Singapore still a shoppers' heaven
By Imanuddin
Singapore launched its second grand sale on July 14 in an effort to retain its reputation as a shoppers' paradise. A reporter of The Jakarta Post was recently invited by the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board to witness this event. This and the accompanying article are his report.
SINGAPORE (JP): Singapore is still a shoppers' paradise, even in an increasingly freer trade world.
That's the message Singapore tourist authorities are trying to convey to the world as they hold the second Great Singapore Sale.
The one-month bazaar, which began on July 14, offers almost unbeatable discounts on virtually every product.
The famous Orchard Road is now filled with huge signs declaring that the great sale is on, with discounts ranging from 30 to 80 percent, even for brand name products such as Christian Dior, Nina Ricci, Hermes, Bally and Loewe.
Singapore however may have to do more than just offer a wide range of choices and discounts to customers.
It is facing fierce competition to attract tourist dollars by other countries in the region that are equally bent on drawing visitors. Some, consciously or not, discourage their own citizens from spending their money abroad.
Hong Kong, Singapore's chief competitor as a shopping destination, is currently holding a similar campaign called the Super City Summer Sale. Both cities are known as shoppers' paradise because they have no import tariffs.
Slowly but surely, however, they are losing this competitive edge as countries in the region begin to liberalize their own economies and remove import barriers and slash tariffs.
In Indonesia this means more goods are available at relatively lower prices than before. Luxury shopping plazas, previously found only in Singapore, now sprawl across Jakarta and other major cities in the country.
You can find almost anything you need in Jakarta and if you are a sly shopper, you will know where and when to find a good bargain.
More liberalization is on the way with the implementation of the free trade agreements within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), slated to come into full force in 2003, and within the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) by 2020.
So why would anyone from Indonesia go to Singapore to shop?
Singapore authorities are optimistic that the grand sale will prove that the island nation is still, and will remain, an attractive shopping destination.
Official statistics of tourist arrivals, hotel occupancy and tourist spending are encouraging. Last year, 6.9 million foreigners visited the island, a 7.4 percent increase over 1993. Their average length of stay was 3.5 days.
A breakdown of the purpose of their visit further illustrates that they are not simply passing through the island. Of the 6.9 million visitors who arrived last year, 58 percent were on holiday, 13 percent on business, three percent for business and pleasure, and nine percent in transit.
The 74 hotels -- 25,229 rooms -- boasted an average occupancy rate of 86.6 percent last year.
Singapore's five ASEAN partners, Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, together accounted for 31 percent of all foreigners visiting Singapore last year, according to statistics. Although a more specific breakdown is not available, Indonesians are believed to represent a good proportion of this total. Most still came to shop.
The stiffer competition for the "international retail pie" was acknowledged by SRA chairman Teh Ban Lian in his address launching the grand sale on July 14.
Teh also cited a host of other problems plaguing the Singapore retail industry such as decreased consumer and tourist spending, soaring local labor costs, an acute manpower shortage, an oversupply of retail space and the strong Singapore dollar.
Teh however is optimistic that Singapore retailers, with the government's help, will be able to continue to attract foreign shoppers.
The current grand sale is jointly organized by the government- sponsored Singapore Tourist Promotion Board and the Singapore Retailers Association. At least 450 retailers, listed at the association, are participating in this year's sale.
"We have a lot of hard work to do in order to regain our title as a shoppers' paradise," Hassan Kassim, the promotion board's corporate communications officer, said.
To support the campaign, Singapore authorities have decided to change the country's way of receiving tourists. "We no more treat visitors as tourists but as our guests," he said.
Penelope Phoon, executive director of the retailers' association, said in a press interview, that her association expects to establish the Great Singapore Sale as a regular event.
"I can guarantee that all products sold during the Great Singapore Sale here are genuine," she said.
She mentioned several U.S. brand names, which really come from the United States, not from other countries holding licenses for the mass production of the goods.
"Sometimes the quality of U.S. products made outside the United States are not the same as the original ones," she said.
Phoon guaranteed that retailers under the association's umbrella would not cheat customers by marking-up the prices before offering discounts.
"The retailers participated in the Great Singapore Sale have gone through a kind of performance screening before they can be accepted as SRA's members," she said.
Phoon warned that some non-member retailers may try and benefit from the sale by selling copies.
Customers should be the final judge on whether or not they are getting good bargains. "They will certainly judge whether the price discount and the quality of products offered by a retailer is worth to their demand and knowledge," Phoon said.
Shoppers' convenience is another factor that Singapore is paying close attention to.
Singapore is building more hotels. This year, 17 new hotels will open to bring the total number to 91 with 28,859 rooms. By 1998, there will be 113 hotels with 36,102 rooms in Singapore, according to current official projections.
Kassim said Singapore is also building more tourist attractions so that visitors can indulge in activities besides shopping during their stay.
The latest additions to the Singapore's list of major tourist attractions are the Boat Quay and Clarke Quay restaurant complexes along the Singapore river banks.
"We have changed the ugly face of warehouses at the Singapore river edge into the Boat Quay and Clarke Quay restaurant complexes," he said.
"We have completed a number of new tourist spots this year," Phua Shee Ling, a public relation officer at Sentosa Island, said on a separate session.
She cited three additional attractions on the island, the Images of Singapore, Fantasy Island and the Volcano landscape, which were finished this year.
"We also organize night activities on the island, including social dances of our own and of other countries," she said.