RAMADAN bazaars this year offer a new experience for both traders and consumers due to the changes enforced by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Following the suspension of the bazaars last year at the height of the pandemic, the fasting month eateries started operating this year with new health protocols in place.

This meant strict temperature checks, fewer stalls and a reduced number of people – all meant to curb the spread of the virus in a crowded place – which inevitably mean a drop sales and income for the traders.

There was, however, a bright side to the situation as traders were now moving towards cashless transactions and e-wallets to reduce human contact, further limiting the chances of infection.

To help vendors conduct businesses safely, Shopee Malaysia introduced its integrated mobile wallet, ShopeePay – a cashless payment method that offers users easy access to digital payment services and cashback – at selected Ramadan and Aidilfitri bazaars.

Alain Yee, head of ShopeePay Malaysia, told The Malaysian Insight the response has been encouraging, especially among the traders.

“Many of them are interested in adopting an e-wallet, but did not know how to go about it,” he said.

“The ShopeePay team has been on the ground providing one-on-one guidance to show these merchants how our e-wallet works and the special cashback voucher programme we are providing to them at no cost.”

Yee said the ShopeePay mobile wallet can be found at the Ramadan bazaars in Bandar Sri Permaisuri, Cheras and Presint 3, Putrajaya as well as the Aidilfitri bazaar in Lorong Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Kuala Lumpur.

He said in a short two weeks, close to 300 merchants from these bazaars have already adopted ShopeePay, with more to come.

Shopee is also offering a 0% merchant discount rate (MDR) for bazaar traders.

“What this means is that traders using our mobile wallet take home 100% of what they make from transactions using our mobile wallet,” Yee said.

“It is as good as collecting cash and your transactions are all digitally recorded – which makes bookkeeping a lot easier.”

ShopeePay is also having a campaign where it is offering bazaar vouchers a RM4 cashback for a minimum spend of RM8 daily, which can be bought in the “Deals Near Me” function on the Shopee app for 5 sen.

Deals Near Me is an online-to-offline (O2O) feature that uses location-based services to help users discover ShopeePay vouchers by merchants including cafes, restaurants, services, and now bazaars.

This means that Shopee users who are working, walking by, or even driving close to the bazaars will be shown the attractive cashback deals available at the bazaars.

“Users can then purchase these ShopeePay Bazaar vouchers on the Shopee app, and redeem them immediately at participating stores to enjoy the RM4 cashback when they pay with ShopeePay.

“This will translate further into sales for the bazaar traders and savings for Shopee users.

“At the same time, users can also get RM3 cashback for a minimum spend of RM15 daily by using our mobile wallet,” he said.

Drop in sales

However, several Ramadan bazaar traders said they have seen a drop in sales and visitors this year after not being able to participate in the bazaar last year due to the pandemic.

A seller who only wished to be known as Awan said his sales were not the same as in previous years.

Awan, who has been participating in Ramadan bazaars for the past 21 years said this year’s bazaar experience was new to him as traders and visitors were bound by strict standard operating procedure (SOP).

This year’s bazaars have seen the number of customers drop by half with a queue system set up at each location.

“This new norm has to some extent affected the number of visitors to the bazaars because customers prefer to go to places that are easy and quick to buy at where there are no long queues,” said the 31-year-old who sells a variety of dishes at a bazaar in Subang Jaya as well as one in Puchong.

He, however, was grateful when the government announced that Ramadan bazaars would be allowed to operate.

“For those of us who are street food traders, this month allows us to earn more than all the other months due to the attractions from visitors and the atmosphere of the bazaars,” he said.

Nizar Mohd Nasir, 30, a trader who sells Salmon Assam Laksa and satay at the Prima Saujana bazaar in Kajang said his experience as a Ramadan bazaar trader this year has been disappointing.

“At first, we felt relieved because we thought that the bazaar will be able to generate a lot of income for us as a family to compensate for the losses we suffered since the pandemic started but it was not as we expected,” said Nizar who owns a tourism company that has not been able to operate due to the pandemic.

“Our sales are alright, but it’s nowhere near our target at all. In that sense, the experience has been disappointing,” he said.

He added that most traders also have an online presence for customers to order and get it delivered without having to queue at the bazaar.

“Though one would expect that with the new SOP, where the number of vendors is reduced, there would be less competition to sell our products or food. At the same time, even with a full crowd, it’s not as big as the Ramadan bazaar crowd that we knew before,” he said echoing the same concerns as Awan.

“They also limit the number of customers in the bazaar area at a time, which is good for social distancing, but also creates a long line,” he said.

“All that said, neither Covid-19 nor the SOP can take the fun out of the Ramadan bazaar experience. The loud noises from vendors promoting their stuff and asking people to ‘singgah’, the banter, the camaraderie between the vendors and with the organisers, the customers bustling around excitedly looking for food,” he said.

Bibi Azuriana, 31, from Subang Jaya who sells Geprek chicken at a bazaar in Subang told The Malaysian Insight that, in terms of SOP, more people should be let into the bazaars as they are held in open spaces.

“We are living in a world where everyone is rushing against time and we don’t like to wait in line for almost an hour.

“I can see the line is too long at the USJ 4 bazaar, especially when they have to queue from one end of the street to the other just to check-in, only to walk all the way up again, which some people can’t handle and, so, they would exit the bazaar halfway,” she said.

She added that visitors have complained about the lack of choice at the bazaar and not returned.

While her bazaar experience hasn’t changed much this year, she noted that there weren’t as many people as there used to be due to long queues and the hot weather, which has also resulted in slow and stagnant sales. – April 27, 2021.