Shah Alam: The trader is expanding in Southeast Asia in 2026, a creed-favurite Malaysian personal care brand under SDN BHD, inspired by its seven-innovative monthly revenue and rising retail appearance.
Co-founder Chev Hoi Meng said that the company has already made an initial inroad in Singapore and Brunei, its next goals are Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines.
“Singapore shows strong potential, but we have not yet had time to focus,” he told that Sunbiz,
Chu said the company is discussing with distributors in Indonesia.
“Indonesia is a large market, but it includes a lot of compliance,” he said, installing hygra in Indonesia would be a major undertaking.
“We may need to spend half of each month on the ground, two weeks in Indonesia and two weeks in Malaysia. Perhaps this is the only way we can create the appearance there.”
Chev said that expanding abroad includes the creation of new teams, localizing the materials and adapting to each country’s digital algorithms and consumer behavior.
“It’s like starting from zero. You have to make everything from scratches,” he said, expressing cautious optimism about the company’s regional ambitions.
Co-founder Ivor Lim said that HyGR will be focused on Malaysia for the remainder of 2025.
Already with monthly revenue in the seven-day range, the company is targeting 100% year-to-year development.
“From the third and fourth quarters, we will launch more products. Last month, we introduced a deodorant perfume spray, which first offers a different application format compared to the balm type,” he said.
Lim said that offline sales are continuously increasing, although it is still very early to judge the long -term trend.
“If we expand our SKU range, the sale and retail appearance will increase with expectation,” he said.
The HyGR is currently available in over 400 Watson outlets and expects to reach the nationwide 800 stores by the end of the year.
“Offline allows customers to try fragrance and texture for individual care products, which is important for personal care products,” Lim said, offline channels also provide direct customer response that enables early formula adjustment.
“We are more agile than big brands. If 20–30% of buyers say something, we can make the next batch a batch,” he said.
However, co-founders admitted that market dynamics were shifting, and continuous innovation would be required to maintain development.
“Online sales are drowned. Compared to last year, we are seeing a decline of 20–30%,” Chu said, citing the growing platform fee and commissions.
“Finally, platforms such as Shopi and Tikokkok may have up to 30% per sales as the terms of offline consignment.”
To attack a balance, HyGR is working towards 50:50 partitions between online and offline sales. “That’s why we are expanding offline channels,” said Chu.
The recent implementation of extended sales and service tax (SST) is also affecting the cost structure of the company.
“Most of our raw materials are imported from Europe and Australia. This 8% SST becomes a direct cost for us,” Chu said.
While the company has not yet increased prices, he estimated that SST could add 2–4% to final product prices.
To reduce the impact, the company is taking cost-management measures, which involves practicing first-in, first-out inventory management, maintaining a one-to-month stock buffer and reducing storage costs.
“We try to customize wherever we can, wherever we can keep the prices stable,” Chu said.
HyGR is also investing in automation to reduce labor costs.
“If five people are used to use a task, we can now use machines to do it with two. The advance cost is high, but more than one to two years, it becomes meaningful.”
The company is also incorporating some local materials for its sunscreen products, such as MCT oil and Langkavi-sour water.
However, co-founders stated that high cost and lack of research and development aid for Malaysian suppliers is a challenge.
“Sourcing is locally something we want to do, but without government support for SMEs and component producers, it is difficult,” Lim said.
