Perasmian Pusat Membeli-Belah AEON Sunway Pyramid, Bandar Sunway (Selasa,

8 January 2008)

Setinggi-tinggi tahniah kepada AEON atas pembukaan rasmi Pusat Membeli-Belah AEON di Bandar
Sunway ini.

Syabas atas perkembangan syarikat dalam masa 23 tahun yang lepas, yang juga sudah pasti telah
bersama-sama dapat berkongsi faedah daripada perkembangan ekonomi Malaysia yang membuka lebih
peluang kepada sektor pengedaran, terutama penubuhan gedung besar-besaran seperti AEON yang
dahulunya Jaya Jusco.

Distributive trade is one of the services sub-sector identified under IMP3 for further growth and expansion.
This sub-sector includes wholesale, retail, franchising, direct sales, catering and restaurants. The sub-
sector has made huge strides in the way these businesses are operated and in the mode of delivery
of the services to the intended consumers. Notable among them are growth in the number of malls,
shopping complexes, hypermarkets and specialty stores that have been established in the last few years,
incorporating many of these services in a single location for the benefit of the consumers.

This sub-sector has also witnessed the entry of foreign retailers who have contributed towards creating
new business activities and services that have boosted Malaysia 's image as a haven for shopping. In
fact, Malaysia is increasingly becoming an attractive place to shop, not only for the locals but for tourists
as well. These tourists are often able to purchase, in Malaysia, goods manufactured in their own country
at cheaper and competitive prices. The existence of foreign retailers complements our efforts to draw
more tourists to the country and to increase the receipts from tourism, in particular from high spending
tourists.

Certainly, the large hypermarket and departmental stores provide competition to the local retailers,
particularly the small outlets. But, they are also providing new market opportunities to the suppliers and
manufacturers of the wide range of products and services, which the larger stores require, either on
contract manufacturing and supply basis or as independent vendors.

Such opportunities can be realised into sizeable businesses of the local suppliers can meet the
standards, specification and quality set out by the buyers and complemented by competitive pricing and
reliable supply schedules.

When departmental stores and supermarkets and hypermarkets undertake local sourcing then they are
able to create positive spin-offs to the larger business fraternity, particularly in bringing local Malaysian
SMEs into their Malaysian, regional as well as global supply network.

Such proactive efforts by the large establishments to assist the SMEs would constitute a major and
integral component of their corporate social responsibility.
The Global Supplier Programme (GSP) implemented by SMIDEC aims to develop SMEs to become
suppliers to hypermarkets for their outlets in Malaysian and worldwide. As part of this programme,
SMIDEC collaborates with local and foreign hypermarket chains in Malaysia to identify and recommend
capable SMEs to become their suppliers.

Since its inception in November 2004, a total of 84 SMEs have been linked to and appointed as suppliers
by hypermarkets for food and consumer products. Out of this, six SMEs are supplying products under the
hypermarkets' in-house brands.

SMIDEC's role in this programme is to enhance the capabilities of the SMEs so that their products are
able to meet with the requirements of the hypermarkets. SMIDEC's assistance comes in the form of
financial assistance and technical advisory. This includes assistance to the suppliers in improving their
product quality through :

• Compliance to related standards and certification; and

Besides the programme to enhance product quality, SMIDEC also assists the SMEs to undertake
promotion activities as well as enhancing marketing skills.

The assistance provide by SMIDEC in the form of matching grants and soft loans schemes, which
include :

• Matching Grant for Product and Process Improvement - available for SMEs
to undertake improvement and upgrading activities of its products and
production processes;
• Matching Grant for Certification and Quality Management Systems - to assist
SMEs to acquire international standards and certifications;
• Matching Grant for Enhancing Product Packaging - to facilitate SMEs to
improve product packaging, design and labeling;
• Grant for Enhancing Marketing Skills of SMEs - to assist SMEs to enhance
their marketing skills and strategies;
• Soft Loan for SMEs - to assist SME in project, fixed assets and working
capital financing; and
• Soft Loan Scheme for ICT Adoption - to assist SMEs to utilise ICT to improve
competitiveness, efficiency and productivity.

Malaysian SMEs are encouraged to work closely with retailers to adopt best practices and apply technical
standards of global levels in order to remain competitive.

The standards include :

• Global Standard for Food Safety

• Global Standard for Packaging and Packaging Materials

Risk-based standard covering hygiene, factory standards, process control and quality management
systems.

• Global Standard for Consumer Products

The standard ensures product control through risk management system and appropriate controls of
factory environment, product, process and personnel.

• Global Standard for Storage and Distribution

This includes food and consumer products and recognizes different hygiene risk levels depending upon
the nature of the products handled.

Examples of Certification Bodies in Malaysia with international accreditation are Intertek, BSI, Moody
International, NQA and SGS.

As more SMEs achieve the requisite standards certification and meet all the relevant global standards,
retail establishment such as AEON, must make every effort to source from these companies and to
collaborate with them, in order to strategize on mutually beneficial arrangements.

Eventually, the SMEs must work towards building up their capabilities and efficiency lebels to gain
the confidence of the large companies to incorporate them into the latter's regional and global supply
networks.

INTERNATIONAL RETAIL CHAIN

Retail trade is expected to grow at an average of 6.8 per cent annually during the Ninth Malaysia Plan
period.

For the third quarter of 2007, retail trade grew by 14.9 per cent due to the vibrant performances of
departmental and convenient stores.

In 2006, hypermarket sales accounted for 18 percent of the total sales of the fast-moving consumer
goods (FMGC) in Malaysia .

GROWTH PROSPECTS

Higher disposable incomes, rising urbanisation and changes in lifestyles among the population are
expected to contribute towards the growth in this sub-sector.
Due to changes in demography, consumer behaviour and technology, the sub-sector is expected to
undergo structural changes which will have an impact on its future development, especially in the
traditional forms of doing businesses.

The expected changes include :

• Consolidation and integration of businesses to reap increased economies of

In 2006, 207 projects were approved in the wholesale and retail sectors, with total investment amounted
to RM249.9 million, of which RM98.6 million were domestic investment, and RM151.3 million foreign
investment.