Astro’s Go Shop to generate RM500m annual revenue

KUALA LUMPUR: Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd will leverage on its household penetration of 4.3 million to increase market share in the home shopping market and achieve its target of RM500 million annual turnover by 2020 for its home shopping joint venture (JV), Go Shop, said its CEO Datuk Rohana Rozhan.
She said it will capitalise on Astro's retail reach of 17 million consumers to grow the home shopping JV. To date, Go Shop has already attracted 72,000 customers and sold 118,000 products since the soft launch on Nov 1, 2014.
"The strength of our product proposition is bringing the right value to the consumers. From consumers perspective, it is not one size fits all. Go Shop is actually addressing the middle to top end of our consumer base, which is over two million of them. If you look at the purchases, a single purchase ranges between RM200 and RM300. So they are not actually the bargain based type of products, they are fairly premium products. There's always a market for that," she told reporters at the official launch last Friday.
"It (Go Shop) has increased our revenue and in fact, it has surpassed our internal targets at launch. Hopefully the trajectory will continue. Every day we add about 800 new customers which comes on to the service and become active buyers, so what we need to do is provide the right value and experience," she added.
Go Shop is a JV between Astro and Korean multimedia retailer GS Home Shopping Inc. with Astro holding 60% stake and GS Home Shopping holding the remaining 40% stake. The total capitalisation of the JV company is RM70 million.
The new 24-hour shopping service is Astro's first foray into e-commerce and is available on Astro TV (channel 118), Astro On The Go as well as Go Shop's online and mobile platforms.
"For us, it is about the fact that we already have a relationship with over four million Malaysian households and we're not about mass marketing. We're about targeted products and products for targeted customer base," said Rohana.
She said it aims to bring in popular and trusted brands including international, regional and local brands. Currently, 60 products are available on Go Shop, with plans to double this within a year.
Rohana said Malaysians are increasingly connected, savvy and informed, and Go Shop signals Astro's commitment to serve customers better by providing more choice, convenience and experience.
"It also allows us to diversify our business and tap into a growing global industry that is projected to be worth RM3.6 billion in Malaysia by 2020, with online shopping on a rising trend," she added.
GS Home Shopping operates home shopping networks in Korea, Malaysia, China, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Turkey.