Retailers in Singapore should step up their game including offering value-added services, as a rapid transit system with Johor Bahru that is expected to start operating in 2026 pits them against their lower-priced counterparts in Malaysia’s second-largest city.
“Try not to hold back consumers from what is going to be, ultimately, normal behaviour in the future,” Mário Braz de Matos, co-founder and managing partner at ad agency Flying Fish Lab, told Singapore Business Review. “We’re not going to prevent people from going over to Johor. We have to live with it.”
He said Singaporean retailers could remain competitive by enticing consumers, whether Johoreans or locals, with additional services.
“What I think businesses have to do is to think from a challenger mindset perspective,” de Matos said. “If you’re selling apparel, you can’t compete with the prices in Johor, but you can provide advice to customers.”
DBS expects Singaporean retailers to lose as much as 4% of their sales — equivalent to $2.1b in 2023 — as more citizens make more trips to Johor Bahru for shopping.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة Issue No. 109 من Singapore Business Review.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة Issue No. 109 من Singapore Business Review.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
How TikTok powers cross-border shopping for Singapore retailers
The yellow basket feature allows viewers to purchase items directly during livestreams.
Income Insurance seeks to fill billion-dollar financing gap in climate transition
The region skimmed its carbon intensity by 2.8%, far below the 17.2% needed.
SIDS fights misconceptions in interior design with accreditation, education
The organisation is setting up a digital platform to speed up accreditation from 6 to 2 months.
IHH's proton therapy takes aim at tumours with precision and low risk
Leaving surrounding organs at risk during cancer treatment might become a thing of the past.
SingPost pivots from mail to logistics as e-commerce demand drives growth
It is banking on e-commerce to drive its logistics unit, which accounts for 69% of revenue.
Singapore needs SEA neighbours to power renewable energy transition
Experts favour Malaysia and Indonesia as renewable energy import sources.
Singapore's architecture blueprint spurs push to tackle brain drain in other sectors
Paying the country's architects just right will hopefully stop the brain drain.
Millionaires eye a piece of Singapore's rich colonial era
The country's remaining 6,500 shophouses are in high demand amongst the ultra-rich.
HDB resale portal unlikely to cut out property agents
The portal enables sellers to list their units themselves.
Factory and retail spaces shine as housing heads for worst market slump in 16 years
Its manufacturing and tourism rebound will spur demand for industrial and high-street shops.