Bernama
By Rohana Mustaffa
(This Is The Second Of A Three-Part Series)
KUALA LUMPUR, March 24 (Bernama) — “Is the domestic market well explored before Malaysian handicrafts makes their appearance abroad?”
A London-based Malaysian student had posed this question to Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal.
The query came in the wake of the month-long promotion on Malaysian handicrafts held at the prestigious shopping mall Harrods, Knightsbridge in London.
The promotion will lower its curtains end of this month.
In response Mohd Shafie said it could be likened to Petronas doing oil exploration in other countries, which brings good returns.
The bottom line is, the promotions held either locally or abroad by Kraftangan Malaysia had shown results where the sales turnover of handicraft items in the domestic market had gone up by 66 per cent from RM8.49 million in 2007 to RM14.14 million in 2008.
Abroad, the figure rose magnificently by 197 percent from RM5.3 million in 2007 to RM15.8 million last year.
In his speech when opening the National Craft Day last March 19, Mohd Shafie said the promotion held at Harrods, themed “Malaysian Craft at Its Best” recorded a sales turnover of RM631,000 as of last March 18.
An impressive figure indeed and this had led to the Cabinets nod for the Harrods promotion to be made an annual affair.
According to Mohd Shafie, the next step is to bring Malaysian handicrafts to prestigious stores in the worlds major cities before a trading house is established abroad to facilitate distribution of such items worldwide.
THREE MEASURES
Mohd Shafie outlined three measures that should come under the focus of Kraftangan Malaysia.
First, Kraftangan Malaysia is urged to hold more business matching activities between the local handicraft makers and international handicraft distributors.
This is the best platform for the introduction of the new Malaysian handicrafts apart from getting the feedback on the latest trend and market to ensure enough supply of these products.
Second, Kraftangan Malaysia should focus more on research and development, as efforts to boost the quality and diversify such items are crucial for the Malaysian handicrafts to maintain their competitive edge in the foreign market.
Third, the spotlight should also be on equipping the Malaysian handicraft entrepreneurs with the latest skills and techniques to cut production costs apart from improving marketing as well as making better designs.
“We are still behind in terms of the introduction and production of our craft in the international market, hence this area should be intensified and the promotions held at Harrods can be turned into a benchmark”, he said.
SWITCH FROM CONVENTIONAL WAY
Recently, Kraftangan Malaysias Director of Market Development and Promotion Division, Ibrahim Ismail told Bernama that the Harrods promotion was a switch from the agencys conventional way of promoting Malaysian handicraft abroad.
Previously, the promotions were staged at trade fairs or participation at booths at events like the Malaysia Week held in London.
With the promotion held at Harrods, the move to brand Malaysian handicraft has moved a few notches higher as the nations products have been profiled in an exclusive form.
He said the plan to stage the promotion at Harrods alone took one year, and as the measure is a way for the Malaysian handicraft products to penetrate the foreign market, Kraftangan Malaysia had assembled a team comprising those from the design, marketing and entrepreneur development divisions to gather the best available handicraft items.
EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS
All handicraft products brought to London came under Karyaneka Sdn Bhd before being branded Harrods as the exclusive right was accorded to the departmental store.
However the exclusive right given to Harrods was only on the pattern. The items can be produced for other markets or department stores bearing other designs or motifs.
“This exclusiveness is among the strategies to place Malaysian handicrafts on a high pedestal in the market.
“After this, I think it would be easy for Malaysian handicraft to be on display at other departmental stores in major cities as the Harrods brand is linked to high quality and standard”, he said.
For the Harrods promotion, Kraftangan Malaysia and Karyaneka ensured that the participating handicraft makers were not only able to produce the prototype of their respective products but also to reproduce these items with quality and finesse.
Another question then cropped out.
Would it be better if Malaysian handicrafts be branded under a single logo?
To this, Mohd Shafie said it is a point to note but for the time being, the priority is on quality and whether the local handicraft makers have the capability to meet the demand.
“Many of our handicraft items are hand made and despite the buyers appreciating the design and exclusiveness, our weakness is (capability) producing the same products in large numbers”, he said.
LOCAL DEPARTMENT STORES
Back to the question posed by the London-based student, Kraftangan Malaysias Deputy Director-General (Development) Shahruddin Mohd Nor agreed that the domestic market including the local department stores is an area worth venturing into and Kraftangan Malaysia is looking into this.
So far the Jusco and Mydin chains are having the handicraft items on display.
It is hoped that the other leading department stores would follow suit and display the items that could attract the attention of the shoppers.
In conjunction with the National Craft Day, entrepreneur service counters were set up to provide information on training and financial assistance for those in the handicraft industry.
These counters are manned by agencies like financial institutions and agencies like the SME Bank and Bank Rakyat, MARA and National Entrepreneurial Institute.
MAKERS, BUYERS
Kraftangan Malaysia also brought 31 dealers from 15 nations to meet 65 local handicraft makers in the “buyers get-together”.
The dealers who from the United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Germany, Germany, Vietnam, India, Indonesia, Hong Kong, China, Canada, Nigeria, Qatar, Mauritius, France and Saudi Arabia were introduced to the Malaysian handicrafts.
This is another promotions strategy, deemed an effective way to create an international networking for the future.
Meanwhile the marketing executive for East Art Enterprise, Abdul Rahim Yusof, had joined nine other entrepreneurs for a trip to a handicraft exposition in Frankfurt, Germany last February.
The weeklong trip had exposed Abdul Rahim to the vast market available there and he is in the midst of negotiations with agents from Germany to sell Malaysian handicraft like the chess set and table ware.
Kraftangan Malaysia is instrumental in providing Abdul Rahim with the information he required but in the sales arena, he himself has to be creative and innovative in reaching out for the opportunities.
He aims to emulate the foreign handicraft makers who emphasized on planning before embarking on the programme to sell their products.
Abdul Rahim is now keeping his fingers crossed for orders for his two products that are on show in the Harrods promotions.
VARIOUS HANDICRAFTS
Kraftangan Malaysia is also focusing towards diversifying the local handicraft products. For example the batik fabrics are not only for garments and wear but they also could be turned into cushion covers, table cloth and other memorabilia while the ‘mengkuang’ is not only for baskets but also for chocolate boxes and gift packages.
The agency is also undertaking research and development programmes utilizing expertise from Japan with the attention on generating products for the international market.
Mohd Shafie said so far 89 such products are in the pipeline and they would be introduced in the international market via the “Interior Lifestyle 2009″ promotions in Japan in June and “Whos Next” trade fair in Paris, France in September.
One day, the London-based student would be proud if he comes across Caucasians and others wearing the batik fabric and sporting the other Malaysian handicrafts.
– BERNAMA