Singapore: This year's Christmas season the best retailers have seen in years

Channel NewsAsia 28 Dec 07;

IKEA also tries to marry consumerism with green practices, offering a S$10 voucher for every live Swedish Christmas tree that is returned to the store. The trees will be sent to a recycling company and processed as wood chips for the soil.

Last year, of the 1,500 trees sold, about 50 were returned.

SINGAPORE : The Christmas season is always associated with shopping, and retailers have said that this year's season is one of the best they have seen in recent years.

It is the season for shopping, and this year, retailers said shoppers seemed to have returned with a vengeance.

Isetan, for example, said that usual sales figures for the festive season can go up to twice its monthly earnings.

With its current post-Christmas sale, it is expecting more good tidings.

Gerard Soh, Sales Promotion Manager, Isetan Singapore, said, "Generally, (sales) have been improving for the entire year and we hope to see a better response next year. That is more challenging though. But with good economic growth, yes we are seeing good customer response".

IKEA said some 850,000 people have walked through its stores in Alexandra and Tampines since its Christmas campaign was launched on November 16.

That is a 25 percent increase compared to an average month.

Lars Svensson, Country Marketing Manager, IKEA, said, "We have the best traffic we have ever had, but this is also possibly due to the fact that we opened a new store last year on 30 November. So if we compare with only one store, definitely we have the best year ever."

The increase in traffic has translated to better sales for the store.

Its Swedish Food market too had better-than-expected demand, and many products were sold out before Christmas.

The home furnishing retailer also tries to marry consumerism with green practices, offering a S$10 voucher for every live Swedish Christmas tree that is returned to the store.

The trees will be sent to a recycling company and processed as wood chips for the soil.

Last year, of the 1,500 trees sold, about 50 were returned.

IKEA hopes to double the number of trees returned this year.

Retailers said the good year-end performance is on top of a 10 percent growth that they have seen so far this year, and the strong purchasing power is expected to continue till next year. - CNA/ms