This new homegrown e-commerce platform is determined to build a holistic ecosystem

A new player, Vettons Sdn Bhd has entered the e-commerce scene in Malaysia. The tech company officially launched its platform last week and is positioning itself as a retail and e-commerce brand that is revolutionising the landscape by providing a highly personalised shopping experience. 

The fully Malaysian company is also on a mission to support local initiatives while providing gainful employment and was recently recognised in the Asia-Pacific CIO Outlook magazine of Silicon Valley, USA as the region’s e-commerce company of the year.

These days, the constantly evolving customer expectations such as quality and delivery speed pave the path to successful personalisation. Gripping on this reality, Vettons has incorporated an AI shopping assistant called ‘Zoni’, that further amplifies the platform’s value of offering a smarter experience. 

Because the company aims to redefine the e-commerce landscape by taking into account the full eco-system of the retail industry; for Vettons, the term ‘smarter experience’ applies for both its users and its merchants. 

By incorporating several mart filters into its retail platform, Vettons enhances their consumers’ shopping experience by using these filters to limit the number of SKUs shown, reduce both the delivery time and cost by leveraging on its geo-location feature to identify the customer’s merchant options based on proximity and provides a precise order tracking once a purchase has been made.

As for its merchants, the company wants to nurture innovation within a new generation of entrepreneurs. An exclusive Vettons merchant app enables faster set up time and simplifies the selling process; allowing retailers to go online and start selling in under 10 minutes. 

According to Vettons Head of Technology, Stanley Yong, the journey leading up to the platform launch started when the company’s co-founder wanted to get into e-commerce after being inspired by big players such as Amazon and Alibaba. However, as he started looking into the industry, he noticed a gap that he believed could be closed by optimising the whole ecosystem instead of focusing solely on the ‘selling’ aspect. 

“I wanted to create an ecosystem that features technology to enable a seamless experience whilst tackling the issues of questionable merchants and counterfeit products,” Stanley said. “By streamlining the retail supply chain all whilst creating an omni-channel approach that blurs the boundaries between offline and online commerce, we enable technology to drive value into an ecosystem which spans beyond just retail.”

The company’s commitment to building a comprehensive ecosystem was recognised by the Malaysian government who have endorsed Vettons as the sole marketplace provider for its rural economy digitalisation initiative. 

Stanley also pointed out that e-commerce in Southeast Asia has been undeniably growing at a fast pace. 

“After 25 years, it’s time for a disruption, and to move on to the next phase of ‘New Retail’, as we’ve seen in our counterparts in China and the US,” he said. “The retail industry, be it traditional and online-retail, is already validated; it is time to create a holistic ecosystem for the industry to thrive further.”

When asked about the company’s outlook for the next two years, Stanley said once Vettons sets a “New Retail” foothold in Malaysia, they will strategically expand outside, to Indonesia and Thailand to start with. 

“Our business model is scalable, and in-house technology is absolutely transferable beyond borders,” Stanley added.