Malaysian food and beverage SMEs latest to benefit from Alibaba’s ongoing national investment

19-Jul-2018 - Last updated on 19-Jul-2018 at 03:00 GMT

A pop-up exhibition showcasing Malaysian food brands and products such as Aik Cheong Coffee, Julie’s biscuits and Boh Tea was held in Hangzhou. ©Alibaba

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Food and beverages from Malaysia have taken centre stage on Alibaba’s Tmall site, with Chinese consumers being urged to enjoy ‘must-see’, ‘must-eat’ and ‘must-experience’ products.

Alibaba said the special initiative seeks to attract Chinese consumers to “buy all things Malaysian”.

Moreover, Kerry Centre, a shopping centre in Hangzhou, held a ‘pop-up exhibition’ showcasing Malaysian food brands and products such as Aik Cheong Coffee, Julie’s biscuits and Boh Tea. Hangzhou’s Shangri-La Hotel is also holding a Malaysian food festival.

The promotions were organised in cooperation with the Malaysia Digital Economy Corp., Malaysia Investment Development Authority, Malaysia’s Trade Promotions Bureau, Tourism Malaysia and Malaysia’s Tourism Bureau, and other institutions.

Promoting Malaysian products and firms

“Malaysia Week is the first time Alibaba has promoted one country for an entire week. This symbolises our commitment to introduce and promote Malaysian products, services, culture and tourism in China,” said Alibaba founder Jack Ma.

“We hope to continue to host promotional activities such as this in the long term to enable local Malaysian businesses to expand their international exports in China and the rest of the world.”

“Malaysia Week marks our commitment to continue to showcase the best of Malaysia’s fresh and high-quality products to Chinese consumers,” added Jet Jing, president of Tmall.

“Through innovations in logistics, payment, customs clearance and big data, Malaysian small businesses can now enjoy the convenience of global e-commerce trading which, in the past, was only available to big multinational corporations.”

Additionally, Alibaba.com, the wholesale e-commerce platform, hosted a business-matching network event that connected 17 Malaysian merchants with over 100 Chinese buyers in Hangzhou.

Alibaba.com has also been hosting a special promotion for its Malaysian global gold suppliers, called “July on Demand”, which runs through to July 29. Over 275 local merchants and more than 1,000 Malaysian products are being promoted in over 200 countries and regions across the world to enable local Malaysian SMEs to grow their business and expand exports.

“Leveraging the long-term partnership with Alibaba, Malaysian SMEs will benefit immensely as businesses will now be able to reach farther and wider through access to new markets that this initiative provides. Malaysia Week is a great testament to Alibaba’s commitment to help Malaysia SMEs export and introduce their high-quality products to the world,” said Dato’ Ng Wan Peng, chief operating officer of Malaysia Digital Economy Corp.

“We are confident this partnership with Alibaba will go a long way, as Alibaba’s eWTP (Electronic World Trade Platform) and Malaysia’s DFTZ (Digital Free Trade Zone) have a common vision, which is to help SMEs grow and revolutionise Malaysia’s e-commerce.”

Malaysian eHub

Malaysia hosts the first eWTP hub outside of China, and is a vital part of Alibaba’s international growth strategy.

The eWTP’s goal is to build a more inclusive and innovative global trading platform for SMEs, young people and consumers. It was proposed by Ma in 2016 and was accepted as a major policy recommendation of the Business 20 (B20), and officially included in the 2016 G20 Leaders’ Communique.

In November 2017, Alibaba launched the first international eHub in Malaysia under the eWTP initiative, with an emphasis on facilitating exports for Malaysian SMEs and creating the infrastructure to support global trade with services encompassing e-commerce, logistics, cloud computing, mobile payment and talent training.

Since then, the Alibaba Group has undertaken various initiatives in Malaysia, including the establishment of Alibaba’s first regional e-fulfilment hub in the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) Aeropolis DFTZ Park and the establishment of Alibaba Cloud’s Internet data centre in Malaysia.

Malaysian office recently open

The launch of Malaysia Week was first announced at the opening of the Alibaba Group’s new Malaysia office in Kuala Lumpur on June 18.

“This is the beginning of our story in Malaysia and I think Alibaba’s story will be long and we will make this story together,” said Ma.

Serving as a ‘one-stop solution centre’ for local businesses, the facility is designed to engage with existing local partners, help Malaysian businesses identify global cross-border trade opportunities, as well as to support the country’s technology innovation through cloud computing services.