BY CRYSTAL WONG
KUCHING: Boutiques here are facing a drop in sales after the implementation of movement control order (MCO) since March 2020.
A boutique owner who runs an outlet in Kota Sentosa commented there are visibly lesser customers resulting in the outlet experiencing a 30 percent drop in sales compared to before the MCO.
“One of the reasons why sales have dropped is the movement restriction resulting in fewer people going out shopping,” she lamented.
During MCO, another challenge faced by the boutique was the rental fee that they have to pay to the premises’ owner.
“I hope the government can give us some incentives, because we are still paying the same rental rate – MCO or not. So I hope that the government can look into it and maybe subsidise some of the rental so that we do not need to pay so much. This will definitely help us financially.”
She said the boutique has seen selling other things besides clothes such as face masks and daily essentials in order to make ends meet.
They are not venturing into e-Marketing because of the large number of competitors on the platform.
“We are not moving into e-Marketing because there are a lot of competitors out there in platforms like Shopee, they also sell things that we sell. It is hard to stand out. Other than that, we think that online marketing will take a lot of time and we do not have much free time to manage online shop,” she said.
