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.