Soaring rents and electricity prices are squeezing Singapore retailers’ margins

Retail businesses in Singapore are facing higher costs as rents and energy prices go up.

Cost pressure is a big concern for many Singapore retailers which have not completely passed on price increases to consumers and are currently feeling the "margin squeeze" according to the association's president.

Electricity tariffs in Singapore will go up by 8% from July to September, according to the company.

The increase is due to higher energy costs caused by rising global gas and oil prices.

The Finance Ministry said in June that residents should expect inflation to stay high until it starts stabilizing.

Retail businesses in Singapore are grappling with higher costs as rents rise and energy prices soar, the Singapore Retailers Association said.

The support package was announced last month by the Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong.

In response to the volatile environment, the government is willing to help retailers manage their electricity and rent costs.

Some people don't agree with the idea that high electricity prices are affecting retailers.

Song Wun said that electricity only contributes a small portion of the rising costs for retailers.

He said rentals, labor costs and utility charges have all gone up, and it's hitting everyone. Retail businesses only pay for electricity to turn on and off. Song said that it was just a small portion of the total costs.

Despite the current inflationary landscape, retail sales in May Singapore increased by 17.8% year-on-year, compared to April's 12.1% rise.

Excluding motor vehicles, retail sales increased by 22.6% in May.

All of the tourism and travel that’s coming back is clearly helping to boost consumption in Singapore.

Brian Tan said it was unsurprising that demand pick up in such a large way.

The demand for spending is coming from tourists.

Tan said that all of the tourism and travel that is returning is helping to boost consumption in Singapore.

He denied that it was due to revenge spending from Singapore residents, since they were able to buy those goods in the last six months.

Department stores that were gravely affected by Covid-19 restrictions saw sales increase by 73.1%. In May 2021, when residents were staying home, supermarkets and hyper markets had a decline in sales.

On a month-on-month basis, motor vehicle sales decreased by 5.7%.

The cost of car ownership is the main reason for this. The license to own a Certificate of Entitlement is paid for by automobile owners as well. According to local reports, COEs for one category of cars hit a record high this week, beating the previous high in 1994.

Furniture and household equipment sales decreased on a month-on-month basis.

A lot of the demand in the sector was due to people being forced to work from home. It is probably less in demand now that they are all back at work.