Singapore, Sept 04: This year's 'Great Singapore Sale' gave a much-needed boost to the island's retail industry and reversed sharp revenue falls resulting from SARS, an industry group said today. The Singapore Retailers Association (SRA) said in a statement that revenues of participating establishments rose by an average of 15 per cent during the heavily-promoted shopping festival in the first two weeks of July.
More than half of the retailers who responded to a survey saw a sales increase, with the highest reported at 59 per cent. The city-state's retail and tourism industries were ravaged by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) from march to may as people stayed home for fear of contracting the disease.
"At the height of the SARS crisis, stores turned into ghost towns as shoppers stayed away from crowded places... Retailers saw sales plunge as much as 70 per cent," SRA's executive director Lau Chuen Wei said. But she said retailers managed to turn the tide by slashing prices sharply.
"Even consumers told us that the offers this year were truly unbelievable," Lau said.
Another 22 per cent of respondents maintained their sales turnover, compared with last year's sale.
The increases helped to boost total retail sales for June to 1.9 billion Singapore dollars (1.09 billion US), a 9.6 per cent increase year-on-year. Bureau Report