Tangs launches socially responsible retailing campaign

SINGAPORE — What do Sharon Au, Jade Seah, radio DJ Rosalyn Lee and musician/actor Benjamin Kheng have in common? Well, the four have been selected as ambassadors for TANGS’ new initiative launched earlier this week, called Shop For Good.

This social awareness campaign sees TANGS and its contributing partners earmarking an amount from the sale of either a designated product or category to selected charity causes of their choice. And for every receipt generated during this period, TANGS will donate 50 cents to Community Chest, up to a maximum of S$100,000. In a nutshell, it means you can go shopping and make the world a better place at the same time.

The ambassadors, said TANGS CEO Foo Tiang Sooi, were chosen because of their individual commitments to social causes and also because “they could use their various positions in the media to champion social awareness and effect change on a larger scale”.

It’s also a continuation of its three-year initiative to transform the flagship TANGS Orchard store. Kickstarted in 2012, that initiative was meant to be more than a mere cosmetic change, said Foo, adding that it also aimed to redefine the department store concept, reclaim the department stores’ relevance to today’s consumers and “bring the soul back to Singapore retail”.

“Today, consumers are more informed and educated, and the emergence of more socially responsible and conscious businesses motivates us to redefine our business approach and expand our sense of purpose and commitment to social good,” said Foo.

He added: “The concepts of giving and corporate social responsibility have always been central to TANGS’ mission and values. Over the years, we have lent our voice as an industry leader to several causes. But the Shop For Good campaign is unique because it is developed with the objective of providing an amplified platform to share the multiple causes of our brands and encourage responsible shopping choices. It is our hope that through this initiative, we can empower shoppers to make more informed purchase decisions.”

The biggest challenge for such a campaign, said Foo, is to change the mindset of shoppers and retailers. “Shopping is no longer a simple price-for-product transaction, because socially responsible retailing adds a completely new dimension to the decision-making process. It is rapidly becoming more commonplace today. There are many products and brands that are committed to giving back in their own ways.”

He added that he hoped the campaign would help socially responsible retailing and cause-conscious shopping “continue to gather momentum, and eventually become a new retail standard”. Christopher Toh