PETALING JAYA: Local brands are gaining an unexpected advantage due to the boycott of certain products resulting from the Israel-Hamas conflict, according to Web Bytes CEO Ooi Bon Sheng.
He said that based on available data sets, the boycott does have an impact on specific brands.
“But in terms of spending, it’s not impacted in totality, meaning that if I don’t spend here, the spending still goes elsewhere. In other words, our local brands are able to gain an advantage,“ he told reporters at the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Web Bytes Sdn Bhd and E3 Capital Sdn Bhd today.
Malaysia Retail Chain Association deputy president Datuk Ken Phua said Malaysia’s personal consumption is expected to remain resilient despite the external geopolitical issues.
“Q4 is none other than a continuation of the recovery seen in the third quarter, which recorded a growth of 2.6%. For the overall projection this year, we aim for 3%, but the likelihood is that it will be around 2.7% in the retail sector.
“We hope to settle these geopolitical issues. We will let the government take care of that, the foreign government emissaries, for a peaceful resolution, something that has now become a significant topic among world leaders,” he said.
Web Bytes, a retail management software company, MoU with E3 Capital Sdn Bhd, which operates E3Hubs, an entrepreneur community in Malaysia, aims to accelerate the digital transformation of E3Hubs food and beverage (F&B) entrepreneur members with scalable, cloud-based technology.
E3Hubs has a community of 3,000 registered entrepreneur members, with almost half of them from the F&B sector which are mainly startups or single-store establishments.
Web Bytes will fully subsidise its Xilnex Cloud POS on iPad and Xilnex F&B Go mobile POS to E3Hubs Effectuator F&B members for the first year, and up to 30% subsidised price for the second year.
Among the features included in the Xilnex solutions are online-to-offline (020) loyalty integration, contactless QR ordering and DuitNow payment, and sales integration with third-party apps such as GrabFood, foodpanda and ShopeeFood.
Assistance will also be provided to all E3Hubs’ registered F&B retailer members to apply for the Madani MSME Digital Grant if they subscribe to Xilnex POS solutions.
Ooi said the F&B market is undeniably one of the most volatile and challenging sectors, especially for startups.
“To navigate these challenges and remain competitive in today’s economic landscape, having the right technology is paramount. Beyond operational efficiency, insights from data are essential for crafting the right pricing, product, and marketing strategies,” he added.
E3 Capital CEO Andrew Wong said E3Hubs has identified the F&B segment as an area to strengthen competencies and capacity building by providing business support, market access and access to funding.
“As one third of our membership is from the F&B industry, we intend to help them grow their businesses and be shielded from the complexities and vulnerabilities of the industry,” he added.
While business for the F&B sector in Malaysia has largely returned to pre-pandemic levels, inflation, the onset of higher sales and service tax, rising labour costs and customers’ multi-channel ordering preferences continue to pose significant hurdles to F&B retailers.
According to a report by MIDF Research, food inflation will continue to remain high at 5.5% year-on-year as Malaysia is highly exposed to external factors and currency movements.
To overcome these challenges, digital transformation is no longer an option but a must to help F&B retailers increase operational efficiency, control costs, and elevate customer experience.
