26 January 2021, Shah Alam – The Selangor state government will launch the Selangor E-Bazar Chinese New Year Campaign which will be held from February 1 until March 7 2021.
The state government will channel RM2 million in the form of discount vouchers to two of the most popular online sales platforms in Malaysia – Shopee and Lazada – for the campaign.
The campaign targets the participation of 25,000 SMEs as well as micro businesses, including 12,500 new e-merchants which are expected to be onboarded.
The campaign is jointly organised by Selangor Information Technology and Digital Economy Corporation (SIDEC) Sdn Bhd and Invest Selangor.
Like previous rounds of the Selangor E-Bazar campaign, it is to assist SMEs and micro businesses in Selangor to embrace digitalisation to survive in the challenging business environment caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Apart from benefiting businesses, the campaign will also provide a safe environment for people to buy online with more choices of products with discounted prices.
This will hopefully maintain the ambience of the Chinese New Year and as the saying goes by, no matter bad or good days, we still need to celebrate the new year with bright spirits.
Selangor executive councillor for Industry and Trade YB Dato’ Teng Chang Khim said with the current re-imposition of the MCO, going digital has never been this urgent for businesses to ensure a continuous cash flow.
“While people must maintain social distancing to break the chain of Covid-19 transmission, let us not forget to maintain social connections with our beloved family and friends.
“The Selangor E-Bazar CNY provides a safe marketplace for family and friends to discuss the latest popular festive goods and food. You may buy mandarin oranges, festive biscuits and hampers and deliver them to your parents and friends who stay in your hometown to reconnect with them.
“We may not be able to go back to our hometowns this year but buying gifts through the E-Bazar platform shows how our affection for our parents, family and friends will never be disrupted even by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“On the other hand, the state government is committed to the digitalisation agenda in assisting SMEs, micro SMEs and merchants to go digital.
“The previous two rounds of the Selangor E-Bazar campaign created millions of direct sales which proved that the digital economy agenda utilised by the state government has effectively assisted merchants to generate more income online to weather the Covid-19 storm.”
From the two rounds of the Selangor E-Bazar campaigns in 2020, SMEs successfully generated a total of RM1.39 billion in ripple effect to the economy through direct sales worth RM43.76 million from the total of RM3 million in vouchers channelled by the Selangor state government.
From SITEC to SIDEC
Established under the secretariat of Invest Selangor by the Selangor State Government, the Selangor Information Technology and E-Commerce Council (SITEC) is chaired by the Selangor executive councillor for Industry and Trade YB Dato’ Teng Chang Khim. SITEC aims to develop Selangor as the regional trading hub for e-commerce and to uplift the startup ecosystem within the state.
Since 2015, SITEC has successfully onboarded 650 e-commerce merchants and trained more than 9,000 SMEs and individuals who wish to make sales online through its E-Commerce Class, Master Class, Online 100 and Brands 100 programmes.
SITEC has also nurtured 90 startups from the three cohorts of the Selangor Accelerator Programme (SAP) and organised 3 Pitch@Selangor sessions, as well as making pitching and industrial visits to the Silicon Valley. SITEC also reached out to more than 600 Micro-SMEs from municipals in Selangor through the popular Jelajah Usahawan Digital.
Five years since its inception, SITEC has generated a Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of RM334.37 million through its various high-impact programmes.
In improving the management of SITEC programmes, the Selangor state government has thus decided to set up SIDEC Sdn Bhd as a full-fledged government-linked company and a subsidiary under Invest Selangor Berhad
SIDEC Sdn Bhd aims to lead the digital transformation of Selangor as ASEAN’s digital hub through these objectives:
- Nurturing Selangor digital talents, narrowing the digital divide
- Accelerating Selangor startups to become regional tech icons
- Empowering Selangor businesses and SME digitalisation
- Encouraging Selangor digital investment and emerging technologies