Korean online marketplace 11street will invest $10M into Malaysian spinoff

One of Korea’s largest online marketplaces, 11street, today announced that it will be ploughing MYR 35 million (US$10 million) into its Malaysian website to encourage local seller participation. The ecommerce website currently has a presence in Turkey and Indonesia, and will add its Malaysian version to the list in April this year.

According to a statement, 11street has 22 million sellers serving over 40 million consumers worldwide, and boasts an annual gross merchandise value (GMV) – which is the total number of transactions made in a year – of US$6 billion, although this is a mere fraction of Rakuten’s domestic ecommerce GMV, which was at US$15.1 billion back in 2013. In addition, 11street will be entering a very crowded Malaysian ecommerce space, with both international (think Rakuten, Qoo10, and Lazada) and local (Lelong, Ensogo, and Shoppr) competitors alike.

11street’s Malaysian CEO Hoseok Kim says that the local version will promote both physical products and deal offerings such as e-vouchers, which the company claims is a first in the Muslim country. In particular, he emphasizes that the funds will be used to run “various seller development programs, marketing and promotions” not only to reach out to online sellers, but to onboard brick and mortar businesses.

“We wish to foster continued ecommerce growth and elevate the maturity of the industry by empowering more local offline businesses – particularly SMBs – to break through the traditional business model and explore the numerous ecommerce opportunities in the online space,” Kim explains, adding that the team plans to bring at least 11,000 sellers onboard by the year’s end.

Malaysian sellers who sign up will have access to the “Seller Zone,” an ecommerce education center and support facility that 11street will set up locally. A sizable sum of the investment cash will go into developing this area.

Those who register before April 2015 will also receive other benefits such as no store fees, a 50 percent discount on transaction fees, promotional credits, and product listing coupons.

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