DESIGNation the virtual platform for local Malaysian designers

Think Zalora, ebay, Amazon or Lazada and the first thing that comes to mind is the wonders of e-commerce (online shopping) where purchasing of goods are accessible at the click of a finger.

The e-commerce industry in Malaysia is arguably a thriving scene and slowly garnering nods of approval from the government.

Under the Wholesale and Retail National Key Economic Area (NKEA), the e-commerce industry expects to contribute an approximate RM156bil to the country's Gross National Income (GNI) and create over 450,000 vacancies in preparing the country to be a developed nation by 2020.

E-commerce is the focal point for the development of virtual mall that has, in recent years took the nation by storm.

According to founder and curator of DESIGNation, Michelle Alice Tan, virtual mall is an interesting Entry Point Project (EPP) undertaken by the government under the wholesale and retail NKEA.

For the uninitiated, DESIGNation is a retail website dedicated to promote Malaysian independent designers with products across all discipline of designs including furniture, interior and fashion.

“Virtual malls are interesting and it is great that the government is paying a lot of attention to the e-commerce scene,” said Tan.

The idea of virtual mall

Commendable efforts as such, said the former Design Thinker In-Residence of Genovasi (Malaysia’s own ‘innovation school) where she used to coach, however reflects on one thing: quantity vs quality. “There has to be some sort of emphasis in the quality of products that we’re showcasing, said Tan, adding that while business owners reinforce their respective brands, strong emphasis should be placed on creating a user-friendly experience for shoppers. “Users need to feel at peace when they are doing their online purchasing,” she added.

Despite the growing market or demand for designer products from the United States, United Kingdom and Singapore, local designer products pale in comparison and slowly gaining momentum here in Malaysia as "there's no platform to showcase the collective local designer products.”

DESIGNation

Tan, who is the winner of ‘Favourite Invention’ Award and sole Malaysian Representative of 2011ASEAN Youth Inventors Expo said most local designers are faced with multiple challenges in selling their products.

“They don’t have a proper platform to sell and execute their ideas. They also don’t know how to test the market demand,” said Tan.

“Getting the designers is not the hard part because they all have the need and they all give feedback that they want this sort of platform to happen for them but the main challenge that I’m facing is actually making local designers’ products accessible for Malaysians to buy and for them to be more open to the products,” she added.

Tan aspires to steer DESIGNation to become a catalyst in encouraging business owners to be more affluent of the tricks of the trades.

She who has served in the Prime Minister’s office before this shares her wishlist for the upcoming National Budget 2015 in the video below,

Budget 2015 Wishlist