Singapore food products have traditionally not been easily found in supermarkets in Asia as companies face high entry costs and difficulty in products registration, said IE Singapore in a media release.
The agency said that Southeast Asia’s rising middle class had raised demand for more variety and quality of food but on their own Singapore food manufacturers lacked networks and financial resources to promote their products.
IE Singapore said the working-in-partnership (WIP) programme offered economies of scale, cost savings and fast-track entry into markets.
Tan Li Lin, IE Singapore group director for customer services, said: “The coming together of Singapore food manufacturers under the WIP programme allows for collective Singapore branding.
“This helps to drive sales for our companies. We will be applying this concept to other Southeast Asia markets and Asia, as well as expanding beyond the food sector to benefit more SMEs [small and medium-sized enterprises].”
There are now two participating supermarkets in Southeast Asia in the WIP programme – Central Food Group in Thailand and City Mart in Myanmar, the biggest supermarket chains in the respective countries. Coming up is a partnership in Rustans in Philippines, with plans to have the fourth partner on board by end 2016.
Following the promotional activities in the supermarkets, many companies have succeeded in securing permanent listings, said IE Singapore.
SMF deputy president Sunny Koh said: “With the WIP programme, we eliminate importers/distributors in the procurement chain, thus reducing overall cost. The extra margins are returned to the companies, thus improving their retail price and benefiting the consumers.
With rising competition from e-commerce, being able to cut the price gap between the physical retail shop and e-shop is key for success overseas.”