The rise and shine of Mr DIY
Tapping into numerous retail segment demand, local home improvement retailer MR. D.I.Y. Group (M) Bhd (Mr DIY) has been making its presence felt all over Malaysia, including Sarawak, as customers took to the local brand by storm since it began in July 2005. With its speedy growth exemplified by the many outlets, Mr DIY is also on set to list on Bursa Malaysia. BizHive talks to the local retailer on its corporate updates:
Local home improvement retailer MR. D.I.Y. Group ( M) Bhd ( Mr DIY) has been making its presence felt in Malaysia over the last few years, and it was no exception here in Sarawak, as customers here are often seen browsing or shopping at their retail outlets.
A home- grown enterprise, Mr DIY has more than 560 stores across Malaysia which offers products that cover major categories such as hardware, household and furnishing, electrical, stationery, sports equipment products and others.
Mr DIY has been dedicated to making a positive difference in the lives of its valued customers by offering convenience at all its stores nationwide. The retailer’s products can also be purchased online at www.mrdiy.com.my.
In an email interview with Mr DIY’s vice president of marketing Andy Chin, BizHive gathered that Mr DIY was first opened by its founder as a conventional hardware store in Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman in Kuala Lumpur in 2005.
“As at October 31, 2019, Mr DIY is the largest home improvement retailer in Malaysia with 566 stores in the country, offering a wide range of products – approximately 14,900 stock– keeping units ( SKUs) as at August 31, 2019 – across five major categories. These are namely hardware; household and furnishing; electrical; stationery and sports equipment products; and others ( comprising toys, car accessories, jewellery and cosmetics),” Chin said.
It was highlighted in Mr DIY’s Prospectus Exposure that for financial year ended (FYE) December 31, 2018 and financial period ended ( FPE) August 31, 2019, the average value of a transaction at the group’s stores was RM21.80 and RM22.30, respectively.
According to Mr DIY, the company strives to always put customers first by operating an innovative business that is flexible when it comes to providing a wide variety of products, good quality and value- for-money, holding true to its company motto: “Always Low Prices”.
“Mr DIY is dedicated to serve our customers with convenience. So, we launched our e- commerce platform – www.mrdiy.com.my – in 2018, to offer our customers with convenient access to a wide range of products. Mr DIY strives to always put customers first by operating an innovative business that provides everything under one roof catering to the entire family.”
On what Mr DIY attributes its immense popularity and rapid growth, Chin explained that one of the factors includes the group’s commitment to customers.
“Our motto ‘Always Low Prices’ and our endeavour to always put customers first, by operating an innovative business that is flexible when it comes to providing a wide range of products with an attractive pricetoquality offering.
“Mr DIY creates a seamless shopping experience for the customers by integrating online and offline effort, offering them a convenient access to a wide range of products. We are constantly managing our costs via driving operational efficiency measure.
“The key driver for us in terms of being cost effective are our dedicated 9,000 plus employees – from product sourcing to delivery to customer service, Mr DIY are dedicated towards making a positive impact in our customers’ everyday lives, offering them a consistent retail experience and quality across all Mr DIY stores at attractive price-to- quality value propositions and by continually reviewing product mix in order to respond to the changing demands of the customers.”
To note, Mr DIY in its Prospectus Exposure also highlighted that between 2018 and 2023, the home improvement retail sector in Malaysia is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.9 per cent from RM6.9 billion to RM11.6 billion, respectively, as a result of increasing urbanisation and household incomes in Malaysia.
“The home improvement retail sector in Malaysia grew at a CAGR of 12.7 per cent from 2013 to 2018 in terms of retail sales value and is expected to continue to grow at a CAGR of 10.9 per cent until 2023,” the Prospectus Exposure read.
“As the leader in the home improvement retail sector, we are well positioned to capitalise on this expected growth.”
