Surge in outbound travel, slowing wage growth hurting small retailers’ festive sales

SINGAPORE’S small retailers are seeing lower festive sales this year as consumers head overseas instead, industry players told The Business Times.

Typically, retailers in malls see their sales rise from October to December, in the lead-up to year-end festivities, said Ian Cheong, director of payments service provider EPOS.

The company, which provides point-of-sale solutions, has instead seen a fall in fourth-quarter revenue for such retailers.