Out with old fashion, in with new plans

BEING a traditional business has not stopped textile retailer Zee Shan Impex from acquiring modern digital skills, with some help from the Singapore Malay Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SMCCI).

Zee Shan Impex has been selling Malay and Muslim textiles since the 1960s. Like many traditional businesses, it took a heavy blow when the Covid-19 pandemic began in early 2020, with sales down 80 per cent for 3 months from the start of Singapore’s ‘circuit breaker’ that April. It was not until Hari Raya Puasa that year when the business regained some of its lost footing.

Not giving up without a fight, the third generation owners – 37-year-old Muhammad Fahad Azeem and his 2 brothers – started thinking about what they could sell to capture an online audience.