Are Malaysian Bumiputera Grocery Retails Still Relevant? Consumers’ Perpective in Sarawak.
Michael Tinggi, Shaharudin Jakpar, Stephanie Beremas Padang

Abstract
The long history of multilateral economics nexus among the early settlers of Sarawakians has seen the mushrooming of supermarkets and rising population of affluent society. The study is intended to evaluate retailing relevance based on customers’ satisfaction in the short term, and customers’ continuous support for existence and survival of the Malaysian bumiputera retailers in the long term. The study is primarily focused on consumers residing in Sri Aman, a town which is predominantly rural based and the other part which is more plural-oriented, are consumers residing at the city of Kuching, Sarawak. About 270 over structured questionnaires were distributed and collected from randomly selected respondents from these two main areas. Empirical studies show that consumers in the rural areas are more inclined to buy from bumiputra grocery stores. However, the consumers in the city adopt a different trend, as the latter are more apt to shop at the mega stores. There exists a continuity of consumers buying practice in the rural areas, implying long run relevance. In the city, the urban bumiputera retailers have to be receptive to consumers needs for satisfaction, and to embrace the new art of trading and strategizing in order to remain relevant.

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