KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian companies on Alibaba's TMall Malaysia Flagship Store recently generated more than RMB1 million (RM660,882) in sales during the 618 festival in China, or better known as the 6.6 sales, that ran from June 1 to 20, 2022.
The 618 shopping festival is considered China's second largest online shopping carnival, apart from the Double 11 online festival.
E-commerce cross border facilitator HYT Cross Border Sdn Bhd (HYT) collaborated with Malaysia's lead digital economy agency Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) to onboard Malaysian businesses to the Alibaba platform, in order to drive demand for Malaysian products in China during the 618 festival.
This is because HYT recently signed a Strategic Partnership with MDEC to provide businesses with end-to-end support including onboarding, demand generation, marketing, payment and fulfilment services for Malaysian products to China.
The partnership between HYT and MDEC is in line with the National eCommerce Strategic Roadmap 2020, as it aims to double the country's eCommerce growth.
The 618 festival was a critical e-commerce initiative that featured and showcased Malaysian SMEs' products on both online and offline platforms.
A wide range of products saw their sales double during the festival period.
The top five products during the festival were Himalaya Salt Candy, Lot 100 Sour Gummy, biscuit products from My Bizcuit, food paste from A1 and products from Julie's.
The sales festival was an opportunity for Malaysian SMEs to increase export opportunities to China as well as global markets.
Apart from helping onboard the companies onto the platform, HYT was able to increase the visibility of Malaysian products through enlisting the support of KOLs, live selling sessions and subsidised discount vouchers.
This led to a greater demand for Malaysian products, as the sales campaign generated more than RMB1 million (RM660,882).
MDEC contributed to the appointment of KOLs from China like Hu Ke, Ye Yi Qian, Zhu Dan (Dani), Lee Hao (David Lee) and Lee Jing (Linda).
The popular artists promoted the Malaysian products to Chinese consumers by live-streaming on the popular TMall platform as well as other different platforms.
HYT's CEO Kyle Keah believes that there is a rising demand for local products in China, particularly agricultural and food products.
"As the domestic market in China continues to grow with rising consumption capability, Malaysian merchants can use the HYT services as a platform to tap into this growing demand, expose their products to Chinese consumers and increase their export sales," he said.
MDEC's CEO Mahadhir Aziz said that Malaysian SMEs stand to benefit with cross-border trade as it expands their market reach, creates all-year-round demand, and gives them a competitive edge.
"This partnership will allow quality Malaysian-made products to reach the consumers in China and will prove to be a boon to the digital economy.
"MDEC will strive to drive more effective collaborations on this front via our Malaysia Digital initiative," he added.