“As at October 31, 2019, Mr DIY is the largest home improvement retailer in Malaysia with 566 stores in the country, offering a wide range of products – approximately 14,900 stock-keeping units (SKUs) as at August 31, 2019 – across five major categories.” Andy Chin, Mr DIY marketing vice president
Catering to the East Malaysian market
According to Chin, Mr DIY first opened in East Malaysia in 2014 at 1Borneo Hypermall, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. As at October 31, 2019, there are more than 80 stores in East Malaysia.
“In East Malaysia alone we have about 82 Mr DIY stores as at October 31, 2019. We are aiming to open at least 100 additional ‘Mr DIY’ stores across Malaysia in 2020, including Sarawak if the opportunity arises. In terms of the category that appeals most to Sarawakians, I would say that it is general household products.”
Collaborations
On collaborations, Chin replied that Mr DIY has always welcomed brands that are interested to collaborate with the group.
“In fact, last year Mr DIY did a campaign for Malaysian brand products called ‘Proudly Made in Malaysia’ where we promoted local brand products at our stores withgreat promotional prices. We received positive feedback from our customers for this campaign,” he said.
“We also always strive to provide our customers greater convenience by partnering with digital payment providers for seamless and cashless shopping experience duringcheck- out transactions at stores and online.”
Chin also revealed that Mr DIY always sources its products designed to provide its customers with an attractive price- toquality product offering.
All of Mr DIY’s products are sourced from reputable end suppliers both overseas and domestically by its procurement team for the five major product categories inMr DIY
“Having said that, we are always open to collaborating with more local brands, working towards ‘win-win-win’ results for our customers, our partners and ourselves.”
Regarding the group’s business partners which include Aeon, Aeon Big, Giant and Tesco, Chin said that the collaboration between Mr DIY and these mass retailers is on a mutual benefit and mutual understanding basis.
“Collaboration with these mass retailers enables us to benefit from their strong footfall as well as additional footfall generated by promotional activities of thehost retailer.
“By providing complementary product offerings with minimal overlap to mass retailers, we can provide customers with a better shopping experience and greaterconvenience under one roof.”
E- commerce platform
Mr DIY’s own dedicated ecommerce website, www.mrdiy.com.my, was launched in June 2018, allowing its customers in Malaysia to browse, order and pay for its productsonline.
“The reception has been positive and we are happy with the results because we want to offer customers choices and convenience to shop with us online anytime andanywhere,” Chin enthused.
“We also endeavour to provide customers with the same experience they get at our physical stores in terms of buying good quality products at affordable prices.”
According to Mr DIY’s Prospectus Exposure, the ecommerce website provides the group’s customers with convenient access to a wide range of products 24 hours a dayand seven days a week and allows it to expand its customer base without incurring the cost of opening a new store.
Mr DIY targets a broad range of customers for its e- commerce website and the group has recently launched a mobile optimised version of its e- commerce website tocreate a more user- friendly retail experience for its online customers.
“We maintain a dedicated warehousing facility within our distribution centre to service our e- commerce website,” the prospectus read.
“In the future, we intend to expand the product range available on our e- commerce website to sell products that take up too much shelf or floor space or products thatrequire consumer education which is more effectively delivered to customers through a digital platform.
“Additionally, we also began to offer our products on third party e- commerce retail platforms, such as Shopee and Lazada in November 2017 and November 2018,respectively. We market and sell our products on these third party retail platforms under the “MR. D.I.Y.” brand, which allows us to leverage on the online customer base of thesethird party retail platforms to build our brand and to grow our customer base.”
On another note, it was highlighted that orders placed through Mr DIY’s e- commerce website are fulfilled through third party delivery service providers, whichassures customers of the group’s ability to have their selected goods delivered in a timely manner and leverages on the delivery expertise of those third partydelivery service providers.
It was also revealed that as at the last practical date ( LPD), Mr DIY customers may choose to have their purchases delivered, for ‘store pickup’ within one to threeworking days, to one of the group’s 84 stores in the Klang Valley area comprising Kuala Lumpur and its adjoining cities and townships, Johor, Perak and Penang.
“We intend to expand our ‘store- pickup’ service to other regions in Malaysia as online sales to residents in such regions