Commentary: It is time to get customers excited once more in regards to the Nice Singapore Sale

HOW TO REVIVE THE GSS

Regardless of the attractiveness of e-commerce, the pandemic saved shoppers away from bodily shops for the previous two years and extra. Measures like checking in at each retailer with SafeEntry or TraceTogether deterred some customers from casually getting into a store to browse.

Now that the majority COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted, shoppers could yearn to go to brick-and-mortar shops as soon as extra – to attempt on sneakers, contact the fabric of clothes or really feel how the newest cell phone sits of their arms, earlier than finalising a purchase order.

Whereas on-line procuring engages us by way of sight and sound, retailers can search to have interaction the opposite senses: Scent, style and contact. Pop-up meals stalls, restaurant weeks and carnivals can entice prospects again to the shops.

It may be difficult to compete with on-line procuring platforms solely on reductions and offers. As a substitute, retailers may look past that to think about how one can create an built-in retail expertise, equivalent to issuing e-vouchers for redemption at bodily shops, or collaborating with F&B institutions to advertise cross-category consumption, equivalent to providing eating vouchers with a minimal in-store retail spending.

Youthful shoppers who contemplate on-line procuring a lifestyle might be drawn in by novel retail experiences that would embrace augmented actuality, artwork installations or livestreaming. Experiences that entertain them and supply shareable content material lean into the habits of the digital natives.

The GSS doesn’t have to slip into irrelevance. Concerted efforts are wanted to re-establish the distinctiveness and vibrancy of this nationwide procuring occasion. It’s excessive time to place the nice again into the GSS once more.

Charlene Chen is Assistant Professor of Advertising, Nanyang Enterprise College, Nanyang Technological College, Singapore. Elison Lim and Kuangjie Zhang are Affiliate Professors of Advertising on the similar College.