KUALA LUMPUR, April 9 — Lazada Malaysia is contributing RM10 million in a stimulus package aimed at helping small and medium enterprises (SME) during the Covid-19 outbreak.

The online shopping giant is launching the Pakej Kedai Pintar or Smart Shop Package to help an estimated 50,000 SMEs — especially those in the fresh food and groceries business, new and existing e-commerce players, brick-and-mortar retailers and Ramadan hawkers — via a series of customised benefits.

The Pakej Kedai Pintar cash fund, starting with RM10 million, aims to help take SMEs online, stabilise jobs and support the country’s economy during the movement control order (MCO).

“This initiative is targeted to help an estimated 50,000 local SMEs. Those eligible will be able to enjoy free shipping services and receive fixed weekly payments, as well as the services of a dedicated support team to onboard, train and develop customised sales campaigns with them through Lazada University,” it said in a statement.

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SMEs will be entitled to zero commission and zero listing fees on top of access to micro-loan facilities.

SME retailers that are new, or have little experience in e-commerce will get 100 per cent of their cost of selling online covered, and be able to quickly diversify their revenue streams beyond traditional platforms.

“Local SMEs are essential to the nation’s economic growth and people’s livelihood and by helping them, we hope to bolster Malaysians’ confidence amid the Covid-19 situation.

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“We believe it is the responsibility of all platform operators to lend support in times like this to the merchants who have made us successful,” said Leo Chow, chief executive officer of Lazada Malaysia.

From April to June, SMEs can now sign up at www.lazada.com.my/sell-on-lazada and have 100 per cent of capital costs waived.

Capital costs refer to the services provided by Lazada Malaysia, including delivery and shipping of parcels to customers, content development services, product listing and advertising.

Lazada will work with SMEs to curate and list products for up to four months, participate in promotional campaigns, fulfill orders and analyse sales and traffic data