StreetDeal.my launches social mall, with celebrities as ‘Insiders’

• Merges Malaysians’ love for shopping and celebrity lifestyles
• Products ‘personally’ selected by your favorite celebrities

STREETDEAL.MY has launched what it claimed was Malaysia’s first ‘social mall,’ an e-commerce platform which includes local celebrities as ‘Insiders.’
 
Celebrities on its roster include Aishah Sinclair, Amber Chia, Daphne Iking, Atilia, DJ Fuzz, Douglas Lim, Dynas Mokhtar, Julie Woon, Linora Low, Patricia K, Sazzy Falak, Serena C, Soo Wincci and Yasmin Hani.
 
Fans will receive updates on hot products personally selected by the celebrities, known as “Insiders” with discounts of up 90% discount, the company said in a statement. They can keep up with the Insiders via Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and even special appearances by these selected celebrities.
 
“All Malaysians love a good deal and we are confident loyal fans in particular will love the idea of sharing their favorite celebrities’ lifestyle by using products they have personally tested and reviewed, and are recommending,” said Aaron Sarma, country manager of StreetDeal Malaysia.
 
To keep up with the deals offered by their favorite celebrities, Malaysians can follow the latest updates at http://www.streetdeal.my/ or via Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/StreetDeal.my?fref=ts.
 
The ‘social mall’ concept draws from a business model that has achieved multimillion-dollar success in the United States., with success stories such as Beachmint, Shoedazzle and Open Sky. Social commerce refers to a business model that brings together the e-commerce platform and infrastructure, and uses social media as a communications channel to support the commercial activities, thus creating monetization of social media through e-commerce, StreetDeal.my said.
 
“Our three-prong approach (is) a win-win scenario for all parties involved. The end user enjoys appealing offers and good deals; the merchants enjoy customers acquisition and high profile promotions for their goods and services; and the Insiders are able to grow their fan base, increase fan engagement, and allow their fans to enjoy some of the great products that they use themselves,” Sarma (pic) said.
 
“Our goal is to take the shopping mall experience online providing consumers with the same fun and entertaining experience they often enjoy offline. Including Insider recommendation makes it even more interactive.
 
“The Insiders introduce and share-through their unique, experienced perspectives and raw content on the products they love with shoppers. We are offering a minimum one-year partnership with our Insiders where they share a minimum of three deals a month, including products and services they have a specific personal affinity to,” he added.
 
Sarma claimed that StreetDeal.my currently has 800,000 active members and targets 1.5 million by the end of 2013.
 
The StreetDeal Group also claimed that its e-commerce platform has two million members in four South-East Asian countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, and plans enter the Philippines and Vietnam this year.
 
It said it has more than 4,000 member merchants around the region offering more than 1,000 deals a month, and reaches out to its audience via more than 30 million email alerts monthly. The business achieved revenue of US$3.3 million in 2011 and US$8 million in 2012; it targets US$20 million in revenue for 2013.

  
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