Great Sale to offer discounts of up to 70%
Arya Abhiseka, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Jakarta Great Sale will be held again this year to celebrate the city's 476th anniversary, and discounts of up to 70 percent will be introduced between June 14 and July 14 to boost business activities.
Governor Sutiyoso is scheduled to officiate on Saturday the opening of the event at Cilandak Town Square in South Jakarta.
Inspired by the success story of similar events in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong, the Jakarta Great Sale will be held for the seventh time this year and is projected to secure Rp 3.6 trillion (US$404 million) in revenue.
Despite criticism that last year's event had a poor public campaign, revenue from the sale amounted to Rp 3.5 trillion, only slightly lower than Rp 3.7 trillion projected, said Pungky Bambang Purwadi, head of the Jakarta Chapter of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin).
"We have assessed our last year's mistakes and are ready to go big this year. We are even optimistic that the revenue can surpass Rp 4 trillion this year," he said.
Moreover, Pungky said the Jakarta Great Sale was made to coincide with the city's anniversary to boost the city's image as a shopping haven for domestic and international tourists.
"We pointed out the success of Cilandak Town Square in boosting its revenue by being open for 24 hours. We will try to propose to the city administration to allow shopping malls to be open for 24 hours during the month of the sale," he said.
He said that the planned event had thus far received great support from businesses, the city administration and the Indonesian Culture and Tourism Agency.
"For example, the city administration will give us a 75 percent discount to hang Great Sale banners all over the city, while the tourism agency paid for our campaign on CNN," he said.
The one-month sale will offer discounted prices of between 20 percent and 70 percent across the city's 100 malls, supermarkets, restaurants, department stores and factory outlets. Garuda Indonesia and several hotels will also offer price cuts to join in the celebration.
Some shoppers complained about last year's event, saying that retailers hiked up the prices of their goods before cutting prices. Retailers were also blasted for selling faulty products.