8 Interesting Facts About Challenger That You Probably Didn’t Know Of

With so many stores popping up all over Singapore, Challenger needs no introduction. Way before the chain came to our little red dot, the only place to get our IT gadgets were from the then popular Sim Lim Square.

So, what do you know about Challenger, except that it’s challenging Sim Lim Square for a big slice of the IT retail market?

It is actually a home-grown business
Started in 1984 by Mr Loo Leong Thye, you might think that with the atas name, strong marketing and fast growth, it’s apparently an MNC that stepped in to Singapore. Well, no—not only is it a local business, it could well be older than you.

It is a listed company
The company is listed in Singapore in 2004, with net earnings of $18.3 million in 2015, which is 22% more than what it earned in 2014. The total revenue in 2015 is $352.2 million—guess one of us would have contributed to that.

Valore is its house brand
If you step into a Challenger shop, you’ll see lots of Valore items. The brand belongs to Challenger, and it’s just good business sense that they’re usually shelved strategically in the shops. In fact, this home-grown brand is so popular that it has its own retail shops in Parkway Parade, Tampines Mall and Northpoint.

Challenger isn’t just about selling IT gadgets in stores
While Challenger is well-known to be a retailer, the company has subsidiaries that conduct other businesses. One of it is CBD eVision Pte Ltd that installs electronic signage, and of course, another good example would be Valore.

They have about 1/2 million members just in Singapore
In other words, 1 in 10 people in Singapore is a ValueClub member. If you’ve been to Challenger, you’ll understand why: the discounts for members are so attractive that it’s tempting to join even if you’re just buying a pack of batteries.

It’s moving aggressively into e-commerce
Just like any major retailers, they’re shifting towards e-commerce. Last year, they invested $20 million into a unit called Challenge Ventures which is primarily focused on e-commerce. In April this year, they launched their online store, hachi.tech, and have allocated $100 million to grow its online store. In fact, they’ve such high hopes for it that they project about 50% of their revenue will be from their online portal in the next three to five years.

A retail giant pushing millions of dollars into the online store—small online shops in Shopify should be shivering now.

They’ve just set up an e-commerce in Malaysia
On 1 September 2016, a new company was formed in Malaysia, most likely as an online store catered for Malaysians. Now you know why millions were spent on e-commerce!

Despite the grooming retail scene, Challenger’s sales grew instead
While other retailers close shop, or push the blame to “greedy landlords”, Challenger grew its sales instead. It has 8% more revenue in the first half of 2016 compared to the same period in 2015. Whoever says brick and mortar is dead should really read Challenger’s financial report.

Featured Image: insideretail.sg

This article was first published on Goodyfeed.com