How heartland shops got a chance to use big Swedish organizations like H&M and Anticimex
From electrical and pipe fittings to nails and bolts of various shapes and sizes, hardware store InHome Trading carries a huge selection of home repair tools and products in its small shop located at a HDB block in Ang Mo Kio.
The long-time business has served many generations of residents in the neighbourhood although nowadays, it also takes on orders from other areas of Singapore through its online store on e-commerce platform Lazada.
The latter may well not be much for now, said InHome’s second-generation owner Chia Wei Liat, nonetheless it is ways to cope with the uncertainties of owning a retail business amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.
The hardware store actually made the initial step to go digital in 2019, recalled the 35-year-old who took over the family business about five years ago. However, given a lack of expertise and time, its page on Lazada looked “rundown” with limited products for the longest time.
“Previously the homepage was only a set of products - no sorting or any categories. We were doing this on our very own and going online was a very new thing for us,” said Mr Chia.
With some help, the web store experienced a revamp in September this past year. It now features products sorted by categories, brands and popularity.
It also done its Google Business page with the addition of in details such as for example operating hours, phone number and a web link to its online store. Customers can now leave reviews as well.
The helping submit going digital originated from an unlikely partner - Swedish pest control firm Anticimex.
“Their marketing team helped redesign the layout of our web store. Now it looks much nicer and attractive to customers,” said Mr Chia.
“In addition they helped us to create our Google Business page. We didn’t learn how to but once they told us to submit some documents, we are able to finally add details such as operating hours and change the prior address which wasn’t that accurate,” he added.
“It has definitely increased our brand awareness. We had persons calling and said they found our number on Google.”
“MAKE SOMETHING POSITIVE”
The unlikely collaboration of a heartland merchant and a multinational corporation (MNC) was the consequence of a Sweden-Singapore initiative organised by the Swedish Chamber of Commerce Singapore (SwedCham).
The initiative, according to SwedCham general manager Lisa Ferraton, aimed to foster collaboration between small and large companies throughout a difficult time.
The MNCs sponsored an marketing campaign, which ran on selected buses and bus stops in November last year, to market their smaller partners. Each pair also had meetings dubbed “Fika4Good”, a mention of the Swedish tradition of fika or chats over coffee, to go over issues they face and how exactly to solve them.
Apart from InHome and Anticimex, 22 other Swedish MNCs and small home-grown businesses which range from hawkers to tailors were paired up.
Ms Ferraton noted that the chamber was pleased with what the initiative has achieved up to now.
“Whenever we started this, we didn’t know where this project would go. We just wished to make an effort to make something positive in a challenging environment,” she said.
Mr Chia admitted that he too went in to the initiative with little expectations, partly as his bigger partner originated from an entirely different industry. Dealing with an MNC that employed hundreds of folks also seemed unimaginable for a heartland merchant with fewer than 10 employees.
But after several meetings, the unlikely partners found some common ground.
Mr Philip Tan, general manager for sales in Asia at Anticimex, recalled: “My CFO (chief financial officer) and I visited Chia at Ang Mo Kio for our first meeting so when he told us that he previously to close previously because of COVID-19 but their online store is not quite (set up), we immediately knew that's where we can help them.
“I roped inside our marketing team to discover more about Chia’s web business and we formed an idea. Chia liked it and we'd more discussions. It took us about 8 weeks to complete everything.”
Nowadays, Mr Chia checks for online orders twice a day on his smartphone. Delivery bags and a printer are also among the brand new additions to the shop’s cashier counter.
He's aware that having an online occurrence “isn't a one-off effort”. The store on Lazada is updated monthly with services and competitive pricing, to be online means competition with a lot more sellers in and out of Singapore.
“All these will require effort and time on our part but I think it’s sufficient that Anticimex gave us a short kick-off,” said Mr Chia.
H&M MEETS TRADITIONAL TAILOR
Partners beneath the initiative didn't all result from differing industries. Fashion giant H&M, for example, was paired up with local tailor Nancy Kong, which it said was a great fit.
“This is very much in line with our aim for a far more circular and sustainable fashion, meaning that we want to keep every thing in the loop as much as possible, maximise the consumption of resources and minimise waste,” said H&M Southeast Asia’s sustainability manager Marian Dang.
Tailors help prolong the lifespan of old clothes by altering or mending them, or even provide them with a fresh life through upcycling, she added.
“We also felt that traditional tailors were not getting as much exposure as they should, and we want to help. So in various ways, Nancy was simply perfect for us,” said Ms Dang, while noting that H&M promoted Ms Kong through advertisements and shout-outs on its social media platforms.
Ms Kong, who has been running Vega Tailoring and Dressmaking shop at Bukit Timah Plaza for days gone by three decades, said the pandemic has put into the difficulty of owning a traditional business.
While she has developed a group of loyal customers, earnings has halved, largely because restrictions on wedding receptions and persons continuing to home based mean little need for tailor-made suits or dresses.
The additional exposure is certainly welcomed although she felt “a little paiseh ('shy' in Hokkien)” when her customers sent her photographs of the bus ads, the soft-spoken woman told CNA with a chuckle.
Ms Kong, who's in her 60s, has also been sewing fabric masks since this past year, partly so that they can keep operating through the “circuit breaker” that shut all non-essential services. A large number of them bearing colourful prints plus some with fancy sequins and beads, remain on display outside her shop.
“Owning a business means you just have to keep adapting. Change is the only way out,” she said in Mandarin.
But even with a keen adaptability, Ms Kong said her business faces another crucial problem that's manpower. Her trade requires an eye for details and in addition years to hone one’s skills. But many Singaporeans have shunned the industry while she actually is struggling to hire foreigners because of quota restrictions.
Noting that she knows of many peers who've retired, she said: “It is absolutely difficult to hire anyone, but I will keep on this for as long as I can.”
This was a new observation for Ms Dang.
“We started with wanting to create more exposure for Nancy, but speaking with her made us realise that there surely is also a manpower issue so simply increasing demand is going to make it very difficult for her.”
With that in mind, H&M said it really is exploring other ways to collaborate more meaningfully with Ms Kong.
Ms Ferraton noted: "A very important factor I've seen is how that is promoting understanding and adding value to both MNCs and SMEs. That is why I want to emphasise that people didn’t get into this initiative to instruct the SMEs. We wanted to start a dialogue."
Trade and Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong said that the initiative was a “clear example” of how Swedish and Singapore companies attended together to help one another amid the pandemic.
“The campaign translated to increased exposure, footfall and sales for our local partners. I want to motivate such collaborations beneath the initiative to keep,” he said at a business event last month.
SwedCham said it really is considering pairing up MNCs with larger SMEs within the next phase of the initiative but this remains a work happening.
What is confirmed is that the “Fika4Good” meetings will continue, alongside another programme that sees Swedish organizations hosting company attachments within the Workforce Singapore’s SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways Programme.
“This is a significant area for all of us at SwedCham so the local outreach will surely continue,” said Ms Ferraton.
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com
