The most powerful aspect of social media is the ability to connect with others both locally and globally – all at your fingertips.
Many business entrepreneurs and owners today have taken advantage of social commerce, a new, but lucrative revenue opportunity that helps reduce operational costs of up to 50 per cent as well as drive sales.
A social commerce platform that is making waves in Malaysia is SAYAJUAL.IO which has so far recorded RM132 million in sales transactions and RM20 million commission payouts to over 15,000 registered stockists, agents and dropships since 2022.
SAYAJUAL.IO brings together brand owners, sellers and buyers and enables them to do business in one place online.
BENEFITS OF SAYAJUAL.IO
According to Azrul Zafri Azmi, Chief Executive Officer of Azor Industries Sdn Bhd, a technology provider and software development company, the platform helps business owners or merchants manage their sales operation in terms of ordering management via stockists, agents and dropships.
“Operators or merchants will advertise their products or services on social media for marketing and direct selling or in short, buying and selling activities.
“As more stockists, agents and dropships sell a particular product, the faster it becomes viral on the social media which is also based on the advertising frequency that is posted online. In addition, the platform provides easy access for sellers to choose quality products to sell.
“This directly benefits stockists, agents and dropships as it allows them to make profits through commission and subsequently bringing returns for brand owners as they are able to widen their market outreach quickly and effectively,” he told Bernama recently.
The platform SAYAJUAL.IO allows business owners to receive information on their product orders through one platform without having to employ more staff, hence reducing operational cost compared to manual ordering management.
At the same time, business owners can monitor their sales team’s performance as well as the database management in a systematic manner. The platform also helps drive sales up five-fold through a prompt and efficient management system.
“With the use of 'hashtag' #sayajual, it brings together up to thousands of products that are sold by stockists, agents and dropships with total postings of over 20 million.
“All information on sales data, registered agents, inventory management and systematic ordering management, are accessible only at the finger tips and in fact this platform can also serve as a hub for sharing of marketing materials.
“It also eases the workload of business owners in handling operation management bureaucracy and allows them to focus on planning their business development activities,” he said.
No fees are imposed on business owners, stockists, agents and dropships for sales access on the platform SAYAJUAL.IO but instead they need only register through the website https://sayajual.io/.
NEW LEASE OF LIFE
Social commerce in Malaysia recorded RM1.4 billion revenue in 2022 with thousands of business owners using the mechanism as their key sales strategy.
Azrul Zafri shared that the social commerce system in the country could be traced way back to the era of blogs and social media, but noted that it was rather disorganised as there was no specialised platform developed for the purpose.
As such platforms such as SAYAJUAL.IO which was first introduced in 2019 and grew rapidly since 2021 gave a new lease of life for the social commercial system with access to anyone who wishes to generate income by selling products from various brands, with attractive commissions and profits.
“Our customers comprise product owners who record millions of ringgit sales each year, and among the prominent merchants that are part of the SAYAJUAL.IO set-up are Bulan Bintang, Kak Ell, Quran Humaira and Patola Soap.
“Among popular apparel brands which have made millions of ringgit sales include Bulan Bintang. Bulan Bintang has been using the social commerce platform since its inception and has consecutively generated impressive sales yearly.
“To date, over 17,000 people are registered as Bulan Bintang agents and dropships,” he said adding that, for a more effective courier service, SAYAJUAL.IO is also integrated with official courier partners such as Ninja Van, J&T Express, Nationwide Express, DHL and Pos Laju.
On the challenges in the local social commerce industry, Azrul Zafri, who is also Deputy President of the Malaysia Cyber Consumer Association (MCCA) said, the presence of foreign platforms that are dominating the marketplace such as TikTok Shop could have negative implications in various aspects.
TikTok Shop is a shopping tool that be accessed directly from the TikTok platform. It enables merchants, brands and artistes to showcase and sell things on TikTok directly. Product sales can be made by sellers and producers via in-feed videos, LIVEs, and the product display page.
“The presence of foreign e-commerce and social commerce platforms which have been dominating the local marketplace can cause Malaysians’ cash outflow and it would be difficult to determine the taxation aspects. From buyers and sellers, it is also difficult to determine the quality of products sold if foreign platforms are used and consumers are exposed to high risks especially from scammers.
“To address the issue, the government should encourage Malaysians’ participation including providing specialised training on social commerce through close collaboration with local platform owners and channel incentives for social commerce participants especially stockists, agents and dropships,” he added.
BULAN BINTANG IS PROOF
Meanwhile, sharing its success story, Azzim Zahid Azmi, founder of modest-wear brand Bulan Bintang said since its inception, the company had been using SAYAJUAL.IO as its key marketing and sales platform.
The Bulan Bintang brand has been thrust into the spotlight recently especially among social media users when it showcased popular local celebrities such as Beto Kusyairy, Shukri Yahaya, Sharnaaz Ahmad as well as Hannah Delisha and Daiyan Trisha as models for its label for the Hari Raya 2023 collection.
“All these are driven by our niat (intention) to share our rezeki (sustenance) with the public and this strategy allows the Bulan Bintang brand to become viral on the internet as stockists, agents and dropships will share information about the brand on their social media.
“As such, our head-office can focus fully on large scale marketing activities and manage our inventory more systematically and effectively, he said.
Bulan Bintang saw its sales surging 100 per cent to 500 per cent yearly with an increase in stockists, agents and dropships.
The number of registered dropships also grew to 17,000 this year from 100 in 2016.
“Albeit the competition from other brands of Baju Melayu, Bulan Bintang always strives to maintain our position as among the main choices for Malay traditional attires among Malaysians by embracing new and innovative marketing strategies, in addition to leveraging on the social commerce platform to generate sales.
“Bulan Bintang continues to keep up with the trends, especially in changes in consumer tastes and demands accordingly and will strengthen our community of stockists, agents and dropships to further drive our brand awareness,” he said.
Bulan Bintang was founded in 2016 with the slogan, “To have a beautiful clothing is a bonus, but to have a comfortable and quality one is a must”.
Breaking the record, Bulan Bintang, spent RM2 million on a fashion show themed ‘Takes The Sky’ at Kuala Lumpur Tower in February this year.
For this event, Bulan Bintang gained recognition from Malaysia Book of Records (MBOR) as the first local fashion brand to break the national record for the most drones used in a light show. A total of 350 drones were used in the fashion show.
Early this month, Bulan Bintang organised a mega concert themed Islamic contemporary music featuring popular Malay icons Datuk Seri Siti Nurhaliza, Datuk M Nasir, Salammusik, Raihan, Alif Satar and The Locos, Faizal Tahir as well as artistes from Indonesia, Sabyan and religious singer, Opick.
Translated by Salbiah Said
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