Research report

Research Report
English 2 (ENGL 0205)
Class Assignment
Phang June Ee (0311954)
Tan Wei How (0310707)
FNBE JAN 2013 - ENGL 0205 English 2 Phang June Ee 0311954 Tan Wei How 0310707

No Content Page
1 Research Proposal 1-2
2 Interview Form 3-10
3 Introduction 11
4 Introduction to the tailor shops 12-13
5 Research Report 14-19
6 Conclusion 20
7 Team Meeting 21-23
8 Appendix 24-25
9 References 26
The Research Proposal
Name: Phang June Ee 0311954
Tan Wei How 0310707
Class: English 2
Period: MON & WEDS/TUES &THURS
INTRODUCTION:
Our research report will focus on comparative research. The main objective of our report is to compare the business
of tailor shop in two different areas, which are Klang Valley and Seremban. Comparing similarities and contrasting
differences will be applied in our report.

Tailor shop is a traditional business in Malaysia. Our report will focus on 4 different tailor shops in Klang Valley and
Seremban. Each area we will choose two different tailor shops respectively.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS:
A. 1. How long does the business started?
2. Which generation is owning the business?
3. What year did the business started?
4. Who started the business?
B. 5. Where are the products marketed to? (Local markets? International?)
6. Who are the main customers?
a. age?
b. gentle?
c. class? (high / medium / low)
d. race?
7. Why attract this kind of customers?
8. What is the average income of the shop?
C. 9. How does the business promote its products?
10. Do you make any advertisement?
11. How does it advertise?
12. Does it advertise?
13. Are the products distributed to various places (e.g. supermarkets, craft markets) or sold only at the business
premise?
14. Why yes? Why no?
D. 15. What/who are the main threats/competition to the trade?
16. How are they threatening the trade?
17. What strategies are employed to counter the threats or competition?
E. 18. What trade-related policies have been put in place by the government so far?
19. What are their impacts on the trade so far?
F. 20. How does technology affect the trade?
a. What are the effects?
b. Which technology has the biggest impact?
c. Is the impact positive or negative?
G. 21. What is the future of the trade?
22. Is the industry growing or stagnating?

23. What are the possible outcomes for this trade in the next 10 years?
24. Is anyone going to take over the business?
METHODOLOGY:
List all your methods one at a time and provide details of when and how you expect to carry out your research
methods.
We will be doing our research by interviewing tailors from Klang Valley and Seremban. After interviewing them, we
will then gather our data and compose it into a report which explains the difference between the tailor from Klang
valley and the tailor from Seremban.
CONCLUSION:
Briefly explain what you expect to accomplish through the above methods and the information that you expect to
obtain by carrying out your plan above.
We will be expecting answers relevant to our research and also lots of information which enable us to
compare the difference between the tailor from Klang Valley and the tailor from Seremban. Besides
that, we are also expecting a warm welcome by the tailors we are going to be interview with.
Interview Forms
FEDERAL: MADAM YENG
50 years
First generation
1963
Madam Yeng

Local
a. age?
30-40
b. gentle?
Female
Medium
d. race?
Chinese
Focus on chinese clothes
RM 10,000
Old customers promoting
Yes
Handing out flyers on the street
Yes
premise?
No
Too busy, can handle
No
No
No
Need license, pay tax
Lesser income
Help sewing

d. What are the effects?
Save time & effort
e. Which technology has the biggest impact?
Sewing machine
f. Is the impact positive or negative?
Positive
Hope to have someone to take over
Growing
Remain unchanged
Workers will take over
AH TONG: MR LOK
36 years
First generation
1978
Lok Ket Tong
Local
a. age?

50 and above
b. gentle?
Male
Medium
d. race?
Chinese, Malay, Indian
Man suits and pants
RM 8,000
No
No
No
premise?
No
The suits have to be tailor-made
No
No
No
Need license, pay tax
Lesser income
Factories produce the clothes
g. What are the effects?
No more tailor-made
h. Which technology has the biggest impact?
Sewing machine
i. Is the impact positive or negative?

Negative
Continue until it ends
Dropping
Remain uchanged
No one
1 Alteration: MADAM LEE
44 years
First generation
1969
Madam Lee
Local
a. age?
All kinds
b. gentle?

