Source : Business Times – 22 Sep 2009
But shorter road closures will lessen damage, they say
Retailers are bracing themselves for a rough ride when road closures kick in to facilitate the setting up and dismantling of race infrastructure for the 2009 Formula 1 (F1) Singapore Grand Prix.
While the road closures at the Marina Bay area have been whittled down from 12 days to seven this year – from midnight on Sept 23 until Sept 29 – retailers in the area are already battling weak consumer sentiment and competition from new kids on the block such as Ion Orchard and Orchard Central.
‘The Marina Bay precinct such as Suntec City and Marina Square are already facing a decline in traffic as consumers are drawn to the new malls on Orchard Road,’ said a spokesperson for Wing Tai Retail, whose portfolio includes G2000 and Topshop.
Not to mention the fact that ticket inventory for this year’s F1 race stands at 83,000, which suggests a smaller captive audience trawling the area over the race weekend (Sept 25-27) compared to the 100,000 strong crowd last year.
Race promoter Singapore GP has also said that, unlike the inaugural race, it does not expect a sell-out crowd this year.
‘Coupled with the weak economic and consumer sentiments, we foresee the F1 closure this year to impact business more severely, despite a shorter closure period,’ added Wing Tai.
‘During the closure, you will see a dip for sure,’ said Joyce Lee, assistant vice-president (communications) for food and beverage group Apex-Pal International which owns brands such as Sakae Sushi.
Last year, its Hibiki restaurant at the Singapore Flyer saw sales take a hit of more than 50 per cent.
‘We’ve actually had a lot of enquiries from customers who want to come and dine at Hibiki during the race weekend this year,’ Ms Lee added. However, the restaurant will have to turn these prospective patrons away, since access to the Flyer is limited to Zone 1 and Zone 2 F1 ticket holders during the race weekend. This will no doubt prove to be an additional burden, since the Flyer was open to all race-goers during the inaugural race.
Lifestyle group RSH – whose brands include Mango, Zara and Massimo Dutti – expects poorer sales within the circuit to be offset by a stronger performance in some of its other outlets.
‘Although our Orchard Road stores may experience some increase in footfall, our stores located within the F1 circuit are expected to be adversely impacted by the road closures. We do not expect to see any significant gain in sales during the F1,’ said a spokesperson for RSH.
Still, retailers reckon that the shorter span of road closures will definitely help mitigate some of the damage.
‘We hope it (sales) will be good,’ said Tan Yew Kiat, general manager of home-grown fashion chain Bysi.
Others, such as general manager for Oris Singapore, Paul Phua, are hopeful that consumers will now know from experience that the Marina Bay area remains open for business.
‘For the first race, people were not clear logistics-wise. Other areas like Orchard definitely benefited,’ he said.
And armed with last year’s experience, industry players are pulling out the stops to shift sales into overdrive.
Oris ambassador and AT&T Williams F1 driver Nico Rosberg will make an appearance at a private event hosted by Oris today. Oris has also set up a road-show at Raffles City to drum up awareness.
Wing Tai Retail will take 15 per cent off regular-priced items for race goers who shop at its Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Warehouse stores, while The Sunglasses Hut is offering 15 per cent off to any F1 ticket holders who purchase sunglasses from its store at the Flyer.
‘Last year, there was an impact on sales the week before and the week after the race because people were not coming in,’ said Alice Lim, regional manager for Sunglasses Hut at the Flyer.
On the other hand, the store did see sales pick up during the three race days and Ms Lim is banking on sales spiking again during the three-day race weekend.
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