RANKINGS: TOP 100 RETAILERS “Although the overall region may recover from the pandemic, retailers in the region need to continue to innovate and explore new ideas in order to overcome other types of challenges,” Euromonitor said. Southeast Asian markets For Singapore, 2020 was a challenging year for the retailers especially for the apparel and footwear, and jewellery and watch specialists which saw a steep decline in their revenues due to the decreased social occasions, reliance on tourism, and permanent closure of physical stores. “The retail recovery for Singapore is expected to be a dynamic, uncertain and multi-year process due to Singapore’s reliance on external demand for economic growth. Amidst a muted outlook, consumers are expected to focus on the essential and the functional, with spending on discretionary goods expected to be limited,” it said. Meanwhile, Euromonitor said retail recovery in Indonesia is expected to be gradual. Department stores and specialist stores mostly in shopping centres with significant traffic are expected to see early recovery, whilst stores that sell essential products will see sales level to normalize, it said. Homeware and home improvement retailers will see growth as consumers continue to stay at home, whilst bag and luggage retailers “will find forecast period challenging” as consumers’ confidence in travelling remains low. Indonesia has also suffered in 2020 due to social restrictions and temporary lockdowns. There was also a decrease in demand for food, drink, and apparel after the government barred its citizens from travelling during Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr due to the pandemic, a period which usually contributes up to 40% of annual sales. In Malaysia, grocery retailers performed well during the lockdowns as consumers cooked at home more. The rise in online cooking videos and demonstrations helped boost the sales of grocery retailers, as well. Euromonitor said e-commerce will remain popular to support work32
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A trend that grew in the Philippines in 2020 is the community store, which has been present before the pandemic, as consumers want the most convenient ways to complete their shopping. Further, Euromonitor said retailing in Thailand was affected in almost all retail categories due to the lockdowns in March to May 2020, but non-grocery products were hit hard as consumers prioritise grocery or essential goods.
Retailers selling non-essential goods such as apparel and footwear are likely to see very slow recovery post-pandemic
E-commerce demand will be supported by consumers returning to normal hectic schedules and valuing the convenience of e-commerce apps and websites
from-home setup and busy lifestyles. In fact, some retailers have closed their physical stores to fully embrace their online stores. The outlook for retailing in Malaysia, however, remains challenging as the economic and financial impact of the pandemic “are likely to linger.” “Disposable income is expected to contract leading to considerable price sensitivity,” it said. “With job layoffs and the downsizing of large companies, retailers selling nonessential goods, such as apparel and footwear specialists are likely to see very slow recovery. Along with lingering social distancing measures lasting at least into 2021, this will slow down recovery for some retailing channels over the forecast period.” Retail performance post-pandemic Meanwhile, the Philippines, which has one of the longest COVID-19 lockdown periods globally, will see its retail sales return to pre-pandemic levels by 2022, whilst economic growth will return to pre-pandemic levels by end-2021, slower than its neighbouring countries in the region. “E-commerce will be significant in retail recovery with consumers still wary of going out until the virus is completely contained, or vaccines become widely available,” Euromonitor said, adding that the sector accelerated its growth further during the pandemic.
E-commerce demand postpandemic Retailers also focussed on mobile e-commerce as consumers use mobile devices to buy products. They also adopted digital payment technologies, which is seen to continue to grow. Non-grocery retailers, meanwhile, are using augmented reality for online product testing. “It is expected that the impact of COVID-19 in the forecast period will be less dramatic than in 2020. However, the negative impact on sales remains ongoing in non-grocery categories, such as apparel and luxury items, since customers will continue to cut down on non-essential spending,” Euromonitorsaid. Vietnam was able to manage the spread of COVID-19 but sales in some retailing sectors like apparel, footwear, and beauty plummeted due to the decline in tourism. Euromonitor said retailers in Vietnam also strengthened their omnichannel strategies to improve the image of their brands. E-commerce sales also surged, and online promotions are becoming more popular, with the introduction of livestream platforms. “Looking forward, retailing in Vietnam is expected to return to prepandemic value sales growth rates. More consumers will be willing to spend on non-grocery items given a positive economic outlook. Storebased retailing sales will bounce back strongly,” Euromonitor said. “E-commerce demand will be supported by consumers returning to their normal hectic schedules and aconvenience of buying products through apps or e-commerce websites,” it added.