NTUC FairPrice (FairPrice) reaffirms its support to local small and medium enterprise (SME) partners by extending the SME Suppliers Support and Development Programme (SSDP) for another year, and doubling its commitment to S$2 million. This was announced at the launch of FairPrice’s ninth ‘Made in Singapore’ Fair, an annual initiative that seeks to raise awareness for local producers and locally produced items. The launch was graced by Guest-of-Honour Dr Tan See Leng, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Second Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Trade and Industry.

Mr Seah Kian Peng, Group CEO, FairPrice Group, said: “FairPrice understands the challenges faced by SMEs amidst an increasingly competitive environment, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. We are doubling our efforts to help our SME partners through the SSDP programme to further enhance their business capabilities and ease some of the challenges they face such as cash flow pressures. Providing sustained support for local businesses is especially crucial in these unprecedented times, and we urge our customers to also join us in supporting locally made products and national efforts to bolster our local food security.”

Participants of the SSDP enjoy a host of benefits designed to boost their business capabilities and growth. This includes accelerated payment terms to help ease cash flow challenges, discounts for processing and listing fees for new products and special consideration for inclusion in the FairPrice housebrand programme.

FairPrice will enhance the SSDP this year by increasing the discount on listing fees for new products, providing additional marketing and promotional support, and expanding the eligibility criteria to include more SMEs in the programme. Currently, about 470 SME suppliers benefit from this programme. (More information on the programme is available in Appendix A*).

Supporting Local Produce and Businesses Through Initiatives

Beyond the SSDP, FairPrice supports local food manufacturing companies through the ‘Made in Singapore’ Fair that is held annually. This fair, which has been held for the last eight years, provides local companies a platform to showcase and promote their product offerings. Today, FairPrice carries about 6,000 locally-made products, of which about 35 per cent are sourced from local SMEs.

This year’s ‘Made in Singapore’ fair will feature over 50 locally made products, including daily groceries, fresh and frozen products, household necessities, and FairPrice’s housebrand range. The Fair will run from today until 14 October 2020 at all FairPrice stores and FairPrice Online, offering savings of up to 27 per cent off their usual price. (For a full list of featured products, please refer to Appendix B* below).

The launch of the ‘Made in Singapore’ fair complements YummySG! – a recently announced joint initiative between FairPrice and Enterprise Singapore to help provide Singapore food manufacturers with a digital platform to diversify their revenue streams. YummySG! is hosted on FairPrice Online’s Marketplace (FairPrice Marketplace) platform, and brings together local products under the Singapore brand, providing higher visibility to consumers and differentiating them from other international products. (For more information on the initiative, please refer to Appendix C* below.)

*Appendix A – SME Suppliers Support & Development Programme (SSDP)  

*Appendix B – List of featured products in Made in Singapore Fair 2020

*Appendix C – YummySG! Initiative

Appendix A – SME Suppliers Support & Development Programme (SSDP)

FairPrice introduced SSDP in 2009 for the co-operative’s SME partners, which has since helped them overcome restructuring challenges and tide through the global financial crisis to rediscover their drive for growth and expansion. The SSDP was brought back in 2012 during the economic slowdown and has since been extended annually to benefit more than 470 SMEs since 2012.

SSDP has been further enhanced this year to include the following:

• Expand the criteria on annual turnover – from $5 million to $8 million – to allow more suppliers to be eligible
• Easing cash flow pressures for suppliers with payment terms of 60 days and above, by accelerating payment with a shortened payment term by 30 days
• Reducing their business cost and widening their opportunities for business growth with discounts of 50 per cent on both processing and listing fees for their new products
• Supporting their sales growth with marketing support through regular monthly offers, in-store collateral and product fairs
• Supporting their company development by giving them special consideration for packing of FairPrice housebrand products
• Sharing industry insights via knowledge sharing seminars
• 50% discount on sales reports
• Leveraging on FairPrice’s Online Marketplace platform to promote or sell their products

Appendix B – Featured Products for the Made in Singapore Fair

Appendix C – YummySG! Initiative

YummySG! is a joint collaboration between FairPrice Online and Enterprise Singapore (ESG) that aims to provide Singapore food manufacturers with an additional platform to diversify their revenue streams. This is part of ESG’s continuous efforts to support Singapore businesses to start selling online, since the launch of its E-Commerce Booster Package[1] in April this year

YummySG! is hosted on FairPrice Online’s Marketplace (FairPrice Marketplace) platform, where participating companies can leverage the platform to list their new[2] products and potentially reach out to 1.5 million shoppers monthly.  Through this initiative, participating companies will also benefit from:

• Increased marketing efforts: FairPrice Marketplace will enhance its publicity efforts to reach out to their database and drive traffic to these local products.
• Data and insight sharing: Data shared will include online sales information and traffic to product listings, which can in turn help them refine their online strategies to improve sales.
• Capability building efforts: ESG will work with food manufacturers to build up their capabilities in areas including product development and packaging design, as well as to learn more about retail strategies that would be relevant for the platform.

Food manufacturers keen to come on-board YummySG! can visit the ESG website at  www.enterprisesg.gov.sg/yummySG   to register their interest and find out more. FairPrice Marketplace will provide all operations and technical support for participating companies.