Retailers told to step up as RTS link with Johor Bahru looms

Shops should add value and cut costs to battle their lower-priced rivals.

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.