MANY businesses and customers have gone ‘digital’, leading to a surge in e-commerce during this Covid-19 pandemic.
Penangites are now increasingly purchasing their needs and wants with ease through various online platforms made available.
Despite it all, a couple of shop owners at Cannon Street and Acheh Street in George Town said there are customers who still walk in to buy things, but they were mostly tourists holidaying here.
Sim Kuang Ling, who owns Fruitmade (sells fruit juice, smoothie, ice-cream) and Noviss Café at Cannon Street, said both her shops were able to still sustain although the number of walk-in customers has reduced tremendously because many have adapted to online buying.
“My customers at Fruitmade are mostly from other states, such as Perak, Kedah and Kuala Lumpur.
“But I have to say that school holidays and festive seasons are no longer how they used to be. The crowd is still there, but it certainly has been reduced since the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I opened Noviss in April last year, and ever since, we have incorporated new items in our menu. It was purely done to attract more customers to buy our pastries, drinks and so on.
“I realised that customers want to try new things, and most importantly, my staff and I have studied carefully and understood that people preferred buying set-based food and beverages.
“Hence, we came up with new things and did manage to retain our regular customers. But I have to admit that walk-in customers have taken a dip, with most buying online.
“At least for my customers, they are being very cautious and feel that it is still unsafe to be dining out during this Covid-hit era,” Kuang Ling told Buletin Mutiara during an exclusive interview at Noviss Cafe on Feb 3.
Since it’s Chinese New Year season, she said her cafe had prepared a new menu called the Chinese New Year afternoon tea set, which comes with chicken pie, soda drink, smoothies, vegan and non-vegan cakes.
Meanwhile, Sim Kuang Nien, 42, who owns The Heritage Cat, a souvenir shop at Acheh Street, said his shop was not closed during the festive season, and it was because his pool of customers were people of Malay ethnicity.
“Business is quite okay, but it was even better last year during November and December.
“I have so many customers who have not visited my shop for a long time, but instead they have been buying my products online.
“This clearly has shown that the use of digitalisation has been embraced by many, especially during this pandemic era,” Kuang Nien said.
As an avid cat lover, he sells self-made key chains, cat portraits, vintage wood signs and many others.
Story and pix by Kevin Vimal