MDEC sets lofty target for e-commerce adoption by 2025

• NESR 2.0, led by MDEC, and driven by 11 ministries including MITI, KKMM
• 639 organisations, individuals engaged as primary market research work.

THE NESR 2.0, led by the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), is targeting 875,000 micro small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to adopt e-commerce by 2025.

“The success of NESR 1.0 highlighted the potential for e-commerce in Malaysia is enormous and we are futher motivated to fuel our efforts to boost the local e-commerce market, in line with positioning Malaysia as the heart of digital Asean,” said Surina Shukri, chief executive officer of MDEC (pic), said in a statement.

THE National Council of Digital Economy and 4IR (MED4IR), chaired by Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, recently endorsed the National E-commerce Strategic Roadmap (NESR) 2.0.

NESR 2.0 is led by MDEC in close consultation with the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia (KKMM) and Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), It aims at addressing the feedback and challenges faced by local industries and players.

Targets under NESR 2.0 will be driven by 11 ministries and agencies, namely MITI, KKMM, MEDAC (Ministry of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives), MOSTI (Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation), KPDNHEP (Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs).

Other agencies are the DOSM (Department of Statistics Malaysia), MIDA (Malaysian Investment Development Authority), MCMC (Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission) and MDEC, in close partnership with industry players, MDEC said.

According to MDEC, more than 489,000 MSMEs adopted e-commerce while 378,000 SMEs were trained in e-commerce as of the end of 2020. SMEs exporting grew exponentially from 1,800 to 27,000, it claimed.

The sector also attracted investment worth US$$365 million (RM1.5 billion) for the establishment of regional e-fullfilment hubs.

[RM1 = US$0.243]

NESR 2.0 will be operationalised from 2021 to 2025, aiming to onboard 875,000 MSMEs, boost 84,000 e-commerce export adoption and increase the average revenue per user (ARPU) to RM9,500.

These key objectives are aligned to Thrust Two of the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint (MyDigital), which is to boost economic competitiveness through digitalisation; and Thrust Five, which aims to create an inclusive digital society.

These objectives also align with MDEC’s agenda of Malaysia 5.0, which aims to empower a society integrated with technology based on inclusive, sustainable and equitable growth.

A total of 639 organisations and individuals were engaged as part of MDEC’s primary market research work in the development of NESR 2.0, carried out in 2020. This included 196 companies, 18 industry associations, and 40 government ministries and agencies.

NESR 2.0 will be guided by three overaching objectives: To intensify e-commerce adoption and growth; to enhance ecosystem development; and to strengthen policy and regulatory environment, MDEC said.