#Budget2021: MDEC Helps Local Businesses Set Up Online Stores To Boost Economy

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This Spotlight is sponsored by the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation.

As Malaysia's lead agency in digital transformation, the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) will assist local businesses through the Go-eCommerce Onboarding and Shop Malaysia Online campaigns.

The main idea is to get these businesses onboard the e-commerce and e-payment platforms to help boost their sales and widen their reach as well as to leverage on the digital platform and solution.

Under the Shop Malaysia Online campaign, the government will be also giving discounts, rebates, and shipping vouchers to consumers to encourage more online purchases.

The Go-eCommerce Onboarding and Shop Malaysia Online campaigns aim to newly onboard 50,000 businesses and potentially generate 10 million online transactions. Besides that, 30,000 women entrepreneurs are also expected to benefit from this initiative.

"Facilitating local businesses to go digital and online will ensure that they are able to future-proof against potential aftershocks. By supporting Malaysian businesses, we will also ensure jobs and livelihoods are sustained. We are committed not to leave anyone behind and the welfare of the local businesses and people is our priority," said Surina Shukri, CEO of MDEC.

1. You can convert your business into a digital business on various e-commerce platforms
2. E-payment provides cashless convenience to you and your customer
3. You can automatically gain more exposure and sales by simply putting your business online
4. With e-commerce, you can scale your business globally with international e-marketplaces

The Go-eCommerce Onboarding campaign will allow businesses to set up their stores on e-commerce platforms and implement e-payment solutions. For e-commerce, this could mean having an online presence on Lazada, Shopee, Grab, foodpanda, and more. For e-payment, it could be allowing customers to pay for your items through e-wallets or online payment gateways.

In particular, MDEC will focus on promoting sectors like halal, craft, agriculture, and retail & services to help boost sales of small local businesses.

If you're a business owner, here's what you can look forward to:
- Onboarding expenses covered, including registration fees and recurring fees
- Seller subsidies, including seller discounts and transactional fees
- Seller support, from training fees and free shipping, to in-platform advertising and third-party services

Register and be part of the Go-eCommerce Onboarding campaign here.

This campaign will see small local businesses partnering with popular e-commerce platforms like Lazada, Shopee, Zalora, Sama-Sama Lokal, Presto, and more.

Business owners who are part of this initiative will receive support in the form of discounts, rebates, and shipping. From all kinds of cashback and e-wallet rebates, to lower shipping rates, businesses are able to generate more sales and thereby, being able to sustain their operations and the livelihoods of their staffs.

Find out how you can register your business for the Shop Malaysia Online campaign here.

Thanks to both the PENJANA MSME E-Commerce Campaign and Shop Malaysia Online Campaign in 2020, it resulted in 8.2 million consumers shopping online, which generated RM1.87 billion in sales. Besides that, 33,000 new small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and micro SMEs were also onboarded on various e-commerce platforms thanks to the MSME Onboarding campaign.

This year, with an increased allocation, it will hopefully increase consumers' confidence to buy from local producers and merchants, ensuring that Malaysian businesses thrive and remain competitive.

Check out all of our Spotlight stories to date here.