The push to raise productivity has taken on an added impetus in the face of sluggish economic growth. Pondok Abang, for example, has taken steps to improve their productivity and is slowly seeing the benefits of it.
Since 1990, Pondok Abang is a long-standing hawker stall serving authentic Malay food, including the famous Nasi Lemak Pandan which has won the hearts of locals all over Singapore. In 2012, the company ventured into manufacturing Halal frozen food products and is currently looking into new strategies to expand its products beyond Singapore.
Recently, Hasan Abdul Rahman, the owner, saw the opportunity to revamp the business and reposition itself amidst the changing landscape. Hasan wanted to expand the company’s reach to a wider audience and knew that the only way to do so was to explore marketing tools or even go digital. “Innovation is key to sustainability in the current business world. People can buy anything through online now. If we do not follow suit, it is an opportunity lost as that is one medium of income generation,” explained Hasan.
When Hasan met his Business Advisor, Qamarul, for the first time, he believed there was potential in the business and encouraged Hasan to create a website for the stall and leverage on e-commerce platforms to reach out to a wider target audience. “By having an online presence it allow for the sale of Pondok Abang products or services around the clock to whoever whenever with no or hardly any limitations,” shared Qamarul.
Qamarul connected Hasan to Shafiq from Make & Think, a creative agency that provides branding, web development and digital marketing services. In two weeks, Pondok Abang was able to launch their first website. Since then, the hawker stall has seen an improvement in its operations and sales. “Having a website has made our marketing a lot easier. Recently, we met a potential client and showed them our product range through the website. It was nice being able to showcase the products at our fingertips. This has also allowed us to bring in our products to YES supermarket outlets,” says Hasan.
Pondok Abang is seeking to grow their sales by coming on board on platforms such as FoodPanda, Deliveroo and HalalOnClick. They also have plans to get on Singtel’s Shopify and leverage on the e-commerce platform to sell frozen ready-to-eat dishes to their consumers.this text in the module Advanced settings.