5 Apr, 2018
Alibaba offers Malaysian merchants access into China
KUALA LUMPUR, 29 March 2018, (Bernama) — As part of its commitment to lower trade barriers and provide SMEs with more equitable access to global markets, Alibaba Group hosted its first “Access to China Consumers” Seminar, with the aim to enable Malaysian exporter to tap into the demand among Chinese consumers for Malaysian and foreign products. More than 500 Malaysian merchants participated in the seminar which took place at MECC on 27th March 2018.
The seminar was designed to help small and medium-sized businesses in Malaysia better understand the China opportunity, major drivers in its e-commerce boom, as well as the latest insights and tools to sell their products effectively in China’s prosperous e-commerce market.
From L- R: Mr. Rex Cheuk, Tmall Global South East Asia Business Development Director (4th from left), Ms. Yao Yao, Deputy Chief Representative in Malaysia, Alibaba Group (6th from left), Datuk Yasmin Mahmood, Chief Executive Officer of Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (7th from left), Ms. Jane Zhang, Tmall Merchants Management General Manager (11th from left) along with representatives from various government bodies and experts from Alibaba Group at the opening ceremony of the “Access to China Consumers” Seminar here in Kuala Lumpur.
“Alibaba Group’s mission is to make it easy to do business anywhere. Our long-term commitment here in Malaysia is to be an enabler for local Malaysian businesses to prosper through an open and robust ecosystem and assist in building the future infrastructure of commerce in this market with local partners, utilizing our eWTP pilot, Malaysia’s Digital Free Trade Zone,” said James Song, Chief Representative in Malaysia, Alibaba Group.
Dato’ Ng Wan Peng, Chief Operating Officer of Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), said: “Among the countries Malaysia has been fostering close relationships with is China: The especial focus on e-business and commerce had been helping to boost Malaysia’s internet economy. In addition, Malaysia’s expansive eCommerce roadmap has been opening up potential export opportunities for local SMEs since 2016.”
The one-day seminar featured leading experts from Alibaba businesses, including Tmall, China’s largest third-party platform for brands and retailers, Tmall Global, largest B2C cross-border e-commerce platform in China, and the logistics arm Cainiao, aimed at educating Malaysian businesses on how they can grow their exports by marketing their products effectively to the Chinese market.
The main takeaways of the day included:
- Small and Medium-sized brands and retailers can effectively enter China via e-commerce. By 2020, 60 cents of every dollar spent online globally will come from China, according to eMarketer, and cross-border e-commerce in China will grow sixfold from 2015 through 2020, to $245 billion, according to AliResearch and Accenture.
- Tmall continues to gain ground as a critical channel for reaching China’s increasingly sophisticated consumers. Tmall offers more than just another sales channel to brands. It’s also a platform to promote new products, build a connection with customers and increase business both online and offline. It has become the optimized way to penetrate into the Chinese market as it provides a cross-border business model for many foreign brands and retailers to expand their business into China.
- Tmall Global is a shortcut for Malaysian brands looking to test the waters and sell their products in the Chinese market, without a physical presence in China. Foreign merchants do not need a Chinese business license to join the platform. It also offers retailers marketing solutions targeted at China, leveraging one-stop logistics solution through Cainiao, Alibaba’s core logistics infrastructure. This drastically slashes the amount of time and cost it takes for Malaysian businesses to enter the China market.
- If you’re a foreign entrepreneur who wants to enter the Chinese e-commerce market, you can also call on a Tmall Partner. Tmall Partners are certified agencies or service providers that help retailers set up their shops and boutiques on the platform, offering services ranging from day-to-day store operation, CRM to integrated marketing and etc.
“We are dedicated to helping drive exports of Malaysian products and services to the global market with tailored solutions, as well as contributing to the upgrade and transformation of the local export and tourism industries,” Song continued.
According to the recent 2017 Tmall Global Annual Consumers Report, jointly published by Tmall Global, Malaysia was reported among the fastest-growing exporters selling into China, ranking seventh after niche countries measured by year-on-year growth.
The seminar is the latest showcase in Alibaba’s realisation of the Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) pilot at the Digital Free Trade Zone in Malaysia. Launched in March last year, the Malaysia eWTP hub aims to offer Malaysian SMEs the infrastructure for engaging in global trade with services encompassing e-commerce, logistics, cloud computing, mobile payment and talent training.
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