Male and female
Medium
d. race?
Malay
More Malay traditional clothes
RM 1,500
Old customers promoting and nice cutting
Yes
Putting a signboard in front of the shop
Yes
premise?
No
No
No
No
No
No
Helps sewing
j. What are the effects?
Sewing becomes much more easier because they’re getting old
k. Which technology has the biggest impact?
Sewing machine
l. Is the impact positive or negative?
positive

Maintaining the same
Depends
Remain unchanged
No
CHIME: MR TAN
13 years
First generation
2000
Mr Tan
Local
a. age?
30-50
b. gentle?
Male

High
d. race?
Malay
Focus on formal clothes, nice cutting
RM 5,000
No
No
No
premise?
No
No
No
No
No
No
Helps to produce better quality of clothing and also save time
m. What are the effects?
Save time and improvement of the quality
n. Which technology has the biggest impact?
Sewing machine
o. Is the impact positive or negative?
positive

Remain unchanged
Nobody
INTRODUCTION
Our group has conducted a research regarding the trade of tailor. What is tailor? Tailor is a
person whose occupation is making fitted clothes such as suits, trousers, and jackets to fit
individual customers. In this era of modernization, people are seeking for convenience when they
purchase the things they want. Most of them would like to buy their dresses from the
hypermarket. Few would go to the tailor for their dresses. They much more prefer to go to the
shopping complex to get their dresses because it’s easier and doesn’t need to be waited.
Therefore, the tailors nowadays are getting lesser and lesser. Although tailors nowadays are
getting lesser, but they still exist due to the demands of the market. Our group has located 2 tailor

shops from Taman Sri Gombak, Batu Caves and 2 tailor shops from Negeri Sembilan. Through
our interview with the tailors, which are the shop owners, we found out that although lesser
people are willing to go to the tailor, but yet some are still making a good living from it. We had
come out with this research report base on the research we did from the 4 tailor shops. They are
Tukang Jahit Ah Tong, Tukang Jahit Federal, Tukang Jahit Chime and.
Introduction to Tailor Shops
Federal Tailor Shop was founded in year 1963
under Madam Yeng with the shop at no. 38
Jalan Manickavasagam, 70200 Seremban,
Negeri Sembilan. Federal has 8 workers, who
are directly employed by the tailor’s shop owner
and have many years’ experiences in working at
the tailor’s. Thus, customers can feel secure about the product quality as well as
the skill of the workers. Federal has been started for 50 years when the Madam

Yeng, the first generation owner is still running the business.
Ah Tong Tailor Shop was started in year 1978 under
Mr Lok Ket Tong with the shop at no. 283, Bandar
Seremban, 70400 Seremban, Negeri Sembilan. Ah
Tong has just only the owner as the tailor, who is
directly giving service to his customers and have
many years’ experiences also in working at the
tailor’s. Thus, customers like the product quality as
well as the skill of the owner. Ah Tong has been
started for 36 years when the Mr Lok, the first generation owner is still running the
business.
1 Alteration Tailor Shop was founded in year 1969 under
Madam Lee with the shop at no. 9 Jalan SG 9/25 Taman Sri
Gombak, 68100 Batu Caves, Selangor. 1 Alteration is just a small
tailor shop run by 2 people whom is the owner, Madam Lee
and her husband. Both of them had been in this industry for
the past 50 years and are good in sewing clothes.

Chime Tailor Shop was founded in year 2000
under Mr. Tan with the shop at no. 39 Jalan
SG 1/5Taman Sri Gombak, 68100 Batu
Caves, Selangor. Chime Tailor Shop has only
one worker, whom is the owner of it, Mr.
Tan. Mr. Tan is producing high quality
clothes, such as the suits and formal shirts.
Resarch Report
Market and Customers
Market and customers are always the most important things to every business. Markets vary in
form, scale, location, and types of participants, as well as the types of goods and services traded.
Customers mean the types of customers to the tailor shops target to of the frequent customers of
the shops. Federal, Ah Tong, 1 Alteration, and Chime are all targeting the same market, which is
the local market. This is probably because the foreigners are not always making clothes in others
country as well as the style of Malaysian clothes are not suitable for them. For the customers,

