Why is there no Costco, Tesco etc. in Singapore?

JR8 · Post by **JR8** » Wed, 21 Sep 2011 8:10 pm

Why no flagship Tesco mega-store in JB? Tesco are every bit as aggressive as any American chain and are already in Malaysia.

Therein lies your answer I reckon.

movingtospore · Post by **movingtospore** » Wed, 21 Sep 2011 8:13 pm

That's a good question actually. Singaporeans do head across the border in droves on the weekend to shop at the new-ish mall in Nusajaya.

ScoobyDoes · Post by **ScoobyDoes** » Thu, 22 Sep 2011 11:27 am

JR8 wrote:Why no flagship Tesco mega-store in JB? Tesco are every bit as aggressive as any American chain and are already in Malaysia.

From the six in JB there are a couple of rather large Tescos, Nusajaya just being one. There is also Tebrau with both locations being a stone's throw also from a Jusco. I think officially they call them the Extra Hypermarket.

The Kulai one is also pretty big.

If we want an 'all-in' shopping then we head to Tebrau as we can do Jusco/Tebrau Mall and Tesco without having to drive from one to the other like at Nusajaya.

Post by **x9200** » Thu, 22 Sep 2011 12:44 pm

movingtospore wrote:I don't think it's local manufacturers that result in competitive prices, it's demand, local tax structures, etc. Most manufacturing is in Asia ... and yet prices in SP are vastly higher than just about anywhere - in the region and beyond. Maybe a few places in Europe are this bad...also very controlled markets.

Local = within the country. No taxes, no custom formalities, no storage costs and less transportation costs - pure volume purchase in a competitive environment. There is no competitive environment for locally manufactured basic needs goods. And typically they have a very high volume/weight to price ratio meaning it costs a lot to transport $1 worth goods.

franky-MS · Post by **franky-MS** » Fri, 07 Oct 2011 9:58 am

Sorry guys,
i guess you over-estimate the attractiveness of the Singaporean market a tiny little bit

Actually working in "The branch", i would not spend a day on investing in such a tiny, sophisticated market. Please imagine, for a country operation ( Yes, Singapore is called a country, but actually sized a small Asian City ) you need all the basket:
From supply chain management to the buying departments, up to the store operations. And this for a potential of what: Three or four stores?
No way! There would be no chance of a return on the investment up to even star wars becomes real.
Forget it: At first Singapore is too tiny, too closed envoirnment and too expensive on plots, too far away from all FMCG producers , supplies are hindered by the border arrangements to Malaysia. Malaysia IS a country, Singapore a city

Therefore nobody is interested in eather entering this "market", nor buying out carrefour. Instead, we visit the store and feel with our competition

Hidy Ho · Post by **Hidy Ho** » Fri, 07 Oct 2011 1:38 pm

So wher can I get Sing version of Costco $1.50 USD hotdog and soda combo?

ksl · Post by **ksl** » Fri, 07 Oct 2011 1:56 pm

Hidy Ho wrote:So wher can I get Sing version of Costco $1.50 USD hotdog and soda combo?

That's like asking where can i get USA Kentucky Fried Chicken!

Franky-MS:Therefore nobody is interested in eather entering this "market", nor buying out carrefour. Instead, we visit the store and feel with our competition

So would there be interest indirectly by supplying goods from HQ to independant distributors in Singapore? Let me know!

Post by **nakatago** » Fri, 07 Oct 2011 1:59 pm

ksl wrote:
Hidy Ho wrote:So wher can I get Sing version of Costco $1.50 USD hotdog and soda combo?
That's like asking where can i get USA Kentucky Fried Chicken!

Hey, the local KFC has their very own special pepper sauce--

--What? I'm told that THAT IS the gravy and that Malaysia's KFC is much better.

boffenl · Post by **boffenl** » Fri, 07 Oct 2011 2:13 pm

Hidy Ho wrote:So wher can I get Sing version of Costco $1.50 USD hotdog and soda combo?

Ikea.

globalte · Post by **globalte** » Sun, 16 Oct 2011 2:10 pm

N T U C dominated the market.

Post by **sundaymorningstaple** » Sun, 16 Oct 2011 3:15 pm

JR8 · Post by **JR8** » Wed, 17 Apr 2013 7:42 pm

'With the US out of the way, Tesco can focus on growth in India, the Far East (Kuala Lumpur: 5029.KL - news) , and Eastern Europe. It is now rolling out online grocery retailing to cities around the world, including Bangkok and Shanghai. ... '
Daily Telegraph, today. I've accessed it via Yahoo news, and the URL is way too long to copy/paste here...

If interested, the article title is:
'Are the glory days over for Tesco? Don't write Britain's biggest retailer off'.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

I re-read the earlier discussion in this topic, but SG are increasingly getting left behind in this sector.

If it's profitable for Tesco to set up in JB, one would have thought it would be profitable for them to extend home-delivery from JB into SG? I wonder what is stopping them...

Hannieroo · Post by **Hannieroo** » Wed, 17 Apr 2013 7:59 pm

That would be a lot of dollars leaving the economy. Plus duty, would you have to pay gst if it was a big shop? It might just be too complicated. Although I shall look online, if they have Dr Pepper I'll bloody drive there.

Tesco are everywhere, I popped into a nice little clothes shop in Prague. Didn't look at the name but it was all laid out very Zara. When I went to try on a pair of shoes they were Florence and Fred. All dressed up to look fancy.

boffenl · Post by **boffenl** » Wed, 17 Apr 2013 8:11 pm

I have to say--shopping at Target, Wal-Mart and Sams Club is one of the absolute highlights of being back in the States.

Brah · Post by **Brah** » Wed, 17 Apr 2013 8:24 pm

boffenl wrote:I have to say--shopping at Target, Wal-Mart and Sams Club is one of the absolute highlights of being back in the States.

You're doing it wrong....

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Why is there no Costco, Tesco etc. in Singapore?

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