Jakarta Great Sale campaign has few enthusiasts

Jakarta Great Sale campaign has few enthusiasts

JAKARTA (JP): Aiming to become as successful as the annual
event in Singapore, the one-month Jakarta Great Sale has turned
out to be a dud as it did not significantly affect the number of
visitors or boost revenue for mall vendors.

The Jakarta Great Sale has been held in 17 shopping malls
across the city since it began on June 14 and it will end on
Saturday. But the event will be officially closed on July 19 by
Governor Sutiyoso at Mal Kelapa Gading in North Jakarta.

This has actually been the eighth time the promotion was held,
but it was called the Jakarta Great Sale for the first time this
year. It was previously called the Discount Fair or Shopping
Festival.

The event was a joint effort between the Indonesian Chamber of
Commerce and Industry (Kadin), with PT Sarinah, Panorama
Communication, the Association of Indonesian Shopping Center
Operators (APPBI), the Association of Garment and Accessories
Suppliers (APGAI), the Association of Indonesian Retailers
(Aprindo) and the Association of Indonesian Direct Sellers
(APLI).

However, the event has failed to generate a significant
increase in the number of visitors or revenue during the sale.

Marketing Communication manager of Supermal Karawaci in
Tangerang G.E. Jannywati said on Wednesday that the number of
visitors coming to the mall had increased three times from 30,000
to 90,000 a day over the past week.

"But I guess that's not because of the event, but because of
school holidays," she said.

Agustin Ayuningtyas, the marketing division head of Pasar
Festival in Kuningan, South Jakarta, said that there had been no
significant increase in the number of visitors nor revenue during
the event.

But according to Agustin, the school holidays was the reason.

"Many parents took time off from work so that they could go
out of town with their children to spend their holidays," she
said.

The event also seems to have lacked in promotion as many
people had no idea about the event.

A woman visiting Supermal Karawaci on Wednesday said that she
went to the mall every weekend with her children.

"Great Sale? Oh, I thought the mall was having just a regular
sale," she said.

According to the managing director of Panorama, Rocky B.
Kalalo, the problems were a result of a lack of preparation in
organizing the event.

"Kadin appointed us as the organizer only two months before it
(the event) happened," he said on Wednesday.

Another problem, he said, was the lack of help from the
government, or in this case the city administration.

"Not one single penny came from the government. They should
have given the malls a tax break, so that they wouldn't have had
any losses from giving discounts," Rocky said.

As a result, he added, several malls such as Plaza Senayan in
Central Jakarta and Mal Pondok Indah in South Jakarta refused to
join the Jakarta Great Sale.

"Some malls who took part in this event had to mark up the
prices first before giving discounts. If not, they would have
lost out," Rocky said.

Corporate secretary of PT Sarinah Yesaya Christian Oenas said
that Sarinah, located on Jl. M.H. Thamrin in Central Jakarta,
enjoyed a 10 percent to 15 percent revenue hike.

However, he said, they had to spend extra money on promoting
the sale, especially because his company sponsored the event.

"We could have at least gotten a tax break for the banners.
But they wouldn't give us one. The city administration was too
afraid it would lose revenue. It doesn't have any business
perspective," he said.

"If mall owners had been exempt (from the taxes), the event
would have been more lively," he added.

Rocky said the executives in city administration did not give
their full support to the sale.

"Unfortunately, their subordinates in the field did not
conduct this event properly. They even tried to make money out of
it," he said.

"Hopefully next year, the event will be better organized and
have more support," Rocky said.(hdn)