Federal has more customers, who are between 30 to 40 years old and Ah Tong’s customers are
mostly over 50 years old. 1 Alteration has all kinds of customers from different ages, such as
teenagers, adults, and elderly whereas the range of customers for Chime is from 30 to 50 years
old. Federal’s customers are mostly female because Madam Yeng is more focusing on making
Cheong Sam. Ah Tong and Chime have more male customers because they produce more on
male formal suits and pants. On the other hand, 1 Alteration does its business more widely as his
customers are both female and male. This is because its production on clothes is average but not
just focusing on one side, either female or male. Every tailor shop has different classes for their
production, but in our case, Federal, Ah Tong and 1 Alteration are all on the same class for their
clothes production, which is medium class. So, the pricing for their clothes are more average,
medium and quite affordable for the society in Seremban and Klang Valley. Only Chime is
producing the high-class quality for its formal suits and pants. This makes the pricing to be
higher than other competitors. Federal has more Chinese customers because its owner is 100%
producing Cheong Sam and other Chinese style clothes as well as there are more Chinese
residents around this shop. But for Ah Tong, it has the three races customers, who are Malays,
Chinese, and Indians because the location of this shop is in the market that makes the races to be
more average. 1 Alteration and Chime’s customers are mostly Malay. This is because there are
more Malay residents around that area. For 1 Alteration, its production on Malay traditional
clothes attracts more Malay customers. The main reason of these shops to attract those types of
customers is the style of their clothes they make. Besides, the nice cutting and affordable pricing
also help them to attract their customers. The average income of Federal per month is around
RM 10,000 whereas Ah Tong is around RM8,000. On the other hand, the average income of
Federal per month is around RM 1,500 whereas for Chime is around RM 5,000.

Promoting
Promoting is a very important part for a business. It give publicity to (a product, organization, or
venture) so as to increase sales or public awareness. The three main roles that played by
promoting are to present information to consumers as well as others, increasing demand and
differentiating products. There are different ways to promote a product such as using Internet
advertisement, special events, endorsements, and newspapers to advertise their product. This is
to increase the sales of a given product. All the tailor shops are the old business, so most of them
are not really promoting their products as during their time it is not an effective way. The way
that all these four tailor shops promote their products is the same, which is by their old and
frequent customers, who will promote the products to their friends or family. This helps to
adding new customers to the shops, which is a free promotion for them. Advertising is a form of

promoting and communication to encourage and persuade customers. Federal does its
advertisement by handing out the flyers on the street. This helps to promote its service around
that area so as to increase to customers. Madam Yeng said that her business has been increased
after her advertisement so she would like to continue it at other places. By the same time, 1
Alteration also has its own advertisement, which is putting a signboard in front of the shop.
Customers can get to know more about 1 Alteration after looking at the signboard while passing
by it. After using this type of advertising, there are more new customers going in to 1 Alteration.
For Ah Tong and Chime, the owners are not doing any advertisement for their business because
they think that this is not an effective way to promote their shop but it is a waste of money.
Product distribution is one of the elements of the marketing mix besides product, pricing and
promotion. It is a process of making a product or service available for use or consumption by a
consumer. For example, a shop owner sells his or her products at other places where consumers
can buy it more conveniently.
All the four shops owners are not using this type of marketing mix for their businesses. They are
not distributing their clothes to various places such as supermarket, shopping complex, and night
market. For Federal, 1 Alteration and Chime, the reason that the owner refused to do it is because
they are already too busy to handle their business due to lack of workers. On the other hand, Ah
Tong’s owner refuse to distribute his clothes to other places is because all the clothes in his shop
required to be tailor-made, so the customers have to go to his shop by themselves.

Competitors and Law implemented by the government
Every job has their own competitors including tailors. According to Madam Yeng and Mr. Lok,
the owner of Federal and Ah Tong, they think that they don’t have any competitor, therefore,
their business weren’t threatened. In the other hand, the owner from 1 Alteration and Chime,
Madam Lee and Mr. Tan thinks that the tailor shops nearby are their competitors. Although there
are competitors, but they think that it wouldn’t affect their business because the customers they
having have different demands. Therefore, they aren’t taking any action in order to maintain their
business. Madam Yeng and Mr. Lok, the owner of Federal and Ah Tong said that the
government has implement the law that requires tailor to have a license in order to run their
business and also they need to pay taxes; whereas the owner from 1 Alteration and Chime,
Madam Lee and Mr. Tan said that the government hasn’t really implement any laws regarding
tailor. The consequence that the law implemented by the government is that Madam Yeng and
Mr. Lok have to earn lesser because they need to pay for the taxes and also the license.

