For Vettons’ Head of Corporate Abdullah Sani (pic above), innovation is more than just a word.
“It’s the heart of everything that we do at Vettons,” he said, adding that innovation transcends culture and approach to take on a brand new meaning of driving success for both Vettons and Malaysia.
“At Vettons, we pride ourselves on our innovative approach to doing things,” he explained, adding that “innovation is more than just invention”.
For Sani and Vettons, innovation is the intersection between invention and insights to create the process of converting an idea, business improvement, invention or scientific discovery into commercially or publicly successful products and services, processes or systems that improve the way things are done.
“We are seeing this transition happening not just with large enterprises and government, but also Malaysian SMEs and the inevitable rise and rise of eCommerce done correctly,” said Sani.
“We’re living in a world of exponential change and constant disruptions. More so now than ever, growth is synonymous with innovation. Done right, businesses can turn new technologies into a powerful force for transforming and redefining their own future.”
In this light, Vettons has already begun building a ‘new retail’ e-marketplace which offers goods and services directly from the production process to the end-consumer.
“This is a platform which entrepreneurs are able to leverage on to bring authentic products to Malaysia and the region,” said Sani, adding that it would particularly benefit rural entrepreneurs who have yet to introduce their unique set of products in a commercial way.
“We do this by developing a service that challenges the market with product quality, faster delivery times, a better return policy, our consumer centric focus, and developing new and technology-driven offerings,” he said.
The e-marketplace, which incorporates Vettons’ artifical intelligence (AI) virtual shopping assistant called ‘Zoni’, is all about creating convenience and lifestyle experiences.
“This is where Vettons as a technology group comes in: We are in the business of offering new shopping experiences, combining the best of online and offline commerce,” said Sani.
Vettons is a fully-owned Malaysian technology group with core products and platform revolves around AI, augmented reality, machine and deep learning capabilities among other new technology solutions and offerings.
“We aspire to revolutionise the retail and e-commerce ecosystem while providing users with highly customised experience and convenience of the future, today,” he added.
Vettons’ commitment to rural entrepreneurs
Besides Vettons’ ‘new retail’ e-Marketplace, the company is also currently busy onboarding merchants throughout Malaysia.
Toward this end, Vettons is today a strategic partner of Malaysia’s Desa Pintar initiative aimed at encouraging digital entrepreneurship within Malaysia’s rural areas.
Besides Vettons, the initiative is also supported by leading industry players such as Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM), Axiata Digital Ecode Sdn Bhd (Boost), Celcom, Maxis, Samsung Malaysia Electronics Sdn Bhd, AWS Malaysia, EBdesk Malaysia Sdn Bhd and Integriti Padu Sdn Bhd.
This initiative aims covers the provisions of high-speed Internet access, reskilling and upskilling training, entrepreneurship development programme, interactive engagements, e-marketplace application usage and digital marketing. It focuses on six core areas which are infrastructure, economy, entrepreneurship, human capital, women and delivery system.
Desa Pintar is on the track to grow the rural digital economy as proven with other developed countries initiative such as Taobao Village in China, said Sani.
Given Vettons’ approach and its philosophy of “living and breathing innovation”, it looks like Vettons would indeed be a force to be reckoned with in the “new retail” e-marketplace within the foreseeable future.
And this can only be good for Malaysia and the region, including rural entrepreneurs who are now able to leverage on a platform and be part of the growing Digital Economy.
