‘COURTS MALAYSIA A MULTI-SPECIALIST’
Company to ensure all touch points moving in right direction
COURTS Malaysia has always been sensitive to customers’ purchasing behaviour but in recent times, those efforts have been stepped up to include post purchases.
Which explains why it has taken on a “multi-specialist” profile when dealing with electrical, information technology and furniture products in its stores rather than be a generalist.
Dr Terence Donald O’Connor, the executive director and group chief executive officer of Courts Asia Ltd, the holding company for Courts (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Courts Malaysia and PT Courts Retail Indonesia, said e-commerce retail was set to take off in Malaysia.
“About two to three years ago, we started tracking at the store level and the call centre — trying to make sure all the touch points are moving in the right direction,” said O’Connor at the flagship store in Setapak recently.
While prices, range of products and services are important for retailers, he said experience and connectivity were just as important with digital economy.
“After-sales service is also added as an important portfolio. Those that add solutions would continue to grow while those selling just boxes will continue to struggle.”
By this, he said, warranty and immediate replacement products were also provided.
“Increasingly, we see retailers in the United Kingdom and United States adding excellent service callouts and maintenance work (in the case of air-conditioning units).”
Courts Asia is listed on the Singapore Exchange.
For Courts Malaysia, which started in Johor Baru 30 years ago with its first outlet, the focus is now Sabah and Sarawak, where opportunities abound to make the supply chain more affordable.
“As the landscape changes, we need to consider if there are better locations. At 70, we don’t need to have too many more in Malaysia.”
O’Connor sees less need for physical stores in the future as the company “reshapes to suit customers’ behaviour”.
Would that mean it would shift its focus to online orders and purchases?
“The e-commerce platform now forms only a small part of the local market at two per cent. If it grows to 10 per cent, maybe we will need 10 per cent fewer stores in the future… we have to be nimble and flexible and adjust accordingly.”
In terms of stock keeping units (SKUs), O’ Connor said the longterm aspiration was to have 50,000 SKUs online.