Visa Launches Campaign To Encourage Consumer Support For Local SMEs

Alex Cheong Pui Yin

26th August 2020 - 3 min read

Global payment service provider Visa has introduced the Where You Shop Matters campaign in Malaysia, an initiative that encourages consumers to support local businesses, as well as helps SMEs embark on their digital journey during this challenging Covid-19 economy.

According to Visa, the initiative is part of its broader small businesses strategy and its commitment to support 10 million small and micro businesses in the Asia Pacific region. Aside from Malaysia, the campaign has also been launched in Singapore, New Zealand, Australia, and the UK.

“In Malaysia, our focus is to help these small businesses embark on this digitalisation journey to start and grow their online presence. We are excited to offer SMEs an eCommerce toolkit, together with Visa commercial offers to help them start, manage, and grow their online storefronts,” said the country manager of Visa Malaysia, Ng Kong Boon.

(Image: FintechNews Malaysia)

The initiative will see Visa collaborating with partners such as BigCommerce, EasyStore, SiteGiant, and StoreHub to provide e-commerce starter packages that can help SMEs move their businesses online. These include waivers on monthly subscriptions for businesses that are setting up their online businesses for the first time.

Additionally, Visa has enabled a series of commercial offers – such as advertising support and business office tools – to help SMEs grow their online presence and manage their businesses digitally.

For consumers, on the other hand, the payment service provider has prepared a directory that features curated merchants from various categories, including electronics, fashion, health and beauty, home and living, as well as food and drinks.

Visa’s Where You Shop Matters initiative is also in line with the Buy Malaysian Products campaign that was launched last month, as well as the Cuti-Cuti Malaysia campaign to encourage domestic travel.

The director general of Tourism Malaysia, Datuk Musa Yusof, said that the agency will work hand-in-hand with Visa to help the country’s economy recover through local tourism and brands. “Through Visa’s variety of offerings for cardholders, as well as local entrepreneurs, we believe we will continue to see an enhanced patriotism among Malaysians for locally made goods and services,” he said, adding that the local tourism industry has seen improvement since the interstate travel ban was lifted.

(Image: Malay Mail)

Meanwhile, the chief executive officer of Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), Surina Shukri, commented that Visa’s campaign will complement the ongoing Penjana Shop Malaysia Online initiative and the Penjana Micro & SMEs (MSME) E-Commerce campaign. She also noted that the pandemic has motivated many local MSMEs to adopt e-commerce as part of their business strategy.

Find out more about Visa’s Where You Shop Matters campaign on its website.

(Source: The Sun Daily)

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Alex Cheong Pui Yin

Previously covered recruitment-related stories and had a short stint as a copywriter for the property industry. She subsequently developed an interest in investment and robo-advisors.

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