Saturday, October 18, 2008

Yellow Man

Whew! I’m tired. Just got back from Singapore with Iron Butterfly, Celtic and Wendy.
It was a study cum working trip for the 4 of us – we studied the Singaporean market, customer trends, supplier networking, how our Singaporean counterparts conduct their business, their merchandise display and human relations. I am impressed. The Singapore market is way mature compare to Malaysia. Customers are more knowledgeable, have a higher spending power and are more product-quality oriented. Their suppliers are more experienced and have wider market exposure compare to my local suppliers when it comes to doing business, they are so creative in their marketing & promotion mechanics – this I must educate my suppliers. I took a lot of pictures on their merchandise display, open-concept block display & pillar branding – they are just so proper and neat and can create the ‘wow’ impact to lure the customers to walk in into their shops. Not like my Subang store – like a cheap warehouse. Overall I was really impressed with the Singaporean level of professionalism.
I am also impressed with Iron Butterfly as well. During meals time with suppliers, Iron Butterfly handled the question time with ease and precision, deflected lots of silly questions while still being positive. Working trips are inspiring! You get to chat with a bunch of new and interesting people.


Singapore is a sophisticated, developed, modern and a truly global city with its amazing, sweeping, postcard-perfect views of the city. You can literally see, feel, smell and taste that Singapore has been a cross roads of international trade and cultural exchange for centuries. We stayed at Beach Hotel which was situated on Beach Street – the location where many young backpackers come to stay. The place is literally filled with many cafes, restaurants and shopping malls - featuring a secret garden-styled outdoor setting, with cafe tables dotted amongst water fountains, vines, bushy trees, flower beds and birds tweeting in the canopy high above. It’s absolutely gorgeous. I couldn’t resist.

(I have a sudden craving for some alone time)

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