KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 6 — The Small and Medium Enterprises Association (Samenta) has asked the government to investigate why p-hailing companies are charging small and medium enterprises (SMEs) up to 32 per cent in commission against only 5 per cent in other countries.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Transport Minister Anthony Loke are scheduled to meet p-hailing industry players on Tuesday to find out if the p-hailing players can pay their riders more and provide better welfare.
“But it is not only the riders finding themselves at the losing end of commercial arrangements with p-hailing companies,” Samenta chief Datuk William Ng said.
“For years, SMEs have been lamenting extortionist rates charged by these players. A typical streetside stall that wants to join the platforms needs to pay a staggering 32 per cent of commission to these companies,” he said in a statement today.
He said if a stall owner is to participate in promotions offered by the platform owners, they have to pay up to another 30 per cent in commission or their stalls will be less visible on the platforms.
Most SMEs have no choice but to increase prices on these platforms to cover commission costs, resulting in Malaysians paying anything from 10 to 100 per cent more when buying off these platforms compared with direct purchases from merchants, said Ng.
“On the pretext of supporting innovation and encouraging greater digitalisation and e-commerce, these p-hailing operators have escaped regulatory oversight, and have victimised and enslaved the very industry they purportedly support.
“What is shocking to most SMEs is that these same players are charging as low as 8 per cent in commission to larger chain restaurant owners – indicating perhaps these companies can be profitable at that commission level,” said Ng.
He said Chinese shopping platform Meituan charges a maximum of 12 per cent in commission while remaining profitable.
“And on a recent trip to Vietnam, I discovered that Grab heavily subsidises transport and food delivery services.
“For example, a 2 kilometre ride in a car in Ho Chi Minh City cost me 21,000 Vietnamese dong (about RM4), while a similar ride from Wisma Genting to Menara Maybank in Kuala Lumpur cost RM16 on ‘surge’ pricing — that is 400 per cent the fare in Vietnam,” he said.
Ng said encouraging greater variety of choice and competition within the p-hailing industry is crucial.
“If that is not possible due to the monopolistic/oligopolistic nature of the industry, then it is time to consider breaking up these players by limiting their ability to service multiple industry sectors and/or limit their commissions via legislation,” he said.
— Bernama
