HOME-FIX was started by my brother, Low Cheong Yew and myself in 1993. With 16 years in the market, we've gone through the Asian financial crisis in 1997, the dot-com bubble burst in 2000, then Sars later in 2003. Because we serve the local domestic market, we haven't been adversely affected by the past downturns or this current recession - yet.
It helps that we have a good track record with all our local and oversea suppliers, and we collect cash from our customers. We are careful with our expansion plans so that we don't overstretch our resources. In fact, in 2003, when there was the Sars virus, we found more Singaporeans staying at home and undertaking more DIY and home-improvement projects, such as painting and gardening.
Our sales has so far been 'flat'; there has not been any major dip. The fact that our product offerings and services are basic household items, people do still pick them up from us when they have to deal with a leaking tap, a choked pipe or a blown light bulb. While our smaller products are picking up, we have noticed that big ticket items sales are slowing.
We intend to stay relevant to our customers in every way by offering better services and fair price products. So we are going 'back to basics' with our product offerings and solutions in our outlets. We have cut back on the $400 robotic intelligent brooms and are selling the basic brooms that cost below S$10.00. I think Singaporean are very practical people - yet still proud of their homes - and with more time on their hand (less overseas travels and unfortunately for some employees, shorter work-weeks), if we price ourselves our products and services right, I am sure that more will take to DIY-ing.
As part of of our corporate social responsibility efforts, we adopted the 'Go Green' message in 2008 and I think this has given us a sound footing to tide through the current crisis. We are maintaining the campaign this year and we hope this message will help our consumers save money in these difficult times. People are cutting back on their travel and I hope they will undertake more DIY projects. Instead of getting contractors to do the jobs, they can try DIY and save money. I personally think that there is a higher sense of satisfaction when projects are DIYed. Better yet, it may help families bond while they are at it.
For us, therefore, this crisis might throw up some opportunities if we play our cards right.
Giving up on the business was never on our minds. I believe that we are in a sunrise industry. As the population gets more educated, I think the culture towards DIY-ing will get more pervasive. Most contractor are not interested in doing small jobs or the price quoted is not economical. It is also getting harder to find good and reliable tradesman or handyman.
This recession will be more drawn out and will affect more people. While we have not yet been as adversely affected as some of the other industries, we are not perfectly recession-proof either. As a retailer, the increased rentals especially in the first half of last year has been particularly painful. We will monitor the sale and occupancy ratio closely and work with our landlords to mitigate any major dip.
The government's budget announcement in January has helped Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and many companies to buffer the full impact of this slowdown. The SPUR programmes allow us to send our staff for upgrading. The Jobs Credit Scheme has also been helpful. We have always believed in constantly upgrading ourselves as a company - investing in our people's training, our IT systems, Customers Relationship Management programme. Having a web presence and branding has strengthen our position.
Now, if only the landlords will be a bit more forthcoming with their rental rebates.
