1.

Introduction
In December 2019, a cluster of pneumonia illnesses was reported in the city of Wuhan,
China. Some of the first cases mentioned visiting or working at Wuhan's seafood and animal
markets. According to the investigation, the condition was discovered to be caused by a newly
discovered coronavirus. The disease was subsequently named Covid 19 and it rapidly spread
throughout China and the rest of the world. On 30 January 2020, World Health Organization
(WHO) declared the outbreak of public health emergency of international concern. Covid 19
pandemic has caused devastating economic and social disruption throughout the world from
the school closure to devastated industries and millions of jobs lost in the years 2020 and 2021.
In the economic aspect, Covid 19 pandemic has transformed businesses into a new form
and become a huge challenge for many organizations from small and medium businesses to
top business organizations. Despite all the challenges, this pandemic also offered some
opportunities and impact to such business organizations for them to going forward.
During the Covid 19 pandemic and after the movement control order (MCO) was
activated, many business organizations namely small and medium-sized enterprise (SME), as
well as bigger stores, started to embark on the online platform and social media to sustain their
business operation. The role of social media in business marketing is undeniable. Social media
can be defined as an internet-based type of communication that allows people to interact, share
information, and generate content for websites. Media sharing networks such as Instagram and
Snapchat, social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, photo sharing sites, podcasts,
discussion forums and many more are all examples of social media. Social media become a
cornerstone of digital marketing and branding strategy for business owners that provides a wide
range of advantages including a part of the convenient buying process, referral system from
friends and family and also can create the brand’s awareness.
2. Analysis of the Topics
One example of social media regarding business is Shopee Website, a Singapore based
e-commerce company that provides a platform for the easy and fast yet secure online shopping
experience. According to a Tech in Asia official website report, Shopee's gross merchandise
volume (GMV) in Malaysia has increased by 19% in 2020, showing a significant increase over
the previous quarter.

Figure 2.1: Shopee’s Quarterly Gross Merchandise Volume 2016-2020

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 In the e-commerce market, the ecosystem can be defined as a network of organizations
that interrelate all the interacting parts to provide a product or service. Shopee is an online
platform provider that provides data processing, connecting and communicating with sellers,
logistics and transportation companies as well as the customer in such a platform. There are
five main ecosystem players in Shopee namely customers, sellers, competitors, logistic
companies, and payment service providers. Shopee allows logistic companies to work with
suppliers and sellers to do business on its platform.

The reason behind the successful growth of Shopee and became a leading e-commerce
platform in Southeast Asia because it had entered the market differently. Shopee going toward
the social seller as opposed to the bigger brands and moving towards mobile channel which is
handphone.

As mentioned above, the increasing Shopee’s GMV in 2020 significantly shows that
Shopee has given a positive impact on both small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) as well
as larger business stores during the Covid 29 pandemic. As reported by J.P.Morgan’s official
website, Malaysia had growth in its e-commerce experience in 2020 after Covid 19 pandemic
and is projected to continue growing until 2023.

Figure 2.2:2020 E-Commerce Payment Trend Report in Malaysia

According to a statistic from the Statista website, among the top item purchased online
buy Malaysian including electronic appliances, fashion, toys, hobbies and DIY, beauty, health,
personal and household care, furniture, media, food and beverages. Figure 2.3 below shows
the statistic of the item purchased online by Malaysians.

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 Figure 2.3: Top E-Commerce Category in Malaysia 2020
3. Discussion
Covid 19 pandemic has changed our lives in many ways including the way we shop.
That is why e-commerce has thrived amid this pandemic. When MCO was activated, SME that
do not incorporate an online platform business has been affected and gradually collapsed. It is
because the customer movement was restricted that cause the demand for purchases was
decreased. With the embarkation of an online platform such as Shopee, SME seem to become
survivors of Covid 19 economic effects.
According to a report in December 2021 in the News Straits Times, many Malaysian
vendors have been able to accelerate their e-commerce business with Shopee, achieving over
RM 1 million in sales in their first year on the website. In an interview with Liow Chee Kah,
who runs the Woohuu Store on the Shopee platform with her wife, he stated that he had
achieved RM 1 million in sales within 7 months of joining the Shopee.
Shopee is constantly putting an effort to encourage small businesses to become Shopee
marketplace vendors by developing new tools and features to boost their exposure on the
platform. Shopee also introduces the Seller Education Hub, which provides a variety of courses
and skills to help sellers improve their online skills and knowledge.
Among the factors that affect the e-commerce boom during Covid 19 is due to the MCO
activation and forcing people to stay at home and people want to maintain the social distancing
to avoid the spread of Covid 19. Besides that, online shopping increase convenience because
the customers do not have to go outside to search for the item instead find a store on the online
platform, select the item, and make the payment through electronic payment.
Ethics in online business is another important aspect that cannot be neglected. Among
the ethical issue in the online business is the integrity of the seller during the advertisement of

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their product in the online marketing. There are some cases reported that the seller had
conducted the misleading advertisement and customers end up purchasing the wrong product.
Another ethical issue concerned with online shopping is the integrity of the customer
in giving the review and comment in the review section. Most customers will read the
comments and review section before making a purchase. If the previous customer did a bad
review in the comment section, it would affect the new customer’s perception and thus affect
the seller’s business.
Besides that, others ethical issues regarding online shopping are the security and safety
of the customer’s credential account. With the advancement of technology, the threat to online
accounts is also increasing. There are some cases reported that the credit card and debit card of
customers has been hacked.
4. Conclusion and Recommendation
Based on the analysis and discussion above, it is obvious that social media based online
shopping platforms such as Shopee had contributed to the growth of SME businesses during
the Covid 19 pandemic. Most Malaysians are started to shop online, and the numbers are
gradually increasing due to its convenience. To enhance the online shopping experience, all
stakeholders need to play their respective roles and functions. The seller needs to be more
specifically advertise their product and on the other hand, the customer needs to be more
vigilant during online shopping. The online shopping platform provider also needs to play their
role in giving the best feature and keep updating their online websites from being hacked by a
third party.
5. References
1. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Weekly Epidemiological Update and Weekly
Operational Update. Retrieved from https://www.who.int.

2. Hatayama, Maho; Li, Yiruo; Osborne, Theresa. 2021. Understanding and Predicting
Job Losses Due to COVID-19: Empirical Evidence from Middle Income Countries. Jobs
Working Paper; No. 65. World Bank, Washington, DC.

3. Aichner, T., Grünfelder, M., Maurer, O., & Jegeni, D. (2021). Twenty-Five Years of
Social Media: A Review of Social Media Applications and Definitions from 1994 to
2019. Cyberpsychology, behaviour and social networking, 24(4), 215–222.

4. L.Rebecca. (2021, June 3). How Shopee is Helping These Businesses Scale in Southeast
Asia Competitive Online Space. Retrieved from https://www.techinasia.com.
5. J.P. Morgan 2020 E-commerce Payments Trends Report. Retrieved from
https://www.jpmorgan.com.

6. Shopee Malaysia Sales & Growth in 2021 (infographics). Retrieved from

https://www.yellowbees.com.my.

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7. BOTS Team. (2021, Dec 7). Tech: E-Commerce Growing, Seller Thriving on Shopee.
News Straits Times. Retrieved from https://www.nst.com.my.

8. A.D.Miyazaki, F.Ana. (2005, March 3). Consumer Perception of Privacy and Security
Risk for Online Shopping.