Shopee unveils in-app portal to support local sellers, partners domestic trade ministry for Buatan Malaysia campaign

ECommerce platform Shopee Malaysia has rolled out a new in-app portal available on its app and website featuring the Jalur Gemilang (flag of Malaysia). Besides giving local sellers exposure, Shopee, in partnership with the public sector, will offer weekly discounts, cashback and free shipping vouchers according. This is to encourage Malaysians to spend with local sellers and on locally-produced items.

Alongside this roll out, Shopee has also launched the second edition of the Buatan Malaysia Campaign on Shopee done in partnership with the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (MDTCA). The campaign will receive additional exposure from the in-app portal. The campaign is part of the national Kempen Beli Barangan Malaysia (KBBM) initiative and aims to strengthen public and private partnerships to accelerate digitalisation of Malaysian businesses. This is especially for micro, small and medium enterprises to ensure that the domestic economy does not get left behind. The campaign runs until December 2020.

According to Shopee, last year's campaign was met with success, with the average daily order of Malaysian-made products on its platform increasing by 330%. It added that the latest edition of the campaign between Shopee and MDTCA offers five times the amount of products compared to 2019, comprising groceries, health and beauty, fashion, household necessities, games, books and hobbies. Meanwhile, The Star reported that MDTCA expects this year's campaign to rake in at least RM513 million in sales, specifically for major retailers and online marketplaces.

Shopee's regional MD Ian Ho said the company’s platform had spent the last few months enhancing its technology to cater to the current economic needs of the country. He added that the company had introduced multi-million support packages across the region, and in Malaysia, it took one step further and began work for the Buatan Malaysia in-app portal. Ho explained that when it first ran the campaign in 2019, it only had 2,300 Made in Malaysia stock keeping units on its microsite.

"Today, the Buatan Malaysia campaign on Shopee has over 11,500 products and we aim to expand it progressively. We understand that the ministry’s goal is to reduce the country’s reliance on imported goods to bring the domestic economy back on track. To this end, Shopee will go one step further to help bring these made in Malaysia and halal products to the export market by first making them available in Shopee Singapore as well,” Ho added.

Meanwhile, Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister, Alexander Nanta Linggi, said both public and private sectors play a role in addressing the challenging economic climate by reinforcing the government’s strategies and offering practical solutions that would benefit Malaysian businesses and consumers alike. He added that local businesses could only recover if consumers first started by spending on and prioritising local products to drive the domestic economy.

He further stressed on KBBM and said it had always been synonymous with the Malaysian identity and was responsible for the rise of many Malaysian brands, adding that MDTCA was honored to carry the responsibility of executing this campaign, which carried a great significance to many Malaysians. 

This recent initiative by Shopee is not the first by the company to help businesses in Malaysia. In April this year, it unveiled a RM15 million support package for sellers on its platform named the Shopee Seller Support Package, aimed at helping local small and medium enterprises and businesses in various sectors that had been adversely impacted by the Movement Control Order.

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