Textile merchants badly hit by MCO
KOTA KINABALU: Textile merchants have been badly hit by the Movement Control Order (MCO) as they could not open for business during the Hari Raya season.
Wah Yoon Trading Sdn Bhd managing director Michael Pan Lee Chan said the sales made during the Raya season made up a large chunk of the annual revenue for textile retailers.
“Eighty percent of our clientele are Malays.
“And the Raya sales constitute 60 to 70 percent of our total revenue in a year.
“The revenue we earned during Hari Raya was supposed to carry on the business over the next few months when sales are slow,” he said.
According to Pan, who is also the secretary of Malaysia-China Chamber of Commerce (MCCC) Sabah branch, Hari Raya was the busiest period for textile merchants.
“There are not many sales during Christmas time; earnings improved during the Chinese New Year.”
Wah Yoon Trading Sdn Bhd operates three outlets in the state capital, which are in Segama, Putatan and Alamesra.
The outlets offer various types of textiles, ranging from fabrics for uniform, sofa, curtain, Malay apparel, floral print, fashion, tablecloth and trousers.
The company employs more than 60 workers, who are still being paid full salary during the MCO period.
In recent years, Pan said the company focused more on curtain fabrics, including the provision of measurement and installation services, as less customers have their outfits tailor made.
Since the end of last year, Pan said he had begun to import fabrics in preparation for Raya sales and had planned to launch sales promotion leading up to the festivities.
He said textile retailers had to plan up to three months in advance as customers usually started to purchase fabrics to make new curtains or apparel one to two months before Hari Raya.
“We had expected business to spike in April.
“But since the MCO was enforced on March 18, we have not been able to open for business.
“We had recorded zero sales for the month of April.”
He estimated that this year’s revenue would drop up to 70 percent compared to the year before.
Pan said textile retailers could perhaps pick up a bit of sales if the State Government allowed this sector to reopen after phase four of the MCO, which ends on May 12, though he was also concerned about crowd control.
However, he said people celebrating Hari Raya might forgo redecorating their homes this year as the government has banned social activities including open houses due to the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
On the other hand, Pan said the MCO made him realized the need to change his business model to include online marketing.
“We would look into developing our own website where customers could purchase their fabrics online, provide the measurements and we deliver the end product to them.
“For local customers in Kota Kinabalu, we could perhaps provide installation service for curtains.
“We can no longer rely on the traditional approach in doing business. We need to change.”
He said the government had warned that Covid-19 would be around for the next two years and taking the business online was a way to ensure the company could still operate if the MCO was enforced in the future.