Shopee forum calls for greater digital inclusivity among underserved communities

KUALA LUMPUR, April 27 (Bernama) -- Shopee, a leading e-commerce platform has hosted a forum discussing the importance of technology in serving the underserved communities with #RayaBersamaShopee Marketplaces: Towards a More Inclusive and Participative Economy. 

The virtual forum featured three keynote speakers namely Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) chairman Senator Datuk Ras Adiba Radzi, who is also the President of OKU Sentral, Chief Economist of Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad (Bank Islam) Dr Mohd Afzanizam and Head of Marketing Campaigns at Shopee Malaysia Kenneth Soh. 

Emphasising the challenges of the persons with disabilities (PwD) community in participating in the mainstream economy, Ras Adiba said: “The Internet saved our lives, it gave us access to communication. As many of us are homebound, the Internet is a way for us to reach out and learn new skills, and trades and survive. Those of us who did not have money, selling things via the Internet really helped us and lifted us up.”

She said online business classes allowed the underserved to be economically resourceful and see themselves like any other business person.

“For those of us who cannot go out, this allows us to do it from home, work and earn a living from home,” she said.

Meanwhile, speaking of e-commerce in driving mainstream economic inclusion, Mohd Afzanizam said the proliferation of e-commerce has allowed small businesses to be more agile in coping with operational challenges brought by the pandemic.

“Good measures of progress on this front are rising income and expenditure on e-commerce platforms,” he said.

As for Kenneth, he said that through hyper-localised campaigns like #RayaBersamaShopee, sellers in rural areas can promote their products to consumers more easily.

“Our key differentiator is our localised strategy in digitalising rural communities and digital upskilling. That’s how #ShopeeSapotLokal drives e-commerce growth in a sustainable and inclusive way on behalf of all our sellers and the communities they support,” he said.

In the #RayaBersamaShopee survey of more than 2,000 participating sellers between March 18 to April 18 this year, 70 per cent of whom are female, are empowered to provide for their families, while retaining the flexibility of managing their respective households.

“Last Raya period, these individual sellers made close to RM1,000 each, mostly selling women’s fashion and accessories, and/or health and beauty products, therefore able to provide for more than three household dependents on average," he said. 

According to the survey too, Shopee’s sellers expect 50 per cent or more sales growth from their online store this Raya period.

The #ShopeeSapotLokal initiative will continue on June 16 with Shopee Malaysia’s annual Seller Summit 2022, with the theme “Level Up: Driving Growth Together” which brings together all Shopees sellers nationwide to share experiences and learn from each other.

-- BERNAMA