Technology and Future
Nowadays, technology is getting more advances. Technology is the application of scientific
knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry. It has provided a better life for
mankind. All of the owners said that technology had really helped them in doing their job in
terms of quality and quantity. Through the help of technology, they now can produce good
quality clothing within a short period of time. It has helped them to save up a lot of time and also
effort. All of them said that the most impact that the technology has brought to the tailor industry
is through the invention of sewing machine. They say that it is definitely a positive effect in this
industry because it has really enlightened their burden.
For the owner of Federal, Madam Yeng was hoping that someone could take over her business in
the future. In the other hand, the owners of Ah Tong, Chime and 1 Alteration, Mr. Lok and Mr.
Tan and Madam Lee will continue the business till it ends. Madam Yeng and Mr.Tan, the owner
of Federal and Chime said that their business is growing consistently, while Mr. Lok the owner
of Ah Tong said that his business is dropping. Madam Lee, the owner of 1 Alteration says that

the business depends on the season. Whenever there is any festival, then the business of her
grows. If there isn’t, then the business maintains the same. All of them said that their businesses
would maintain the same in the future 10 years. Only Federal has someone to take over the
business when the owner retires. The others have no people to carry on their business.
Conclusion
Through this research, we found out that although tailors nowadays are getting lesser, but yet
some of them are still making a good living from it. We also realized that most of the tailors are
similar in terms of the way they promote their business and also their customers. They don’t
really advertise their business through either printed media or electronic media. But yet, people
still know their existence and are willing to pay for a tailor-made cloth. The customers they are
having depends on the area their shops are located. If their shops are located at the residential
area, which is mostly Malays, then their customers will mostly be Malays. Besides that, the
shops we interviewed are all founded by the owner themselves and had run the business for a
long time. Most of them agreed that technology has brought lots of benefits to the industry,
which is saving their effort and time. But, Mr. Lok, the owner of Ah Tong said that technology is
the major factor that caused his business to turn bad. But most of them have one thing in
common, that is nobody is continuing their business except for Federal. Therefore, they hoped
that someone would take over their business and carry on.

Team Meeting
29/4/2013
12.00pm
Taylor’s Library
Meeting called by: Phang June Ee Type of meeting: Discussion of research proposal
Facilitator: Tan Wei How Note taker: Phang June Ee
Timekeeper: Tan Wei How
Attendees: Phang June Ee, Tan Wei How
Please read: Assignment brief
Please bring: -
Minutes
Agenda item: Research Proposal Presenter: Tan Wei How
Discussion: Questions to be asked during interview
Conclusions: Please think of the questions that need to be asked during the interview
Action items Person responsible Deadline
 Questions for the interview Tan Wei How 5/5/2013



Team Meeting
6/5/2013
1.00pm
Taylor’s Library
Meeting called by: Phang June Ee Type of meeting: Discussion of tailor shops
Please read: -
Please bring: -
Minutes
Agenda item: Tailor Shops Presenter: Tan Wei How
Discussion: Which tailor shop are we interviewing with
Conclusions: We will be interviewing with 2 tailor shops from Gombak and 2 from Negeri Sembilan
 Appointment with the owner Tan Wei How 12/5/2013
 Phang June Ee


Team Meeting
13/5/2013
10.00am
Taylor’s Library
Meeting called by: Phang June Ee Type of meeting: Discussion of Research Report
Please read: -
Please bring: Completed interview form
Minutes
Agenda item: Research Report Presenter: Tan Wei How
Discussion: The structure of the research report and combine the data that we gathered from the tailors.
Conclusions: Research Report will be done by next week
 Introduction and conclusion for the report Phang June Ee 19/5/2013
 Research report Tan Wei How 19/5/2013


Appendix
Federal Tailor Shop, Madam Yeng

Ah Tong Tailor Shop, Mr Lok Ket To
C, Madam Lee

Chime Tailor Shop, Mr. Tan
References
1. Bracken, G. B. and Southgate, A. A Walking Tour: Kuala Lumpur (2008)
Marshall Cavendish: Singapore
2. Bailey,S. Academic Writing: A Handbook for International Students 3rd Edition
(2011) Oxford: Routledge
3. The Harbrace Writer’s Handbook, 2nd Edition, (2004) Boston: Thomson Heinle
4. Architecture Heritage Kuala Lumpur – Pre-Merdeka (2007) Kuala Lumpur:
Pertubuhan Arkitek
5. Knapp, R. G. Chinese Houses of Southeast Asia: The Eclectic Architecture of
Sojourners and Settlers (2010) Tokyo: Tuttle Publishing
6. Alred, G.J. et alia, Handbook of Technical Writing, 8th Edition (2006) New
York: St. Martin’s Press
7. Nasution, K. S. and Berbar, H. Heritage Houses of Penang, (2009) Marshall
Cavendish: Singapore
8. Oxford University Press, (2013), General Format.
Retrieved from http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/tailor
Retrieved from http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/technology
Retrieved from http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/promote

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