Photo via Pinterest
With the vast majority of the pasar malams operating in Kuala Lumpur being unable to reopen in the near future, small business owners have had to take a different approach to keep their home businesses afloat.
While many Malaysian small business owners already use Twitter to connect with customers and sell their products, a virtual pasar malam is something we never would have imagined.
How do these “pasar malams” work?
People on Twitter - most often small business owners and other pasar malam participants - post a Tweet on Twitter asking for participation in their Twitter “thread pasar malam”.
Aspeople see the Tweet, they Like and Retweet it, helping other small business owners find the Tweet, bringing together all of the different parts of a pasar malam.
Other pasar malam participants Reply to the Tweet with their own information about what they sell.
People who are missing pasar malams can scroll through the Tweet, Replies, and Retweets, and can find the goods that they are looking for.
As people continue to engage with the Tweet, more people see the pasar malams, join in, or even start up new treads to help publicise more of their favorite vendors.
In some instances, we see small business owners exchanging encouragement and supportive Tweets with other pasar malam participants, since they know that business may be tough during this time.
At the end of the day, pasar malam vendors are able to sell their wares, even if they may be unable to open their physical storefront, and pasar malam patrons are able to purchase the goods they need to observe Ramadan how they’d like to.
We know it’s not the same as the real deal, but if this sounds interesting to you and you’d like to reach out to more customers, all you need to do is search “pasar malam thread” on Twitter, and you’ll definitely be able to find people to take it from there.
Happy shopping!
by Kyle Roshen Jacob
