Shirley Tay Refl ects On The Impact Of The Pandemic On The Retail Industry

MRCA Event

Shirley Tay Reflects On The Impact Of The Pandemic on The Retail Industry

Khoo Hsu Chuang, anchor of the segment “It’s Time To Do Business” interviews Shirley Tay, MRCA President, on the state of the retail sector and what were some of the lessons learned.

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aking stock of the pandemic and its impact on the retail industry, Khoo says that retail industry has been one of the most a ected industries by the pandemic. However, he reminds that with every crisis, comes opportunity.

Khoo begins, “Malaysians love to shop – always have and always will do. When the pandemic hit, what was the biggest wake-up call for the retail sector?”

“For some, this was the de ning moment to make it or break it,” he adds. He asks Shirley her opinion on how they did it, and what was it like, as well as what is in store for the retail industry in the coming year.

To Khoo’s question of what was the biggest wake up call, Shirley explains, “In my opinion, I think a lot of retailers were not expecting the pandemic to last so long. But what really jolted them and threw them o balance was the prolonged lockdowns and implementation of various phases of MCO.”

“Actually, those who have already long embarked into online selling – they were less a ected. But to me, the wake-up call was that you have to always be ready for any consequences and any changes,” she adds.

Shirley cautions that anything could just happen overnight, and retailers have to review and re-evaluate their business operations.

Khoo continued that there has been a shi from physical to virtual even before the pandemic hit, and he questioned on why many retailers did not get ready earlier. To that, Shirley responded that the larger companies that have a very structured operational system, would have had experts to help in the transition from physical to virtual sales platforms and e-commerce systems. She added that with smaller retailers being more acclimatised to customers walking into their stores, they would not have thought about going online.

“They were already adjusting, but it took a while for them to switch to the online system. Even right now, I don’t think retailers would switch 100 percent to online selling,” she reflects.

Khoo says that experiential and high value retailers such as ne dining restaurants would de nitely not translate well to the virtual world. To his question on which sectors are still struggling and which ones have survived, Shirley elaborates that the sectors impacted by the pandemic are those classi ed as non-essential.

“It is a di cult time for operators and retailers who are selling fashionable products like jewellery. I think they su er a great deal,” he highlights.

She stresses that retailers selling fashionable products like jewellery and other non-essential goods have faced tough times during the pandemic, because with more people working from home, they do not really need to dress up. Therefore, it can be said that they are the worst hit sector.

Khoo asks about the role of the

retail ecosystem as the industry relies signi cantly on it, involving utility, and landlords, among others. He continues with a question on the assistance provided to retailers during these trying times such as tenants in malls. Shirley explains that they were able to negotiate some reduction in rental.

“Especially since shopping mall landlords and tenants are business partners, I am sure landlords would not want to see their tenants su er in any way,” she points out.

“Because you can imagine if you have had good tenants who have been performing really well; and then business drops and they are unable to pay rental. I would think that landlords would want to try their best to make them survive as well,” Shirley shares her thoughts.

On Khoo’s question about the changes in shopping and consumption trends in the last few years, especially the online mode, Shirley says that online shopping has gained much popularity because customers now have the opportunity to browse through products at their convenience. However, she believes that online shopping will not dominate 100 percent of the retail segment, as many consumers, despite browsing through products online, still prefer to visit physical stores to pick out products. “They want to physically examine the products,” she explains.

Touching on the subject of the omni-channel retail approach, which encompasses both o line and online retail, Khoo asks Shirley’s opinion on how retailers apply this approach if they had yet to adopt omnichannel previously.

In addressing the question about the omni-channel approach to shopping, Shirley stresses that if retailers have a competitive product being sold on e-commerce platforms, it is advisable for them to compete. She advises that there are many experts who are willing to help.

“There are a lot of companies out there where you pay a fee, and they basically provide hand-holding programmes to help you to embark into online selling,” she clari es.

Referring to di cult times during and even before the pandemic, retailers would require help from the retail ecosystem – to this, Khoo asks about MRCA’s role in terms of helping retailers.

Shirley shares that one of the key thrusts of MRCA under her leadership is really to help members recover from the impact of the pandemic. In doing so, MRCA has conducted various initiatives, such as the Members’ Solution Day.

“Members’ Solution Day is like a one-day seminar where you can request assistance from our members too, who are experts in providing solutions in digitalisation and transformation,” she explains.

The Members’ Solution Day is an online webinar series that connects MRCA members with each other to share innovative solutions that can bene t the retail community. This event is held regularly to showcase the various expertise that may be bene cial to fellow retailers within the MRCA community. She adds that in addition to that, MRCA has also been lobbying the government to increase nancial subsidies o ered to retailers. To-date, MRCA has been gaining good momentum in their engagement sessions with government agencies.

In conclusion, Shirley encourages retailers to stay positive and tap on the opportunities in the local market with local consumers, considering the limited number of international tourists presently.

“Much as we cannot be entirely dependent on international tourists just yet, Malaysians should go out there and enjoy spending and buy nice things for themselves,” she advises.

“I feel that in that aspect with the continuing support from associations and the government, retailers could nd time to bounce back very quickly,” she adds.