Local retail businesses struggling with high costs

I read with concern the reports “S’pore’s retail sector ‘unsustainable, with too many malls’” and “Trouble ahead for stores as e-shopping bug bites” (March 18 and March 21).

Despite the economies of scale, prices in local stores cannot compete with e-stores even after factoring in shipping charges. If the cost of business does not come down, stores may have to close down and jobs held by Singaporeans will be lost.

When travelling overseas, I cannot help but feel dismayed when I see that the same goods are often sold at lower prices than in Singapore, despite our free-trade status. This will affect our status as a shopping paradise with tourists.

There may be some businesses marking up the prices out of greed, but the high rental and fuel costs are also driving up the cost of running a business in Singapore.

Singapore has been named the world’s most expensive city in some rankings and this is obvious when we go overseas — across the Causeway for example. The cost of living for Singaporeans has also risen over the years.

Meanwhile, businesses have depended on cheap labour to stay profitable in a high-cost environment. We have read of companies that mark up the wages of their foreign workers to bring them in as S-Pass holders, but the workers do not bring home such high wages. It was even more disappointing to read that some employers cut even more costs by compromising on the workers’ meals to maximise profit (“Foreign workers ‘served unappetising, stale food’”, March 20 and “Netizens outraged over foreign worker meals”, March 21).

I hope the Government can do more to address the high rents and fuel costs, especially for small and medium enterprises. By doing so, we can help SMEs be more competitive, raise profit margins and create more jobs with good wages for Singaporeans.