demand for these items based on our past sales. From here, we also recognise that there is a rich and untapped supply in East Malaysia.
“When we decided to explore this uncharted supply market, we thought to expand East Malaysia merchants over the border to West Malaysia, and leverage the surge in demand in the broader and larger market in West Malaysia.
“This provides an opportunity for shoppers in West Malaysia, specifically in Klang Valley to explore and discover local food and delights from East Malaysia.”
Through the campaign, selected merchants who register with Teleport will be supported and equipped with the necessary skills to market their products online by autoenrolling selected merchants into a specialised development programme by RedBeat Academy called BINA Digital.
BINA Digital was developed together with RedBeat Academy and MDec. Any SME who is able to commit to the hours in the course can opt in for the training.
With the BINA digital courses, SMEs will learn accounting, marketing, utilising digital platforms to drive sales, photography, and how to create effective content for social media and much more.
“From our end, we are also providing additional support to East Malaysia merchants with the“OURSHOP Incubation Programme,” Chin continued. “SMEs will be given a ‘marketing starter pack’ which will consist of photography for 10 products in studio, profile photo shoots and a light box for their own product shots use.
“Our idea here is to “teach a man how to use a lightbox” by providing them the tools to help them grow and sustain their business beyond this one campaign.”
Merchants can start selling their food products on OURSHOP within 48 hours of approval of accounts, Chin said, adding that they will be starting this process with Kuching and Kota Kinabalu and will then expand throughout East Malaysia.
“We shortlisted for merchants with potential to incubate. We advised them on pricing and brought them up to speed to tackle the new markets via e- commerce.
“We are looking to recruit at least 300 merchants from East Malaysia,” she revealed. “We will subsidise cross border and local deliveries to help businesses grow, up to 60 orders per merchant in both East and West Malaysia with a minimum spend per customer.
“We are focused on the incubation process and building relationships with SMEs in East Malaysia. We are also hoping to continue the Incubation programme to help SMEs gain knowledge and insight, and grow their market share.
“Our long-term target, after the Penjana campaign ends on September 30, is to continue supporting the SMEs in East Malaysia to fulfil cross border sales to help them expand their reach beyond Malaysia, to across Southeast Asia that are within the AirAsia network and ecosystem.”
We just launched this on August 13, and are gathering momentum in East Malaysia. Some of the East Malaysian merchants who are in the midst of onboarding with us are Tamoi Seafood and Sabah International Dairies, just to name a few.
Grace Chin