Ca-Mie De Souza, Channel NewsAsia 1 Jan 09;
SINGAPORE: With the economic downturn, Singaporeans may have a sense of deja vu when Christmas comes around at the malls in 2009.
CapitaMall Trust, which has 13 malls under its charge, said even though its budget for Christmas 2008 and Lunar New Year 2009 decorations was not trimmed, all the malls will switch to their Lunar New Year look seamlessly to be more cost-efficient.
At the same time, it added that the amount that will be set aside for decorations may change this year – a sentiment shared by some other retailers.
Gerard Goh, manager, Sales Promotions, Isetan Singapore, said: "We tried to scale back, but 2009 would be the year when we would seriously consider – as far as decorations go – how we can do it creatively and provide the same feel for our customers."
The Isetan store recycled its Christmas-themed decor between its urban and suburban stores last year, and as part of the store's energy-saving bid, baubles outside Isetan were only lit up at night.
Despite cost-saving measures all round, some nursery operators in Singapore have reported better sales during the year-end festive period in 2008. With the Lunar New Year celebrations coming up, what can consumers expect?
Peter Cheok, sales & marketing director, FarEastFlora, said: "Over the course of the next two weeks, we'll bring in the entire range of new year plants, so we're building up the products in stages.
"We try to maintain the prices every year so that customers know what to expect. Of course, there will be a couple of items that will be priced differently because of increasing costs."
But if one is keen to hunt around, there may well be bargains to be had.
- CNA/so
