Do you even know what a wet market is?
Well, even if you do know, chances are you’ve not been to one in the last twelve months. According to an NEA survey last year, 39% of Singaporeans hadn’t been to one in the last twelve months, and I’m going to assume that the other 61% are primarily the elderly.
Just for your info, it was merely 23% in 2014 and 33% in 2016.
In other words, days of going to the wet market with your parents just to chat with the fishmongers are endangered.
And that’s a problem for the vendors in wet markets, who are usually the elderly.
Number of Wet Markets in Singapore
You can’t blame your absence from a wet market due to their availability: currently, there are 83 wet markets in Singapore, which means one’s usually a five-minute walk away or simply a bus stop away.
There have only been two new wet markets being built after 1985; the rest were built before 1985. And we’re not counting the one in Jurong West that was destroyed in a fire and rebuilt as a new one.
TODAYonline did a report about this phenomenon, and for the lack of a better word, it’s rather depressing.
Lower Footfall = Lower Sales
It doesn’t take a genius to know that when less people visit the wet market, the bottom line of the vendors would be affected.
According to a fishmonger in Tekka Market, her sales dropped by almost 70% in the last few years. A vegetable seller in Ang Mo Kio Blk 409 wet market sees her sales dropped by almost 50%. Another vegetable seller in Yew Tee wet market, which is just beside an MRT station, sees her sales drop by more than 66%.
It’s unknown whether they’re still making a profit given that the drop in sales is pretty drastic, though one of them says that it’s still sufficient for daily needs.
While there’s no survey to show why people are not stepping into wet markets despite the lower price and the opportunity to chat with the friendly sellers, it’s obvious that people are now buying their groceries online or from supermarket, and that less people are cooking at home.
Outlook for the Future
According to a research by IGD Asia, the Singapore grocery market is expected to hit a whopping $9.9 billion in 2023; and chances are the wet market is just a small slice of this cake.
FairPrice and Dairy Farm (that owns Giant) are set to be the leaders. While the traditional trade currently makes up 20% of the total sales, it’s projected that in the next five years, that’s going to change.
Supermarkets are set to grow between 2.5% a year, and we all where that 2.5% would come from.
Currently, Redmart might become the leader in online grocery; the head of Asia-Pacific at IGD said, “All channels are forecasted to boost the value of modern trade, but growth will come mainly from the expansion of online, as retailers invest to meet growing shopper demand. Indeed, online will be the fastest-growing grocery channel in Singapore over the next five years, primarily driven by Alibaba Group through its RedMart store, as well as FairPrice investing more in the channel.”
That means that if you youngsters want to snap an image of history, you might want to head down to a wet market today.
And maybe buy something.
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