Last year, as the Covid-19 outbreak spread across the country, many business owners faced uncertain futures. Even as physical storefronts disappeared and shoppers stayed at home, a few of forward-thinking business owners switched some or all of their operations to the internet. As a result, what could have been a disaster for many firms became an opportunity waiting to be uncovered. (online selling platform)
Over the last 112 years, two e-commerce merchants have struck it rich: one who saved the family business and the other who built vital lifelines for local farmers.
From Seremban to Southeast Asia, there’s a lot to see. (online selling platform)
In many respects, the storey of Ooi Zhi Wei and his family is the archetypal multigenerational success storey. He has come a long way from his humble beginnings to become a successful e-commerce business owner with huge dreams.
However, a “self-made guy” does not exist. Ooi, the founder of the highly successful Shopee internet company that bears his name, credits his accomplishments to his parents’ tireless work.
“My parents were tiny businessmen selling a Chinese herbal soup preparation at the local morning market when we relocated to KL over 20 years ago.” They launched their first store in Ampang eight years later, and the business prospered thanks to their hard work.”
Naturally, Ooi’s adoring parents had high expectations for him, and in 2014, he qualified to study for the ACCA. By sending their son to study abroad, Ooi’s parents achieved a big milestone. In 2018, he returned home with an accounting degree and huge ambitions. “My parents’ business was doing well, but I thought it might do even better with an online presence,” says the author. We had a physical store, which meant we could only accept walk-ins from within a 5-kilometer radius of the business.
“Furthermore, as a Chinese medical store in Malaysia, our consumer base is primarily Chinese.” I believed we might make better use of some of the resources and introduce the store to a new demographic.”
Mum and dad agreed to allow him sell some of the things on Shopee after talking with them. As a result, their products were able to reach a wider audience. “At first, I simply sold simple dry foods,” Ooi explains, “but I’ve recently expanded into more exotic dried products like apricots, dates, and raisins.”
Everything was going swimmingly. Until, in a sense, the pandemic became viral. (online selling platform)
“We didn’t have any prior experience dealing with long-term closures.” As a result, we attempted to determine what to do next.” For the first time in decades, the family business was shut down. It was a traumatic experience for Ooi and his parents, but they refused to give up.
The epidemic, as it turned out, resulted in a near-unprecedented increase in demand for health-related items and supplements. When Ooi’s family business returned last year following the initial lockdown, revenues more than tripled.
However, this resulted in a new set of issues. They could not keep up with the demand. The problem was exacerbated by constraints at their Chinese suppliers. When it came to issues, Ooi had it better than others, and he quickly began looking for additional sources outside of China.
As the world grew used to socially-distributed business activity, so did Ooi’s supply chains.
“Getting customers to know me was my hardest hurdle at this stage.” Even though I didn’t have much of an online presence at initially, I was able to make RM12,000 in my first month of e-commerce sales.
“However, once I learned about and optimised the algorithms, I was fortunate enough to be able to spend around RM50,000 per year on ads and create a 40-fold return in sales.” To be fair, I looked into advertising on other e-commerce platforms, but I’ve discovered that Shopee generates 3 to 10 times more sales.”
As a result, the young guy from Seremban, helped his parents open their first store all those years ago, is now trying to expand the company regionally through e-commerce. “Because of the sheer enormity of the population, I’m exploring Indonesia.” In Indonesia, I also opened a store on Shopee rather than Tokopedia because it feels more familiar.”
His parents built the company from the ground up to become one of Seremban’s largest suppliers of Chinese medicinal herbs, and their son now hopes to expand it throughout Southeast Asia, the world’s most vibrant and interesting consumer region.
In the midst of the pandemic, a retired teacher is assisting farmers.
Mohd Ghazali Haji Anuar, a teacher, was looking forward to retiring early last year.
Ghazali and his wife, on the other hand, were not the type to abandon their tools and ride off into the sunset. Instead, they opened a Shopee e-commerce business called Baiworld Kitchen, with the intention of selling a range of handcrafted snacks while also supporting local farmers.
“We exclusively use fresh, local foods sourced directly from Sabak Bernam farmers.” “All of our items are dependent on what we can get from our neighbouring village farmers,” Ghazali explains.
He and his wife started the business in March of last year, when the government issued first Movement Control Order (MCO). In some respects, the unexpected shutdown provided Ghazali with crucial opportunity to reflect on his life.
“As my children became older, I realised that there are more costs for their post-secondary education. I also realised how much my kampung’s farmers were suffering. If at all feasible, I’d like to attempt something that would meet the needs of my children while also supporting our local farmers.”
They sell products through online.
The couple selected ingredients, prepped and cooked their products, and then sold them online, everything from crispy centella asiatica (gotu kola) leaves to deep-fried bitter gourd and fiery sambal pecal.
Recently, the pair has been routinely generating RM30,000 in monthly revenue. In their home kitchen, they now process about 60 kilogrammes of raw materials. With over 60 products for sale, Ghazali’s business has outgrown the two of them, and he recently hired two full-time staff.
He was able to build an e-commerce firm with no prior knowledge in just 112 years by merely following Shopee University’s different awareness and education initiatives. He’s now a “Preferred Seller,” which he claims will help with internet credibility.
“To me, this doesn’t feel like work.” My goal was to just make some additional money and help out in my neighbourhood. Having said that, my company has developed tremendously. We’ve gone from selling less than 20 products each day to fulfilling requests for up to 60 distinct products per day.”
Source: ecommerce platforms , online selling platform
