SRA, Lazada partner to offer omnichannel experience for Great Singapore Sale 2021

THE annual Great Singapore Sale (GSS) event will take an omnichannel format this year, with e-commerce platform Lazada handling the online aspect of the sales event, the Singapore Retailers Association (SRA) announced on Wednesday.

GSS 2021 will take place from June 6 to July 7, bookended by Lazada's 6.6 and 7.7 sales campaigns. The event will feature thematic sales across product categories over the four weeks.

Customers who make purchases in e-stores will be able to pick them up at the retailer's physical outlet if they so choose. This key feature of GSS 2021 will not only provide an additional delivery option for customers who need it, but also pave the way for sellers to integrate their online and offline outlets in a hybrid model.

SRA president R Dhinakaran said the partnership with Lazada is timely, considering the tighter safe management measures limiting shopper traffic at physical stores, as well as the overall changed retail landscape.

"We firmly believe that online retail is here to stay, and whilst it will never overtake offline retail sales, it is an imperative sales channel for retailers to reach a wider consumer market to win new customers and drive sales, (and) meet consumers' new shopping behaviours as well as their drive for convenience and immediacy," Mr Dhinakaran said.

SRA members are encouraged to join Lazada's platform and tap its expertise in helping brands and sellers move online and boost sales in the challenging retail environment.

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To ease the transition to the online space, new sellers who are SRA members will not be charged commission fees for three months, starting from the first day they make a sale in their LazMall store.

Lazada's platform offers technology infrastructure, payments gateway, logistics solutions with third-party logistics partners and a suite of marketing solutions. Each seller will have a dedicated account manager to help it navigate solutions including Lazada's in-app live-streaming service LazLive, flash sales and the Lazada e-store.

"The Great Singapore Sale is a national institution and sentimental for Singaporeans and those who remember flying in to the country to enjoy the sales," said Lazada Singapore chief executive officer James Chang.

"By supporting sellers with the tools they need to move their businesses online, we're helping them to be prepared for the future - both during the pandemic, and beyond."

The 27-year-old event first went online last year, when it was held as one of the key events in the Singapore Tourism Board's SingapoRediscovers campaign. The eGSS 2020 was hosted on SRA's eGSS GoSpree platform, which consolidated retailers' offerings and redirected shoppers to the merchants' e-commerce sites to make purchases.