Like the fictional Aladdin and his magic lamp, new Malaysian start-up Aladdin Street is ready to light up the e-commerce world with halal products and to give giants in this field, Amazon and Alibaba, a run for their money.
The new venture’s co-founder Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, the first Malaysian commercial astronaut, said the e-commerce marketplace would serve as a hub for premium halal and Shariah-compliant products and services for the domestic Malaysian market.
Aladdin Street, a halal e-commerce marketplace.
Aladdin Street that brands on its website as “the world’s first exclusive halal premium e-marketplace” is owned by Malaysian e-commerce company, Aladdin Group.
An initial investment of US$5 million was spent to set up the company headquarters in Kuala Lumpur and the domestic site. An international e-platform catering to global markets will be launched in the second quarter of this year.
Aladdin Street will select merchants, which are halal certified by the Islamic Development Department of Malaysia (Jakim) and who comply with the shariah guidelines, to market products on its site. These will include pharmaceutical, fashion, cosmetics and beauty, food and beverage.
Dr Sheikh Muszaphar said the company has plans to invest about US100 million over the next three years to expand its operations and marketing to over 30 countries worldwide including Indonesia, India, China, the Middle East, and parts of Europe.
Within the same time frame the e-commerce platform targets to have 1.500 merchants with 30,000 products online. It aims to grow into a giant in the halal e-commerce market to compete with companies like Amazon and Alibaba.
The global markets eyed by Aladdin Street.
Dr Sheikh Muszaphar said Aladdin Street was set up to meet the growing global demand for halal products and to provide a platform for consumers looking to purchase them.
More importantly the start-up would “represent an opportunity for young entrepreneurs to gain halal certification and immediately gain access to 30 markets globally,” he added.
A check on Aladdin Street website shows it has yet to start operations, as it does not have any information or product listing except for a “Register Now” button.
Aladdin Street is the second company in Malaysia to market halal products specifically for the Muslim market. The other is Rayani Air, the country’s first shariah-compliant airline that had its maiden flight on December 20, 2015 from budget terminal klia2 to Langkawi. It also flies to Kota Baru (Kelantan), Kuching (Sarawak), and Kota Kinabalu (Sabah), with plans soon to launch international routes.
• Images credit: Aladdin Street
