Pikom's expectations for #MYCYBERSALE 2018 run high

• National online sale event has drawn more than 1,200 participating merchants
• Potential to reach over 13.9 million online shoppers in Malaysia

THE National ICT Association of Malaysia (Pikom) expects the upcoming #MYCYBERSALE 2018 online sales event on Sept 3-7 to be a major success this year as it has attracted a record number of online merchants.

Almost two-thirds of Malaysian internet users are online shoppers and #MYCYBERSALE has the potential to reach over 13.9 million online shoppers in the country. This is very much in line with government statistics indicating how the e-commerce growth rate in Malaysia is expected to rise from 10.6% in 2016 to 20.8% in 2020.

Speaking during the launch of Malaysia’s national online sale event in Kuala Lumpur, Pikom chairman Ganesh Kumar Bangah expects the coming implementation of the Sales and Service Tax (SST) on Sept 1 to have minimal impact on the sentiments of Malaysians given their voracious appetite for good deals.

He added that Pikom is confident that #MYCYBERSALE will surpass its targeted RM370 million in Gross Merchandise Value (GMV), the total revenue generated, during the five-day sales period. Just to compare, #MYCYBERSALE pulled in RM311 million in GMV in 2017.

Pikom also stated that #MYCYBERSALE will be held annually between the National Day and Malaysia Day celebrations from this year onwards.

Though it may seem that Pikom wants to steer #MYCYBERSALE  away from popular year-end sale events such as 11.11 (Single’s Day) and Lazada’s 12.12, Ganesh brushes it off saying the period was identified as a good time to hold the sale.

If all goes well, Pikom intends to take #MYCYBERSALE to a more regional level, going as far as organising an Asean Cybersale to promote more cross border e-commerce.

A more inclusive cybersale

Ganesh added said the event is proving to be a successful model for Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs), attracting more than 1,200 merchants (a 20% increase from last year), with almost 70% of participating merchants coming from this sector.

At the same time, he stressed that #MYCYBERSALE was focused on building community inclusiveness. For the first time #MYCYBERSALE will feature a pavilion specially catered towards microenterprise merchants, who previously only sold on social media platforms like Facebook.

He said that that e-commerce provides an additional source of income generation for the bottom 40% (B40) and provide greater social mobility.

Not forgetting those from East Malaysia, Pikom has also partnered with the Sabah and Sarawak state governments to set up pavilions that focus on showcasing merchants from the two states.

“Through #MYCYBERSALE, we want to encourage SMEs and micro-enterprises to adopt an omni-channel approach by selling not just through their web store but through Lazada, 11street and Facebook to drive growth,” he said during the launch.

Exports expected to boom

Pikom said that #MYCYBERSALE has become a catalyst for merchants in Malaysia to be part of the e-commerce ecosystem and contribute to the domestic and export e-commerce revenue.

Speaking of exports, Ganesh was pleased to note that this year’s #MYCYBERSALE has seen a doubling in the number of exporters. As many as 600 merchants are expected to ship orders to China, United Arab Emirates, United States and other countries in Europe and Southeast Asia.

This is largely due to the favourable Ringgit exchange rate that is expected to attract more overseas customers to #MYCYBERSALE. He is also confident that the targeted RM50 million export revenue will be achieved during the sale, a figure that is RM11 million more than last year’s

Many regional and international brands are expected to take part in this online sales event including Lazada, Shopee, Shopback, 28Mall, Malaysia Airlines Bhd, Qoo10, Hermo and many others.

“#MYCYBERSALE merchants have lined up attractive deals and items at hugely discounted prices for consumers to take advantage of. This is the time to grab fantastic travel deals, tech gadgets and festive holiday gifts,” he added.

At the stroke of midnight on Sept 3, consumers can log on to www.mycybersale.my to browse through the wide array of promotions and deals from over 20 retail categories including electronics, fashion, beauty, baby and kids, travel and many others.

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