Do Singaporeans know their local retail brands?
We showed a list of 37 local retail brands to a group of Singaporeans and asked how many originated from Singapore.
The answer? Only 8 out of the 37.
Although respondents recognised most of the names of the brands listed, there was a resounding, “I didn’t know that”, upon finding out that they were all in fact, home-grown brands.
Well, GET SINGAPORE hopes to change just that.
Launched in March this year by SPRING Singapore and our local retail industry, GET SINGAPORE serves as a centralized marketing platform to showcase our local retail merchandise brands under a collective umbrella brand.
Our mission is to inspire local brand loyalty amongst Singaporeans and create higher brand awareness of local products. In tandem with this initiative, we also want to promote Singapore as a place that’s known for superb design, high quality products, authentic merchandise and innovative retail ideas.
Currently, 37 local brands have signed up for the initiative. They range from the gamut of established brands such as Eu Yan Sang, bYSI, Charles & Keith, RISIS, STUDIOTANG to SME brands such as Pure Earth (fashion apparel), Tessere (handbags), March (jewellery) and OZOZOsac (wallets).
With such a diverse range of product categories available, we decided to structure them under three distinct categories – GET Style, GET Life and GET Hooked. GET Style consists of fashion apparel, jewellery, footwear, handbags and cosmetics; GET Life covers furniture, home ware, stationery and travel; while GET Hooked focuses on wellness, gifts, music and collectibles.
We’re hoping that this collective branding will encourage Singaporeans to be proud of their local brands and give the local industry their utmost support.
GET SINGAPORE is only 7 months old, but the initiative has already gained considerable traction through various promotional activities with partners. This included a joint promotion with MasterCard during the Great Singapore Sale and participation in Singapore Tourism Board’s ‘2009 Reasons’ to visit Singapore campaign. Future collaborations with other international meetings and tradeshows are in the works as well.
With these measures in place, we hope in the near future you won’t be stuck when someone asks you about Singapore brands. Instead, your response would be a confident, “I already knew that!”