THE Small and Medium Enterprises Association of Malaysia (SAMENTA) has called on Malaysians to support local retailers and food and beverage (F&B) outlets by dining in and buying directly from the stores rather than using delivery platforms.
According to the business group’s president Datuk William Ng, doing so would help bring costs down for the merchants which would in turn result in lower prices paid by consumers.
“We are concerned that with the revision of fees paid by major food and goods delivery platforms to their riders, local retailers and F&B outlets may soon have to pay higher commission to the same platforms,” Ng said in a statement on Wednesday (Jan 17).
“Following news that Grab may be acquiring foodpanda, what is already effectively a duopoly may become an all-powerful monopoly to the potential detriment of consumers and merchants.”
Ng said currently merchants are being charged up to 32% commission on every delivery, and that with promotions and marketing fees included, these commissions can be as high as 60% of every sale.
“As such, a nasi lemak seller may only receive RM1.20 for a packet of RM3 nasi lemak. Due to the monopolistic nature of the platforms, retailers and F&B operators as well as consumers have very little choice but to pay whatever is demanded by the platform owners,” he continued.
“This is why most merchants have no choice but to mark up the selling price of food and goods on these platforms by between 30% and 100% to compensate for the commission paid to the platforms in order for such orders to remain marginally profitable.”
Ng said to break this “vicious” cycle, Malaysians should support local retailers and F&B operators by dining in and buying direct.
“On top of that, buying directly provides a higher assurance of better customer service if a product turns out to be defective while supporting the domestic economy and the ringgit,” he added. – Jan 18, 2024
Main pic credit: The Star
