Homegrown e-commerce platform PGMall aims to compete with the big boys with its long-term growth strategy.
Being part of the booming e-commerce industry, PGMall is the fastest growing e-commerce platform in Malaysia.
However, this entirely homegrown operation has quickly established itself as one of Malaysia’s leading marketplaces and has big plans for expansion.
We sat down with Jerry Ng, the chief operating officer of PGMall as he outlines his vision.
Smart Investor: You studied physics for your degree and scientific computing for your Master’s, both in the UK. How did you find the transition from such contrasting industries to e-commerce?
Jerry Ng: Yes, I had a passion for physics and computing while I was pursuing my studies. After completing my studies, I secured a job in the UK as a software developer. This was definitely an extension of my passion in computing and I really enjoyed the experience.
And to be honest, I found that this transition over to e-commerce was not that big a jump. This is because whatever you need to do in the e-commerce industry, you need that technological understanding. This includes the operational side on the backend, as well as how to scale a marketplace platform from small volume of consumers, sellers and transactions to a much higher volume.
For me, my experience working as a software developer meant that I gained valuable technical knowledge while working on similar websites and companies. I believe this knowledge will help me guide PGMall in the coming years to the next level as we aim to transform into a highly scalable and cross-national entity.
SI: When talking about e-commerce, there are many other companies in the market. So what sets PGMall apart from these other marketplaces in Malaysia?
JN: The biggest thing that sets us apart is that PGMall is a fully, locally owned and operated company in contrast with the other two companies which have ties to China and Singapore. We are very proud to say that right now we are the number one local e-commerce player in Malaysia.
All things considered, we are doing well against our competitors considering that we are the third largest platform in Malaysia. We are delighted that we have managed to achieve significant growth over the past few years, alongside the explosive growth of the e-commerce market. We are also confident about our business model as our customer base is stickier than that of other platforms. This is because we reward our customers based on their behaviour; anytime they buy or spend on our platform, we will reward them accordingly.
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