ONLINE trading has helped save businesses at the Pekan Rabu historic bazaar in Alor Setar, Kedah, said traders.

They told The Malaysian Insight that their businesses had been facing uncertainty since the first movement-control order (MCO) in March last year.

Those in the small and medium enterprises said their products are heavily dependent on the tourism industry, which was severely affected when inter-state travel was banned.

Mohd Hafiz Mohd Supri said all that changed since they shifted their businesses online, with the 27-year-old saying sales has been good for his traditional snack business.

“In the past, when we bought goods, we would discard the boxes because they are no longer used.

“But now we have to buy boxes for the business because we need it when posting goods to our customers,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Online sales also enabled his traditional snack business to survive despite the slowdown in many other sectors of the economy.

Hafiz, who started managing the family business two years ago, handles all the collection of online sales revenue and even physical sales at the premises.

They enjoy good sales during the school holidays and festivals, and it’s the same during the most recent MCO.

“During MCO, online sales are high, but our store sales are low.

“But, when the MCO ended, we won’t get much online sales because the store sales will start picking up.”

Due to the high number of bookings at his online store on Shopee, he had to close for a week during the Hari Raya celebrations last year.

“Clearly, this is because the store is not able to accommodate the sudden surge of orders from customers during the festive period.

“The booking increased because during the festive period when inter-state travel was not allowed.

“In a day we received up to 300 to 400 orders, until we could not manage. One pack of A4 paper a day was used to print customer orders.

“Four days before Raya, we closed our online store.”

Hafiz, however, said there were risks doing business online as there are irresponsible parties around using his “brand name” for their low-quality products.

“Some irresponsible parties are selling goods using pictures from my online shop account.

“The pictures were then used to sell low-quality products and it tarnished the image of my business.

“Many people also take pictures from our products and use it. They take them from our online stores.”

They then received complaints from customers who said the products are not the same.

“Our regular customers know the quality of our goods. We have been doing business for a long time and we don’t want our image to be tarnished.”

Statistics from Shopee Malaysia show that e-commerce shopping habits have increased.

Its data last year show users of the app spending 20% more on the platform per week, thus reflecting the increasing reliance on e-commerce.

Increased online trading

Another Pekan Rabu trader, Zaini Altahari, 52, also said the online platform helped his cookies business survive throughout the MCO period.

“During MCO, movement was restricted. Most of our buyers are tourists and very few locals.

“We have been managing a Shopee store since mid-2020 with my brother and we sell various types of products, including traditional snacks.

“We promote the products by including them in Shopee and Lazada.”

Zaini said he does sales and promotions while his brother is in the packaging department.

However, he said product quality and buyer satisfaction remained their utmost priority.

The Malaysian Insight also found that traders from traditional markets, such as Pasar Payang in Terengganu, and Pasar Siti Khadijah in Kelantan, have also shifted to use online platforms.

Traditional foods, such as meatballs, fish crackers and various accessories, are also widely sold in online stores.

The Domestic Trade, and Consumer Affairs Ministry said online trading activity recorded an increase of 28.9% in April last year, when the country began enforcing MCO in March.

Meanwhile, data from the Malaysian Companies Commission show that more than 30,000 companies shuttered during the MCO period.

Another 22,794 companies and businesses ceased operations during the conditional MCO between June 10 and September 2020. – February 23, 2021.