PETALING JAYA: Hong Kong-based delivery service provider Lalamove will continue to focus on supporting small and medium enterprises' (SMEs) businessess in Malaysia.
Chief operating officer Paul Loo said with its database comprising 80 to 90 per cent of SMEs, Lalamove continued to see the importance of that business segment to continue to recover and grow.
"In Malaysia, we have two million users, 38,000 business partners and 350,000 delivery partners to offer the best service to customers, especially SMEs who have greatly contributed to the company's growth over the past two years.
"We see SMEs as a very important customer segment to Lalamove's core business segment in Malaysia. Therefore, we want to increase our delivery capabilities to support SME businesses in Malaysia.
"Our platform is naturally very suitable for SMEs which are a large part of the economy. So we want to recover together with SMEs in Malaysia," he said in an interview here recently.
Lalamove, which started in Hong Kong in 2013, has more than 15 million users worldwide, in addition to being supported by more than 2.2 million delivery partners, doubling in the past two years
The company offers services in the Asian and Latin American markets involving more than 40 cities covering 11 different markets.
In China alone, Lalamove operates in over 350 cities.
In Malaysia, Lalamove operates in four cities - Penang, Klang Valley, Melaka and Johor - but offers delivery services throughout Peninsular Malaysia.
Lalamove has a complete range of delivery vehicles from small to large lorries, vans and pickup trucks.
Commenting on the competition in the Malaysian market, Loo said Lalamove did not see the diversity of delivery companies operating in the country as an obstacle to the company's growth as it has a comprehensive delivery handling model to support customer needs.
He said the Malaysian market still offered a lot of potentials for Lalamove to continue to grow, with growth this year better after recording a significant jump in 2021 and flatlining last year.
"This year we saw relatively normal growth. There is still a lot of room for us to grow in the Malaysian market. As for Sabah and Sarawak, we have plans to operate there but the time period has not been decided yet," he said.
Asked about Lalamove's plans in Malaysia, he explained that the next six to 12 months was the period to help SMEs recover from the effects of the pandemic.
"I see the Malaysian market will recover in the short term. If the country's market recovery is strong, we want to remain among its contributors. Our focus is also on two things, which is to increase the coverage network in the Asian market including Malaysia and Latin America," he added.
