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Scheme attracts companies to locate regional activities and flagship stores in Singapore
1. Courts (Singapore) Limited, Dairy Farm and IKANO Pte Ltd (IKEA Singapore) broke ground for the pioneer Warehouse Retail Scheme (WRS) projects today. Minister for National Development, Mr Mah Bow Tan, officiated at the ground-breaking ceremony of the projects which would collectively entail an investment of around S$200 million and generate around 1,700 jobs. Also participating in the ceremony were Mr Terry O’Connor, Managing Director of Courts (Singapore) Limited, Mr Michael Kok, Regional Director of Dairy Farm South Asia and Mr Tom Huzell, Managing Director, IKANO Pte Ltd and Mr Teo Ming Kian, Chairman Economic Development Board (EDB).
2. The companies unveiled the building designs for their WRS projects which would be located on a 9.3 ha site (or 93,000 sq m) site in Tampines. The integrated facilities would house the regional activities of the companies as well as flagship retail activities.
Courts' WRS Operations
3. Courts will locate its headquarters at the site. When completed, its retail, warehouse facilities and head office will be centralised in one location. "We are excited to be part of the WRS project as we believe that centralising our operations will enable us to operate more efficiently and bring about productivity gains. Retail offerings in Singapore will be taken up a notch, with retailers being given a platform to introduce innovative products and consumers being offered a totally new retail experience." Said Terry O'Connor, Managing Director, Courts (Singapore) Limited.
Dairy Farm's WRS Operations
4. The WRS site will be the headquarters for all of Dairy Farm's retail business in Singapore and it will also be the base for Dairy Farm's South Asia office and some regional activities including training, product sourcing and procurement. In addition, it will be opening Singapore's biggest Giant hypermarket and will locate the group's central distribution warehouse at this site. Mr Michael Kok, Regional Director of Dairy Farm South Asia said, "The WRS site provides us with a unique opportunity of creating a purpose-built hub to house our key operations and our biggest hypermarket. We are confident that Giant together with Ikea and Courts will prove to be a major draw for shoppers from all over the island and that this site has the potential to become a new and exciting landmark in Tampines."
IKANO's WRS Operations
5. Singapore will be the regional headquarters for IKANO Pte Ltd (IKEA) and the center for further expansion into Southeast Asia. The WRS facility will house the flagship IKEA store and be a regional training campus (an appointee of the IKEA Business College, Delft, Holland) and innovation hub for creative development of showcase displays and standards that could be used by IKEA globally. "This new IKEA Tampines flagship store together with our existing IKEA Alexandra store will offer an even better shopping experience and much improved access convenience for our customers. We will bring the full IKEA self serve concept to Singapore and thereby create a regional center that allow our trainers, co-workers and regional IKEA franchisees to gain access to a model IKEA store environment for their training and concept testing needs." said Mr Tom Huzell, Managing Director, IKANO.
6. In recognition of the significant regional activities that the three companies would be carrying out in Singapore, they were also presented with EDB’s International Headquarters Award. Congratulating the companies on the groundbreaking and their admission to the Headquarters Programme, Mr Teo Ming Kian, Chairman EDB said, "The WRS is an innovative programme which spurs the development of regional activities with novel retail concepts. The regional activities will bring to Singapore significant economic benefits in areas such as logistics, training and warehousing. We are delighted that the three companies have chosen Singapore as a regional hub through the WRS enabling them to reach out to the fast-growing markets effectively."
7. As part of their commitments under the WRS, the companies have also commenced discussions with SPRING Singapore, the lead agency for Retail, on working with the community of retailers within 5km of their site in the Tampines and Pasir Ris areas on joint promotions and the sharing of retail expertise. Mr Png Cheong Boon, Deputy Chief Executive, SPRING Singapore, said, "The preferences of the Singapore consumer are fast evolving, as are global retail trends. With changing demographics and rising consumer expectations, retailers in Singapore have to better connect with consumers by offering them new and exciting shopping experiences. The WRS is a good example of how retailers can introduce exciting retail formats and take advantage of the efficiency of having mixed retail, warehouse and industrial activities all at one location. SPRING will work closely with our retailers to inject greater vibrancy into the local retail scene, better cater to the needs of consumers and create new retail jobs in Singapore."
8. Congratulating Courts, Ikano and Dairy Farm on the groundbreaking of their flagship stores, Chief Executive Officer of JTC, Mr Chong Lit Cheong said, "We are delighted to welcome these three 'big box' warehouse retailers to set up their flagship stores in this pilot cluster. The process of anchoring these operators involved much redefining of land zoning guidelines and infrastructural challenges, as well as flexibility in business facilitation. We are glad to see the fruition of this first project under the WRS, and we believe the integrated business models embraced by the operators will serve to inject much life in the warehouse retail scene."
9. The WRS was launched by the EDB in April 2004 to encourage companies to make sizeable investments and establish regional responsibilities in Singapore by allowing greater flexibility in industrial land use. Where previously industrial land could not be used for any retail activity, companies under the WRS can co-locate integrated business models with regional headquarters, industrial and retail activities to reap the benefits from operational and cost efficiencies of synergistic co-location of operations.
10. Mrs Cheong Koon Hean, Chief Executive Officer of the Urban Redevelopment Authority said, "The WRS was introduced by the government to allow businesses with integrated business models that combine warehouse or industrial functions with retail functions to operate on industrial sites. This greater flexibility in land use opens up new and exciting possibilities for business setups. It will also give rise to innovative retail concepts, adding variety to the local retail scene and providing shoppers with new retail experiences."
11. Since the launch of the scheme, EDB has seen strong interest from businesses. With the announcement of the first three projects today, EDB expects more projects to follow in the coming months.
For media enquiries, please call Ms Tracy Won, Marketing Communications at Tel: 6832 6890 (DID) or email: tracy_won@edb.gov.sg.
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