KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) and Amazon announced that they have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to bolster export capabilities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia.
Under the agreement, both parties will join forces to spearhead the “Go Global with Amazon and MATRADE” initiative which will help Malaysia brand owners and sellers seize cross-border business opportunities with Amazon Global Selling. Amazon Global Selling helps businesses from anywhere in the world to launch a global business, build international brands and reach Amazon’s hundreds of millions of worldwide active customer accounts.
MATRADE and Amazon will partner to raise awareness and provide essential knowledge about cross-border e-commerce to Malaysia brand owners and sellers. Amazon Global Selling will share insights and expertise, facilitate training workshops, and guide businesses through the Amazon seller journey, including account registration, product preparation, listing, shipping, advertising, and more. MATRADE and Amazon will work closely to showcase success stories of Malaysia-based sellers selling overseas on Amazon – such as in the U.S. and EU stores, inspiring and motivating other local small business owners to start their cross-border business with Amazon Global Selling. In addition, MATRADE will support and promote Amazon Global Selling’s training activities to relevant local entities, including businesses, authorities, and business associations to foster greater participation.
The MoU will strengthen and open new opportunities for MATRADE and Amazon’s collaboration which first started in 2021. The latest joint initiative took place in April 2024 in Kuala Lumpur and consisted of an in-person seller workshop which saw strong participation from Malaysia sellers.
“We are thrilled to partner with Amazon in our efforts to empower Malaysian SMEs in international markets,” said Dato’ Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican, MATRADE Chairman who witnessed the MoU Exchange today. “This MoU highlights our commitment to helping them, leverage e-Commerce in expanding their global footprint. Together with Amazon, we aim to provide Malaysian SMEs with the essential tools, knowledge, and support to succeed in today’s competitive global marketplace.”
Anand Palit, Head of Amazon Global Selling in Southeast Asia, said, “We are excited to strengthen our collaboration with MATRADE to empower Malaysia SMEs to leverage Amazon’s global reach. We are observing a growing interest from Malaysia sellers to sell overseas with Amazon. In fact, the number of new Malaysia sellers selling their products overseas through Amazon Global Selling nearly doubled in the January-April 2024 period compared to the same period the year before. The MoU with MATRADE will provide Malaysia brand owners with the knowledge, resources, and support they need to seize cross-border business opportunities as Amazon sellers.”
Amazon’s global infrastructure and resources to help sellers sell overseas
Amazon is continuously investing in logistics, tools, services, programs, and people to foster the growth of sellers’ businesses on Amazon worldwide. Globally, more than 60% of sales in the Amazon store come from independent sellers—most of which are small and medium-sized businesses. Amazon has 23 stores globally and can ship products to customers in over 200 countries and territories.
Through Amazon services like Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), sellers can scale their business more easily with Amazon helping them store, pick, pack and ship their products, while also taking care of customer service and product returns. With Supply Chain by Amazon, an end-to-end, fully automated set of supply chain services, sellers can quickly and reliably move products from manufacturing locations to customers around the world. Amazon provides tools to sellers such as the Customer Loyalty Analytics Dashboard and Brand Tailored Promotions which can help provide upsell and retention capabilities tailored to different customer segments and build stronger relationships with customers and boost brand and product-level loyalty. Amazon constantly listens to selling partners’ feedback to innovate to improve the seller experience. For example, in order to reduce time spent on generating accurate listings, a set of generative AI capabilities have been launched to make it faster and easier for sellers to list new products.
