Sarawak Digital Economy Corporation Berhad (SDEC), together with the Sarawak Economic Planning Unit (EPU) will collaborate with e-commerce platform Shopee to kickstart ‘Sarawak Digital Mall’ campaign, with the objective to provide a sales boost to Sarawakian sellers on the platform. This partnership will benefit tens of thousands of new and existing merchants on the platform by offering incentives such as discount and free shipping vouchers worth RM1mil to the participating merchants.
SDEC is a government-owned agency mandated to implement the Sarawak Digital Economy initiatives. Among its stakeholder segments is Digital Business, where digitalisation of Sarawakian entrepreneurs is the key focus.
“It is important for entrepreneurs to start taking their businesses online. In this age of technology, everyone prefers to do things through mobile phones or computers. By embracing digitalisation, it opens up bigger opportunities to these sellers,” said SDEC Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Sudarnoto Osman.
He also highlighted that this collaboration would encourage digital adoption among Sarawakian SMEs which is a significant move especially in a time where the rising COVID-19 cases in the region has rendered almost every industry to a physical halt.
Sudarnoto added that while Sarawak is a state with rich culture and heritage, many of the state’s local products are not yet widely known due to its lack of exposure and accessibility.
“With the discount vouchers provided in this campaign, Sarawakian merchants will be able to sell their local products at a more competitive value within the wider Malaysian and regional market, without the significant shipping fee as a barrier,” he said.
On the same note, Shopee will also be helping to onboard many more local sellers as well as providing entrepreneurial courses through Shopee University, a free online training workshop available in Bahasa Malaysia, English and Chinese. The courses are tailored to assist participating local merchants on their digitalisation journey with the Sarawak Digital Mall campaign.
Meanwhile, Shopee Regional Managing Director Ian Ho said, “We are always striving to empower small businesses, especially those who lack access to tech platforms and the potential they could harness just by going online. By teaming up with the Sarawak state government, we are erasing the geographical boundaries between these sellers and customers, allowing access to even those in the Peninsular to goods such as bario rice, gula apong, salted terubuk fish and many more, as we see through on our mission to make e-commerce for all. We also understand that Sarawakians who are unable to go home miss Sarawak and its rich cuisine. They can take advantage of vouchers that SDEC is providing and Shopee will add on to the assistance with free shipping especially during this 6.6 Awesome Sale. This will also help give the participating local sellers a boost in their sales.”
For more information on the Sarawak Digital Mall on Shopee, please visit https://shopee.com.my/m/sarawak
