OMG, another 2 popular retail brands are exiting S’pore: New Look & Celio

Last Updated on 2016-05-19 , 1:43 pm

It seems like the retail scene in Singapore is so competitive that international brands have been coming and going.

Just a few days back, we published an article about the quiet exit of Smoothie King in Singapore that had created some sort of hoo-ha: the brand was set to be the next big thing, since anything pertaining to food and health would usually be successful in Singapore. But here’s the thing: it’s retail, and therefore, it still did not escape the clutches of the competitiveness.

Today, we were once again informed of two major brands that would be exiting Singapore: New Look and Celio   .

Both New Look and Celio are under the same distributor, Jay Gee Melwani Group. The company also distributes other brands in Singapore, namely Aldo, Levi’s, Dockers, Aeropostale, Converse and Holland & Barrett. According to the managing director of the company, the sales were not there and costs were high, which led to the decision to close the two brands in the second half of the year.

According to the media, the key factors to retail shops closing are due to competition from e-commerce, weak consumer sentiment and rising business costs.

On the other hand, spending in e-commerce in Singapore has increased exponentially. Before 2010, online shopping is less than $1 billion dollar per year, and the amount has increased to almost $3 million in 2014. It is projected that by 2020, the amount would be a whopping $6 billion.

And let’s face it: where did you get your latest T-shirt from?

With these figures, no one would be surprised that more retail stores are closing, even the established ones.

The Facebook Pages of New Look and Celio (targeted to Singaporeans) are still active, but there has been no mention of any closing down sale yet.

Maybe, just maybe, it will be done online?