_Incubating Merchlions
COVID-19 PARADOXICALLY INFUSED SINGAPORE WITH RETAIL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
An interesting phenomenon during the COVID-19 pandemic was the sudden spike in local private enterprise in the retail and food and beverage (F&B) sectors. Between 2020 and 2021, there were 23,433 new business registrations and 14,275 business cessations recorded, making for a net increase of 9,158 new start-ups during those two difficult years. And so it is surprising that in the recovery years from 2022 up to November 2023, there were only 17,460 new business set-ups and 16,521 cessations for the retail and F&B trades. In what was supposed to be a period of normalisation, fewer start-ups and more business closures were registered with only a net increase of 939 new retail business formations. Exhibit 1 shows the dramatic surge in new retail entities registered between June 2020 and October 2021, contrasted against fewer start-ups once recovery and normalisation started.
RISE OF “MERCHLIONS” AND “MERCHCUBS”
With the worst of COVID-19 behind us, the spotlight is now on Singapore, hailed as a shining icon in Asia and the world. The Singapore brand is now associated with a high degree of quality, and consumer recognition and identification have risen to regional, and at times global, levels. Some of these local brands include names such as BreadTalk, Charles & Keith, Janice Wong, Love, Bonito, Old Chang Kee, OSIM, Razer, Secretlab, TWG Tea and Ya Kun Kaya Toast.
INCUBATING MERCHLIONS
A public good is defined as products or services available to every individual within a community with unrestricted access. These tend to be basic necessities but there is often no profit in providing them; the task of providing such goods is typically the responsibility of governments, rather than private enterprise. Streetlamps, traffic lights or sewage channels are examples of public goods. If the lessons of the pandemic taught us that the spirit of enterprise is a good thing for business and for Brand Singapore, then perhaps the definition of a public good should be extended to incubating promising Merchlions for the initial period until their survival can be sustained. Aspiring Merchlions without the benefit of deep pockets of venture investors can be saved and spared from premature demise, especially if all the concept needs is a little gestation time and space for germination.
Read the full report here.
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