Kuala Lumpur, 5 July 2021 — EasyStore, Malaysia’s leading e-commerce software-as-a-service (Saas) solution provider, today officially launches its #SellOnlineWithEasyStore campaign where SMEs, local entrepreneurs and other B2C businesses can sign up for a free lifetime subscription to the platform’s sales channels. With this, businesses will be able to effectively manage a sales channel of their choice on EasyStore along with the option to switch to other available free channels later on in the pipeline The launch of this initiative comes at a juncture where many SMEs are either struggling to survive or scale their businesses as the nation faces the extension of MCO 3.0 for the second time.
Known as a multi-channel sales platform, EasyStore is a subscription-based service that allows SMEs to efficiently manage the full spectrum of e-commerce-related processes of up to 13 online sales channels from a single master interface. This feature streamlines operations for merchants by syncing their multiple inventories across all their online marketplaces, further translating to improved organisation, time-saving abilities and better resource management.
Recently introduced to help traditional brick and mortar businesses in digital adoption, the #SellOnlineWithEasyStore campaign allows SMEs to sign up and subsequently, obtain a free lifetime subscription to one of five available sales channels offered in this campaign — Online store, Facebook Live, Instagram, WhatsApp order form or LINE order form. These channels will help entrepreneurs to easily transform their traditional operations into a digitally-driven business. Depending on merchants’ strategy or sales performance, SMEs will also have the option to freely switch to other channels to achieve their goals.
“Through this campaign, we are prioritising brick and mortars, not to mention SMEs that have little to no experience and skills in digitising their businesses as they are the most vulnerable group that continues to struggle and might even face closures due to prolonged lockdowns,” said Frost Chen, Chief Executive Officer of EasyStore. “Therefore, we aim to help them get acquainted digitally by offering an online sales channel that is permanently free so that cost will not be an issue. The five available sales channels were selected due to the general consumers’ familiarity with the platforms, and also because of their low entry barrier which is crucial for digital amateurs.”
Due to the sudden and aggressive spread of COVID-19 last year, merchants on EasyStore saw a sharp spike in general sales performance in 2020 as the platform successfully generated a Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of RM500mil. After witnessing a cumulative sales drop due to the subsequently lax movement restrictions earlier this year, EasyStore merchants saw an encouraging increase in sales after the announcement of FMCO late May 2021.
During the FMCO in June, the platform saw more than 5000 new business registrations to start their digital transformation journey, with the online store and WhatsApp order form being the most sought-after sales channels.
The Need for Education and Awareness in Going Digital
98.5% of the 920,624 business establishments in Malaysia are small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Despite being the backbone of the nation’s economy, SMEs in Malaysia are still experiencing a general lag in digital adoption. Due to the underperformance of SMEs even before the pandemic, with a further exacerbation of business performance, there are calls for private sectors to “enhance the resilience of this sector over the medium-to-long term”. In order to close the digital divide among Malaysian businesses, relevant support and education that address the challenges of universal digitizations need to be put into place.
“From a B2B solution provider’s point of view, the main impediments of business digitisation include higher costs to digitise and lack of technical skills. To address the issue of cost, we believe that this campaign will be able to provide owners with a glimpse of what the platform is able to achieve for their businesses at zero cost. SMEs can then opt for more premium capabilities by registering for EasyStore’s subscription plans with affordable price points as low as RM 59 per month,” Frost added. “EasyStore also has a sizable support team that provides comprehensive training to business owners in optimising the potential of each available sales channel, hence improving their knowledge in the field.”
To strengthen its efforts in helping traditional brick and mortar and SMEs scale their businesses online, EasyStore plans to expand internationally with a focus on the Taiwan market where it has established a strong base of over 3,000 online stores. For more information about EasyStore, visit https://www.easystore.co.
