KUALA LUMPUR: Lazada Malaysia will offer heritage products under the Desa Project initiative for its 11.11 shopping festival.
This was to enable rural farmers to reach a broader consumer spectrum in Malaysia, said Lazada Malaysia chief business officer Kevin Lee.
Lee said this year’s 11.11 Shopping Festival will host the Desaku Flagship Store on Lazmall, which is also an effort to boost growth potential of merchants listed on Lazada Malaysia.
“The Desa project came through an initiative by four local digital entrepreneurs inspired by the success of Taobao Village model in China at Alibaba’s Netpreneur Training program organised in collaboration with Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC).
"The project aims to reconnect and revitalise rural communities and help them to get ready for tomorrow’s world to ensure a sustainable future,” he told reporters at the launch of “Lazada 11.11 Shopping Festival Returns” here today.
Lee said building on the empowerment drive, Lazada was actively championing innovative ways to engage with rural communities and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to sell their products in the store.
The products includes Orang Asli organic rice, Sempalit peanuts, Bentong soy sauce and Bentong ginger powder.
Lazada Malaysia reported a staggering 97 per cent growth in new sellers on the platform since September last year, with the highest growth seen from Kelantan, Labuan and Kedah.
The seventh year of Lazada 11.11 Malaysia since it first introduced the global shopping festival to the nation in 2012, will have 16 global and local brands, including Apple, Estee Lauder, Dyson and Senheng.
Lee said Malaysians can expect the lowest price guaranteed platform-wide during Lazada’s flagship 11.11 Global Shopping Festival this year.
During the 24-hour sale on November 11, Lazada will be having 80 million deals with 25 per cent of these comes with free shipping.
Lazada Malaysia chief executive officer Leo Chow said it had made 11.11 as one of the key growth drivers, changing the way people shop and the way merchants do business.
“The Lazada 11.11 Shopping Festival has played a significant role in the boom of the Mlaysian e commerce industry, which is set to contribute over RM100 billion to the Malaysia gross domestic product (GDP) by 2020,” Chow added.