Earning an extra buck by monetizing your passion is always a great idea especially when inflation is hitting the roof. It’s always encouraging when you get to meet with customers and witness them adoring your creations. From handmade jewellery to handmade cookies, here, we share about 5 best ways to sell handmade products in Malaysia (online & offline).

The market for handmade products in Malaysia has been growing. Handmade products business having been sprouting like mushrooms after rain. From beautiful handmade jewellery, embroidery accessories, bags, tailor-made dresses, homemade cookies to handcrafted soap, Malaysia handmade market has never been so bustling.

Starting a new venture, especially from scratch, is always a daunting uphill task. Here, we share about 5 ways to sell handmade crafts in Malaysia (online and offline).

With just a click, you can reach out to millions of potential ready customers through e-commerce platforms.

Shopee and Lazada have always been the top choices for Malaysia online shoppers. They are reliable and credible, offering monthly promotions and campaigns where sellers can opt in to participate. Additionally, there are a series of educational videos and programmes for newbie sellers to learn the ropes of selling on e-commerce platforms. Seller account is rather easy to set up. Listing your products up is a breeze. These e-commerce platforms coupled with insightful statistics data provide a convenient way to manage your sales.

Pinkoi is another wonderful place for crafters to sell handmade products to international market. This e-commerce platform has been around since 2011. They are remarkably popular in Taiwan, Hong Kong, United States, Japan and Thailand. As their main focus is niche market of unique design products by artisans and crafters, it helps to narrow down your target audience.

While this is the easiest way to kick start your business, it does not guarantee any sales. Your product listing might not show up on the screen of potential customers due to competition with millions of product listing. Paid ads within the platform will bump your listing up to prominent position, but the fee will further shrinking your profit margin.

According to a research by Digital Business Lab, 89% of Malaysian uses social media. Having a social media profile is almost a must to build branding awareness. Facebook and Instagram are the most popular social media platforms in Malaysia. Create your business page, upload photos of your products and invite friends to like your page. There are some Facebook groups dedicated to help home-based small business to spread the words. Some even do it for free to help sellers to promote their business.

Building an e-commerce website from scratch has never been easier. Shopify and Shopmatic have a whole panoply of website templates with e-commerce features embedded for you to choose from. Create your own website not only enhance your branding, it also give you full control over the website design, managing sales and customer experience. This convenience comes with a price as transactional fees. You have to pay a percentage for each sales you make.

Setting up a physical store involves huge amount of investment. This might be out of the way for handmade small businesses. Nonetheless, you still can connect with your customers in person through crafter markets, flea markets and festival pop up booth in shopping malls. It’s very fulfilling to witness how your handmade products are received by customers. What’s more, you get a chance to network with fellow crafters too. You might even get unexpected business opportunities or collaborations presented to you.

Crafter markets such as Pingmin Market which organise such markets at different places such as KL, Penang and Ipoh, Hin Market at Hin Bus Depot in Penang are lovely places for crafters to try out. 

Last but not least, your handmade products can be placed on consignment with local boutiques or even departmental stores. Placing your handmade products on consignment means that you will pay a percentage of the sales price as commission to the stores, in return for using their space to showcase and their resources to process your products sales transactions.