KUCHING: Has the Bazaar Ramadan Online Sarawakku Sayang (BROSS) cost traders and hawkers from the Metrocity Night Market the opportunity to make a living during the movement control order (MCO) period?
That is not the case as the initiative received encouraging feedback.
Head of the Metrocity N6 Youth Night Market management team, Mohamad Khairuzie Bolhassan, yesterday revealed that response was encouraging especially for vendors selling food and beverages.
He said the team now works with registered e-hailing delivery services like Food Panda, Helpy and Lyfe Delivery.
“Under our management team, we have 15 runners that have been registered under Helpy Delivery and we are also taking orders from WhatsApp.
“We set up our runner team to help the operation run smoothly because demand for delivery service is very high now,” he told New Sarawak Tribune when contacted yesterday.
Khairuzie also said the demand for food and beverage items from Metrocity Night Market traders was overwhelming.
“Most of our vendors who sell food and beverages have received a lot of orders since the first day of Ramadan. For example, my food today is already sold out by 4pm.
“My runner team will be on the road as early as 8am just to send out non-food deliveries, from cosmetics to clothes. At 2pm, they will start to deliver food until 6pm.
“In short, one runner will deliver to almost 10 destinations per day,” he explained, adding that this was in response to the state government encouraging traders to utilise the e-bazaar concept to ensure traders will still be able to do business this fasting month.
“We are grateful to have Tupong assemblyman Fazzrudin Abdul Rahman who is also our patron — he has been working hard to help our traders,” he added.
Meanwhile, Nor Herawina and her husband Kamarul Arriffin who own #CharKwayTeowTapakKuning, also said BROSS has helped them to generate income during this pandemic — although she did not expect the encouraging response.
“On the first day of Ramadan, sales started quite slow because it was raining. But thankfully, we still received orders despite the gloomy weather. Furthermore, these apps help to promote my product,” she said.
Although some orders could not be fulfilled due to insufficient riders, she said she believed that delivery service will be improved on.
“There are some problems, like pending orders, due to lack of riders. There was one order that we couldn’t make during the first day of fasting.
“But I believe they (food delivery services) will enhance the service,” she said.
She also said most of her sales were made on FoodPanda and Helpy and is waiting for her application with GrabFood to be approved.
“I think it is important for me to engage with registered e-delivery services because of security matters.
“However, I hope the government could consider delaying the MCO curfew time from 7pm to 7.30pm because the riders have to rush with deliveries as customers usually make their orders around 3pm to 5pm,” she said.
Another trader, Lan, also shared Nor’s views.
Lan, who owns Lan Charkuewtiaw at Metrocity Night Market, also said traders should move forward and accept this as the new business norm.
“Alhamdulillah, my sales have been doing great, although not much as usual. I think engaging with delivery services is a wise decision,” he said.
To venture online, he added, it was important for traders to stay positive and be optimistic.
“I know times are hard, but I believe we must continue to be positive and be opportunistic in finding ways to ensure that we can move forward.
“There is no other way but to be more creative and innovative. We must think on how we can utilise technology.”
