By: Channel News Asia
The Great Singapore Sale (GSS) will be an online affair this year, with online deals, virtual workshops, live-streaming activities and technology like virtual reality for shoppers to create a “new norm” shopping experience amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The annual sale, which is called “eGSS: Shop. Win. Experience” this year, is set to run from Sep 9 to Oct 10, said its organisers.
It is part of the Singapore Tourism Board’s (STB) S$45 million marketing campaign to encourage Singaporeans to take a local holiday and comes after a tough few months for the retail industry, which is among the worst hit by the coronavirus outbreak.
“This year’s strategic direction of eGSS 2020 takes into account the circumstances in which the retail industry is operating in,” said Singapore Retailers Association’s (SRA) president R Dhinakaran in a press release.
The SRA’s existing GoSpree app will be revamped to work on both desktop and mobile, and will “form the backbone in which retailers can leverage on an agnostic unified marketing platform for retailers, F&B operators, hoteliers and attraction operators”, said SRA’s executive director Rose Tong during an online media briefing.
The SRA is organising this year’s GSS in collaboration with the Singapore Furniture Industries Council (SFIC), Textile & Fashion Federation (TaFF) and the Association of Singapore Attractions (ASA).
The business association had said in May that it would not be organising the GSS this year in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Asked why the SRA is making a U-turn, Ms Tong said it was due to “popular demand” from retailers.
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