Businesses have to adapt to grow and Mybakingmart can attest to that.
The company started as an online store selling baking goods on Facebook in 2012, before expanding rapidly. Today, Mybakingmart has its own e-commerce website, a strong digital presence and a physical store in Nilai catering to B2C consumers.
But wholesale trade remains Mybakingmart’s main focus. We recently sat down with founder Maria to dive into how Mybakingmart navigated the difficult Covid-19 era to achieve its strongest market position to date.
Digital-first Mindset from the Beginning
Coming from a software engineering background, Maria relied on digital solutions and e-commerce from the get-go to expand Mybakingmart.
Mybakingmart is an online-first baking supply company that caters to both B2B and B2C.
From the beginning, Mybakingmart’s unique selling point has been to bring in new or difficult-to-source products into Malaysia and get them into the customers’ hands. Like many digital natives do, the company started selling on Facebook and Instagram to establish its online presence.
Not only did Mybakingmart introduce new products in Malaysia, but it also supplied to customers in Singapore and Indonesia. To meet this rising demand, the company slowly expanded over the years and built its own e-commerce website.
When the first MCO hit in March 2020, Mybakingmart faced common challenges that businesses struggled with at that time, like supply shortages and perishable inventory piling up.
Naturally, Mybakingmart turned to the digital landscape for solutions.
The company expanded its reach by joining marketplaces like Dropee, which helped to sell its perishable stocks faster. To combat the supply shortage due to logistical limitations, Mybakingmart utilised services like Grab and Lalamove to get stocks from Kuala Lumpur and Selangor delivered to its store in Nilai.
“It was very difficult at first. But after I sorted out my thoughts, what I should do, what I shouldn’t do, I said, ‘Okay, let’s try,’ because there are still ways to get things done even though it’s MCO.”
With a digital-first mindset, Mybakingmart was able to act fast and find creative workarounds to challenges in the pandemic.
Filling Gaps in Demand
To stand out in a saturated market, the key is not to do what everyone else is doing but to find untapped opportunities – and Mybakingmart quickly understood this. The company’s goal has always been to deliver quality products that its customers can’t get anywhere else.
There are many existing suppliers and traditional businesses that are renowned within the Malaysian market. We’re not trying to compete with them, but we are trying to complement them.
Maria recalled talking to colleagues and customers during the first MCO to find out what products they are having trouble sourcing. This way, she was able to identify what’s in demand and stock products that Mybakingmart customers really want to buy.
Mybakingmart also branched out into B2C to chase rising opportunities. During the lockdown, baking was hugely popular among consumers at home as preparing their own food was the easiest and safest option at the time. Mybakingmart saw an opportunity and capitalised on the new trend, doubling down its B2C efforts.
“Previously, 80% of our sales were B2B. We supplied to small bakeries, factories and home-bakers that were also selling but we reached the B2C market too during MCO.”
Tapping into New Markets with Dropee
One of the fastest ways to grow through e-commerce is by tapping into new markets. This was especially critical during the MCO as many companies lost existing market share. From businesses closing down to minimal traffic due to travel bans, finding a new market to penetrate into was the key to survival during Covid-19.
Mybakingmart had been looking to do just this when Maria discovered Dropee.
Dropee has been resilient through the MCO, which is why I wanted to see what the platform was all about as we needed to find new markets. You have a wider audience reach in B2B, so we couldn’t miss this channel.
Being a B2B-focused business, Mybakingmart had access to features on Dropee that allowed it to sell in bulk easily. With Dropee, Maria saw her business reaching customers in East Malaysia, which is a new territory for Mybakingmart. At the same time, fulfilling orders in these regions is a seamless process because Dropee takes care of the logistics for Mybakingmart.
“Usually, we need to sort our own logistics, which is tedious for us because we need to find which logistics solution can go to that place at a good rate. But with Dropee you don’t have to think about it.”
On top of responsiveness to queries, Maria also credits Dropee with assisting Mybakingmart to launch promotions.
“If you are a large operation, you have access to a lot of things to help you promote better – but not SMEs. To me, this is the best service as Dropee is able to help you manage marketing and promotions according to your budget.”
Staying Resilient in the Face of Challenges
Despite the difficulties of the pandemic, Mybakingmart is stronger than ever thanks to its determination to keep trying and improving.
“In business, there are ups and downs but it’s up to you on how you want to overcome that. Whether you do more marketing or look for other channels to distribute – there are many things that we can do, we just need to find the best tool or vehicle for it.”
Maria continues to attend online seminars and participate in sharing sessions to uncover new opportunities – much like how she discovered Dropee – to stay resilient towards challenges.
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