Exports By SMEs Via Alibaba Up From Zero To 55 Pct Within A Year

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 11 (Bernama) -- The Alibaba e-commerce platform has boosted the exports of local small medium enterprises (SMEs) from zero per cent to 55 per cent within a year, says its International Business Unit Chinese Supplier Director Jaycee Lam. He said the e-commerce platform had a complete business structure that connected business and buyers, which included lower logistics costs and faster delivery time. “With this, we hope that more SMEs will come onboard our platform by year-end. Our target is to reach 2,000 SMEs compared with 1,500 currently,” he told participants of the Alibaba.com Global Trading Conference here Thursday. Malaysian External Trade Development Corporation Deputy Chief Executive Officer Sharimathon Mat Salleh said 98.5 per cent of business establishments in Malaysia were SMEs which had enormous potential to grow further. “Cross-border e-commerce provides an alternative way for them to access the world market. We encourage Malaysian SMEs to leverage on Alibaba.com and eTRADE to start exporting through eCommerce,” she said. Meanwhile, Alibaba.com General Manager Yu Yong said in the last #SuperSeptember Online Expo, Malaysian merchants experienced double-digit increase in sales and enquiries from global buyers. “Malaysian merchants reported a 21 per cent increase in enquiries and their ability to convert visitors to active buyers rose 15 per cent during the duration of the expo,” he said, The #SuperSeptember Online Expo, from Sept 4-30, was conducted on Alibaba.com. Yong also said Malaysian food and beverages, beauty and personal care products, furniture, home and garden products, as well as, rubber and plastics products thrived well in cross border trade during the #SuperSeptember Online Expo. “Export of all these products recorded impressive growth and attracted mounting enquiries from buyers during the campaign period,” he added. -- BERNAMA