Can Gifting Become a New Growth Engine for Malaysia’s Local Businesses?

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, September 2026 — Malaysian digital gifting platform Ping Of Joy (POJ) is preparing to launch the next version of its platform, expanding its mission to make it easier for consumers and companies to turn everyday gifting into support for local businesses.

Ping Of Joy enables users to purchase digital gifts, known as “Pings”, from participating merchants and send them to friends, family members or colleagues.

With Ping Of Joy Version 2, the platform will move towards a self-managed marketplace model where approved merchants can create their own accounts, manage their presence, and control their own offers and campaigns.

Unlike conventional marketplace models that charge merchants a percentage of each sale, Ping Of Joy does not take a sales commission from merchant sales. The platform instead generates revenue through a checkout fee paid when a Ping is purchased.

The model is designed to give local merchants another sales and discovery channel while allowing them to retain the value of their listed products and services without a percentage-based POJ commission.

“For a small business, every sale matters,” said Angie Chin, Founder of Ping Of Joy. “We want to build a platform that can grow alongside local merchants without our growth depending on taking an increasing share of what they earn.”

BRINGING LOCAL BUSINESS INTO CORPORATE GIFTING

As part of its next phase, Ping Of Joy is also developing dedicated business accounts for companies to use the platform for employee appreciation, birthdays, work anniversaries, customer gestures, team recognition and business-partner gifting.

The expansion is intended to create a bridge between corporate gifting expenditure and Malaysia's local business ecosystem.

Companies frequently turn to inexpensive mass-produced or imported items when sourcing gifts in volume. Ping Of Joy wants to make locally sourced alternatives easier to discover and purchase, while giving participating merchants the opportunity to develop competitive offers specifically for corporate buyers.

“If a company is already allocating money for employee or customer appreciation, there is an opportunity for some of that spending to circulate through local businesses,” Chin said.