Mudah.my to fend off rivals with ‘one simple approach’: Page 2 of 2

The game plan

Although it claims market leadership in key verticals, and was launched all the way back in 2007, Gaurav (pic) says that Mudah.my is still in its “early days” and has plenty of room for growth.

One area he hopes to grow is its seller base. Today, it has over one million sellers on its portal. However, this is still far below its true potential, he believes.

“We see that the addressable market is about 10-12 million ... so we still have a lot of room for growth,” he says.

Mudah.my is also seeing strong growth in the rental segment, and is now in the midst of deciding on “how to manage the growth,” Gaurav says.

When asked if he meant ‘managing the growth’ as in ‘monetising the segment,’ he says, “I don't know if that’s the right way to put it.

“I think we first need to understand the growth and try to figure out what to do about it. What is important is, how do I get people to come back to our platform again,” he adds.

Democratising commerce

Getting more sellers seems a logical business target. After all, more sellers translates into more products for sale, more products on the shelves means buyers have a better chance of finding what they want – which also translates to a better experience.

But Gaurav sees Mudah.my playing a bigger role.

“Our goal, our purpose, our vision ... is to democratise commerce. Commerce usually happens when big brands and companies sell things to individuals.

“So what does democratising commerce mean? [It means] that there is no barrier stopping you as an individual from selling something. That you don’t have to rely on a big brand or company to give you something.

“Imagine you as an individual, entrepreneur or even as an SME (small and medium enterprise): You can sell anything you want to sell.

“That’s what we are trying to do. We are trying to reverse the flow of commerce to a certain extent,” he declares.

When asked if Mudah.my has successfully democratised commerce, Gaurav says, “No, not yet ... that’s why one of our aims is to grow our seller base significantly.”

Mobile-first mentality

As part of its goal to grow its seller base, as well as to be more relevant to its users, Mudah.my is also strengthening its mobile game plan.

It currently has a Mudah.my app for the Google Android platform, with plans to introduce an iOS version in the near future.

“We do not regard ourselves as an Internet company … we see ourselves as a mobile Internet company,” says Gaurav.

“In fact, the majority of our users haven’t been coming via the Web for quite some time now.

“For the last one year, we have been predominantly focused on mobile ... but for the past six months, we have been only focusing on mobile,” he adds.

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