Online home services marketplace Kaodim has announced its closure, with operations set to cease in all four of its key markets in Southeast Asia, namely Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines. This will take effect starting from 1 July 2022.

In an official note on the Kaodim blog, co-founder and chief executive officer Choong Fui Yu expressed heartfelt regret at the decision, but said that the business had been badly affected by previous Covid-19 lockdowns. This is despite a strong recovery after the reopening of Malaysia’s economy.

“The prolonged Covid lockdowns and their ‘knock on’ effects in the form of operational disruptions, labour shortages and higher running costs (especially on the service provider side) have significantly impacted our business and the quality of service we are able to deliver. More recently, these challenges have compounded further with inflation and rising costs. This has affected customer demand, service provider fulfilment, margins and in turn, our earnings,” said Choong, adding that against this backdrop, Kaodim was unable to grow meaningfully for the long-term.

With this, users’ registered accounts and data will be deleted from Kaodim’s database by the end of June 2022. Meanwhile, any bookings that were made for dates beyond 1 July will no longer be managed by Kaodim. Instead, customers are required to contact with and make their payments directly to the service providers engaged.

Choong further commented that he was proud of various things that Kaodim had been able to achieve through its business, including delivering first-class home services to its customers. On top of that, it created job and business opportunities worth hundreds of millions for its service providers, as well as empowered and helped them improve their craft.

“We are tremendously proud of everything we have achieved, and forever grateful to all of you who came along with us on this journey,” Chong stated. He also noted that Kaodim will honour its obligations to its employees by “providing all we can in notice and severance payments”.

Kaodim first opened its doors in Malaysia back in 2014, and was able to hit US$10 million in gross merchandise volume (GMV) within just the first four months. Subsequently, it obtained several rounds of funding to expand its business further across Southeast Asia.

(Sources: Kaodim, Lowyat.NET)

• TAGS:
• Choong Fui Yu
• E-Commerce
• E-Commerce Platforms
• Kaodim
• Online Home Services Marketplace