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MRCA Southern Business Talk: Growth & Innovation
MRCA brought together business leaders to expound on growth and innovation in today’s complex business environment.
ecognising the rapidly R evolving business landscape and its growth potential alongside innovation, the Malaysian Retail Chain Association’s Southern Chapter hosted its Southern Business Talk themed “Growth & Innovation” and a forum on innovation themed “Sustainability through Innovative Disruption”.
Held on 28 February 2020 at the Paragon Private and International School in Johor Bahru, the talk featured several prominent business leaders who shared insights on navigating the increasingly complex market environment.
The session was attended by about 200 members of MRCA and guests. The Organising Chairperson of MRCA Southern Business Talk 2020 was Bruce Ban. Also in attendance were Michael Liew, Chief of MRCA Southern Chapter and Dato’ Bruce Lim, Deputy Secretary of MRCA.
CHALLENGING THE STATUS QUO
One of the keynote speakers for the event was Pierre Pang, General Manager of MAMEE Group and Founder of Eightedge Solutions, digital and advertising agency. Beginning with an introduction to the 50-year old MAMEE Group which is 100 per cent family owned, Pang shared on the Group’s progress and expansion over the last half a century.
Exporting to over 80 markets and with 8 factories in 3 countries, MAMEE has had quite an illustrious journey over the years. Its aspiration for 2020 is to achieve a turnover of RM1 billion.
Pang explains that as modern consumers evolve, businesses need to also evolve to stay relevant. He adds
that in today’s business environment, it is important to embrace digitalisation and gain an understanding of human motivations as well as psychology, in order to effectively cater to the market.
He stresses the importance of combining data and innovation to understand the market and to deliver outstanding products and services. At MAMEE, Pang explains, innovation is a key priority in the company’s business direction, which has led the Group to introduce various new products to entice consumers’ taste buds.
Pang adds that in today’s market, retailers and marketers sell experiences and not merely products. He believes that MAMEE’s leadership in the snack food business is because the Group believes that “there is always a better way of doing things” and to “always challenge the status quo”.
“The company’s business is focused on “creating magical moments” for consumers. Living up to that statement.” Cheah Jia Ming, CEO of Baskin Robbins
“Innovation is a key priority in the company’s business direction, which has led the Group to introduce various new products to entice consumers’ taste buds.” Pierre Pang, General Manager of MAMEE Group
CREATING MAGICAL MOMENTS
Cheah Jia Ming, Chief Executive Officer of Baskin Robbins, also a keynote speaker at the event, said that the company’s business is focused on “creating magical moments” for consumers. Living up to that statement, Cheah traced Golden Scoop Sdn Bhd’s 32-year journey as a sole licensee of Baskin Robbins in Malaysia.
With 134 stores in Malaysia and 5 in Singapore, Baskin Robbins demonstrated resilience even during the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. Since its inception, the company has grown leaps and bounds and now has more than 1,100 full-time and part-time staff.
Cheah explains that over the years, the company has taken a path of sustainable growth that has seen them grow steadily. He adds that in business, his company’s winning factors are “Happy, Open, Passionate and Empathy” – which make up the company’s values.
“It’s all about helping people discover the joy of a life lived with variety,” Cheah adds.
He also states the market situation changes all the time. Currently there are political uncertainties, Covid-19, competition, mall saturation and changing consumer behaviour, among others.
As such, for an organisation to achieve growth, there needs to be constant adaptation and modification. “Never stop observing and anticipating. Be ready to adapt and build a team that is open to constant change. There is no right or wrong, but companies/ brands need to evolve and change according to needs.”
“Foodpanda is ready to harness opportunities in the global market. With its digital platform, foodpanda has been able to deliver variety, value for money and fast delivery of food.” Sayantan Das, MD of foodpanda Malaysia
INNOVATION IS ABOUT DISRUPTION
Sayantan Das, Managing Director of foodpanda Malaysia, said that in growing a business and achieving success, disrupting the norm is key. Leading a company that delivers food at all hours of the day, Sayantan explained that since the company’s inception in 2012, foodpanda’s fully digital operations is rapidly expanding its footprint.
Serving over 10 million Malaysians
today, foodpanda has seen rapid growth in its business from over 100,000 orders per month between 2013 and 2015 to more than 700,000 orders per day in 2019.
Constantly innovating, the company launched its first cloud kitchen in 2018 and onboarded more than 10,000 restaurant partners on its platform.
In 2019, foodpanda went on to launch “dark stores” (online shopping) in 2 countries and grocery delivery in 4 countries. In 2019 alone, foodpanda successfully onboarded more than 150,000 restaurant partners on its platform. Today, the company has more than 100,000 delivery heroes or riders, in 9 countries.
With the introduction of foodpanda services, the company defined disruption in the market and made a success of its strategy by creating a single platform for all restaurant partners.
The company saw the potential in the market, especially with the increasingly busy lifestyles of today’s generation. With better earning power and more disposable income in hand, foodpanda has created a niche in the food delivery sector. Forecasting greater potential in the market in the years to come, Sayantan says that foodpanda is ready to harness opportunities in the global market. With its digital platform, foodpanda has been able to deliver variety, value for money and fast delivery of food.
In planning for the future, Sayantan shares that foodpanda is moving towards an end-to-end tech platform, becoming a culinary innovation centre led by professional chefs and creating a strong supply chain and logistics backbone, coupled with a robust operating DNA and infrastructure.
The forum on innovation themed “Sustainability through During the forum, each speaker shared his thoughts on Innovative Disruption” featured an impressive panel of the topic and how it impacted the market and businesses. speakers such as Ganesh Kumar Bangah, Founder and Executive Chairman of Commerce.Asia, Yeoh Chen Chow, PRODUCT-MARKET FIT Co-Founder of Fave Group, Datuk Joshua Liew, Chief In his presentation to the audience, Ganesh Kumar Bangah Executive Officer of Marrybrown, and Sayantan Das, shared about the e-commerce ecosystem that he had Managing Director of foodpanda Malaysia. The session built. He stressed that business owners need to focus on was moderated by Prakash Nagarajan, Vice President of the market and not just products. Business owners should Economic Prosperity and KRA Steering Committee Member, identify their target markets and customise their products Iskandar Regional Development Authority. to meet the needs of the market, he explained.
Prakash Nagarajan gave an overview of Iskandar In doing this, he said that the million-dollar question has Malaysia, an economic development corridor booming in always been “How to achieve product-market fit?’ which the Southern Johor, Malaysia, which was set up in 2006. essentially means making sure that the product actually
Its current development encompasses an area of suits the customer. For instance, if the business caters to 2,217 sq km. In 2019, the federal government extended high-end customers, then the products offered should meet the development area to 4,749sqkm, offering more land the standards and requirements of the targeted high-end for development at affordable cost, and bringing modern customers. agriculture as a new newly-promoted. Its vision is to be a He explained that in an offline sales environment, strong sustainable Metropolis of International Standing. or the traditional business environment, location is a
He pointed out that the total cumulative investment key differentiator, while in an online sales environment, from 2006 to 2019 was RM307.97 billion. Committed everything is just a click away, which is where the productinvestment from January to September 2019 was RM22.64 market fit becomes a differentiator. billion. Foreign investments from 2006 to September 2019 Ganesh gave the audience another question to ponder in manufacturing, services (logistics, healthcare, education – “What do you do better than others?” “You need to create and financial, creative and tourism), properties and others a niche, and that niche is where you need to excel in to stood at RM117.83 billion. succeed,” he said.
