KUCHING: Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Open on Thursday (Nov 11) launched the app for dBazzar, a Sarawak-developed digital platform, in a glittering ceremony at Wisma Bapa here.
He also witnessed the signing of agreements by dBazzar Sdn Bhd, Sarawak Net Technology Sdn Bhd (S Pay Global) and SAINS during the same ceremony.
The dBazzar app uses Sarawak’s very own S Pay Global (formerly Sarawak Pay) and is developed with expertise from the Sarawak Information Systems Sdn Bhd (SAINS).
The app, which has been in trial for 10 months, was recently launched and has 23,000 registered users. It aims to compete with established giants such as Grab, Shopee, Mudah, Agoda and BonusLink by combining the best features and perks from those apps into an all-in-one platform.
The dBazzar app includes a Kampung-To-Kitchen emphasis, designed to help rural communities promote and bring their local village products to cities.
Presently, dBazzar has established extensive networks throughout Sarawak. The company already has offices in Miri, Bintulu, Sibu, Sarikei as well as Kapit.
Founder of dBazzar Kent Kho, in a statement on Thursday, said he hoped to use technology to uplift the lives of everyone and complement the state government’s efforts in developing Sarawak’s digital economy.
“With the Internet, physical distance is no longer an obstacle as the roadmap for dBazzar and S Pay Global includes expansion to peninsula Malaysia and Asean.
‘We want to go beyond Sarawak and beyond Malaysia, and ultimately, we want to be the pride of Sarawak.”
He explained that unlike any other platforms, dBazzar charged only a 10 percent fee for registered merchants in the food and beverage industries, and as low as 0.5 percent for merchants in other industries and services.
Kho said this was to ensure that merchants had a low markup to cover their costs.
This was also one of the benefits provided by dBazzar in addition to total digital transformation at a lower cost and access to their database as well as essential digital marketing tools.
“The app’s integrated Merchant, Consumer and Affiliates Eco Systems aim to reduce merchant fees, resulting in lower consumer prices.
“Its Consumer Ecosystem operates on the sharing economy principle, in which users are compensated for promoting merchant products and services to their friends and family via social media, all of which is accomplished through referral links on the dBazzar app,” he said.
Kho added that any individual or organisation could become a dBazzar business affiliate, saying that an affiliate was compensated by the company for recruiting merchants, consumers, and fellow affiliates.
He explained that there were various types of affiliates, with different income percentages; however, in exchange for operating the system and access to training and information, an affiliate must pay a subscription fee to dBazzar.
“Everyone has been talking about the gig economy since the rise of online delivery services, but the sharing economy principle developed by dBazzar is intended to disrupt the gig economy and bring more income opportunities to the next level.
“Other global e-commerce platforms charge close to 30 percent in transaction fees, forcing merchants to suffer or raise their selling prices to cover expenses.
“For dBazaar, our fee is only 10 percent for food operators,” he said.
