S'pore retailers fight slump with govt help

S'pore retailers fight slump with govt help

SINGAPORE (DPA): Singapore's slumping retail sector is to
receive a boost from a new government a program, reports said
yesterday.

In future, retailers who provide consistently good customer
service will be given free publicity by the state Singapore
Tourist Promotion Board (STPB).

"STPB will help market them to the world," Trade and Industry
Minister Yeo Cheow Tong said of the chosen stores.

The government's action came in response to recent meetings
between the government and members of the Singapore Retailers'
Association, in which the businessmen voiced their alarm and
asked for help.

Once considered a low-priced shopping haven Singapore was once
a place tourists visited specifically to spend money on bargains
such as cameras, electronic goods and garments.

But soaring prices and a worsening reputation for rude and
incompetent sales staff have hit the island republic's vital
tourist shopping industry hard, particularly in the past year.

But a number of factors are turning tourists and local
shoppers away from Singapore's glitzy boutiques and malls.

Analysts cite an oversupply of retail space, coupled with
rising rents, as among the main problems facing the industry.

Rising wages, a strengthening Singapore dollar and a shortage
of labor are also blamed, along with the decline in Singaporeans'
disposable incomes due to the rising costs for cars and property.

Meanwhile, tourists and Singaporeans alike are being drawn to
better deals in neighboring countries including Malaysia and
Indonesia.

A global trend toward free trade is also expected to affect
Singapore's retail industry, which long enjoyed the comparative
advantage of being a free port.

"The savings proposition on comparable designer merchandise
has eroded and will continue to erode as duties and tariffs
around the world are either reduced or eliminated," Steve
Franklin, an officer at Duty Free Singapore, said.