Crabtree & Evelyn S’pore Allegedly Going to Close All Stores After Decline in Traditional Retail

By
George Yang
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Shark Tank is a US reality TV show, in which small business owners or startups pitched their ideas to potential investors.

The investors, also known as “Sharks”, are well-known entrepreneurs who are either millionaires or billionaires.

If you’ve watched it, you’ll see a common trend among the investors (who are of course business-savvy people): whenever the small business owners or startups want to sell their products though traditional retail outlets, the Sharks would strongly discourage that direction. In fact, there were cases whereby the Sharks set a condition before they invest: the entrepreneurs are to continue selling their products via online channels and never go to retail.

Other than a higher profit margin, and that common “you’re going to be crushed like a cockroach by the big boys if you go retail”, the Sharks, and any sane businessperson, would know this: brick and mortar is dying.

Anyone who desires to go retail is either just trying to fulfil some egoistic needs (you know, telling the world that your product is in a supermarket) or he/she isn’t business-savvy.

And it seems like Crabtree & Evelyn gets the memo.

Crabtree & Evelyn, The Body, Fragrance & Home Care Queen

If you still visit shopping malls (good for you; you’ve a life!), you’d have come across many Crabtree & Evelyn outlets in Singapore.

Conveniently located almost everywhere, they’re the to-go for some high-SES body lotion or their ever-popular hand-cream. In fact, some people swear by their soap because no one does it better than them (or so they said).

Initially called The Soap Box back in 1968, it took the name of Crabtree & Evelyn since 1971.

By 2009, the company has started to face some problem globally: it filed for bankruptcy in the US and 30 out of its 126 outlets were closed in the US, though its operations elsewhere weren’t affected.

It was soon bought over by a company in Hong Kong, and stores in the UK started to close as well due to the lack of profits and high rental costs.

But what prompted a new problem is its latest problem in Canada.

Canada Crabtree & Evelyn Filed for Bankruptcy Protection in Canada

In a news that shocked (or never shocked) the world, Crabtree & Evelyn announced that they had filed for bankruptcy protection in Canada and is closing down all its 19 stores in Canada.

The reason? Changing consumer demand, rise of e-commerce and decline in traditional retail  traffic.

What a surprise.

123 people would therefore lose their job.

But of course, everyone’s wondering: How about Singapore?

Crabtree & Evelyn Allegedly Want to Move Fully Online Instead

Well, for a start, there are massive discounts in Crabtree & Evelyn recently.

While businesses tend to have sale at the end of the year and the beginning of the year to suck people’s bonuses attract new customers, you’ve got to wonder if it has anything to do with the global financial problem they’ve facing.

In their social media accounts, there has not been any indication of any impending closure. However, according to Daily Vanity, sources told them that Crabtree & Evelyn might eventually close all their shops in Singapore and go fully online.

In a comment on Mustsharenews.com Facebook Page, someone also claimed that a staff allegedly mentioned that they would be closing down.

So, if you’ve got some good memories in Crabtree & Evelyn boutiques, you might want to head down to any outlet and relive your memories.

Oh, wait. Maybe you should call them up before making your way to any outlet.

And I bet my boss’s car that soon, it’s going to go fully online because like what any investor in Shark Tank would say, “Stay online and you’ll go big.”

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George Yang
Email: [email protected]