By Alang Bendahara
SHAH ALAM, June 23 — The 2021 Selangor Raya e-Bazaar campaign generated RM954 million in a ripple effect for the state economy, including RM65 million in direct sales.
Selangor Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari said this marked a 139 per cent increase in the ripple effect and a 163 per cent increase in direct sales compared to the state government’s initial target.
He said that many e-commerce traders have benefitted from the campaign held from April 14 to May 29.
“The campaign recorded participation from 22,049 new small and medium enterprises (SMEs) out of the total number of sellers.
“This is a 76 per cent increase from the initial target for sellers,” he said during a virtual address to announce the result of the campaign today.
Amirudin said the state had held four e-bazaar campaigns, starting from the 2020 Raya e-bazaar during movement control order (MCO) 1.0, followed by the 11.11 Mega Sales e-bazaar, 2021 CNY e-bazaar and this year’s 2021 Raya e-bazaar.
“The state government has invested a total of RM7 million in all four e-bazaar campaigns, which in return have generated RM2.95 billion in a ripple effect for the state economy, including RM144.7 million in direct sales.
“In total, 294,119 sellers, including 74,837 new sellers, have benefitted from all four e-bazaar campaigns,” he said.
He said the e-bazaar initiative enabled the state’s economy to stay active while creating an alternative platform for local traders to survive during the movement restrictions imposed due to Covid-19.
“It was the only way to ensure SMEs can still survive by running their business despite the closure of their physical shops while people had to stay home to break the chain of the pandemic,” he said.
Amirudin said online selling is a crucial step in the digitalisation process that will expand the logistic industry, gig economy, digital marketing, and popularise fintech technology.
Later in a virtual press conference, Amirudin said the state government has yet to decide whether to continue the e-bazaar campaigns next year.
“It depends on the MCO implementation as well as other factors, but if there is demand and need, we will organise another one or two with our e-platform partners, maybe during the year-end sale.
“But if the e-bazaar campaigns are held next year, the ripple effect and direct sales will be more significant as the sellers and buyers are ready compared to when we first started.
“The selling will become sustainable and may even expand from just covering Klang Valley to cover Malaysia and beyond the borders if allowed,” he said.
