2,700 Food Services and Retail enterprises have received $6.8 million in Digital Resilience Bonus payouts
SINGAPORE – 06 NOV 2020
Singapore’s Food Services and Retail enterprises are adapting to changing consumer needs and positioning themselves to emerge stronger in the new normal through digitalisation. By adopting digital solutions such as online food delivery and e-commerce platforms, these enterprises have increased their online sales, enhanced their business processes, and expanded their customer base.
One such enterprise is T K Foto, a family-run audio, photography and videography equipment and accessories retailer. In 2019, T K Foto adopted an e-commerce solution to expand its online business. This allowed it to quickly pivot to focus on online sales when it had to close its retail shops in Funan and Plaza Singapura during Circuit Breaker. Although the retail sector was severely impacted by COVID-19, T K Foto was able to maintain its monthly revenue. Its average monthly online sales increased 10 times, offsetting the decline in physical retail sales. Its customer base also tripled during COVID-19. T K Foto is confident the new customers it has gained online will enable it to do even better in future.
Another enterprise is The Green Capsule, an urban gardening enterprise that conducts terrarium workshops. The Green Capsule launched its online shop a week after the announcement of the Circuit Breaker, and is using sales data from its e-commerce solution to analyse the performance of its products and customer demographics. This has helped to improve its marketing through better customer segmentation. Its online sales also increased by nearly three times during the Circuit Breaker as compared to pre-COVID-19, with a 50% reduction in operating expenses.
Both of these enterprises are among the 2,700 Food Services and Retail enterprises that have received the Digital Resilience Bonus (DRB) payout between Aug and Oct 2020. Introduced as part of the Fortitude Budget, DRB seeks to uplift the digital capabilities of a broad base of enterprises, starting with the Food Services and Retail sectors as a pilot. $6.8 million have been paid out in total.
The DRB payouts are given on top of other enhanced digitalisation support under the Infocomm Media Development Authority’s (“IMDA”) SMEs Go Digital programme. For example, both T K Foto and The Green Capsule also received Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG) support for their e-commerce solutions pre-approved by IMDA. As at Sep 2020, more than 50,000 SMEs have adopted digital solutions under the SMEs Go Digital programme.
Ms Jane Lim, Assistant Chief Executive, IMDA, said: “Digitalisation is critical for enterprises to emerge stronger from the COVID-19 crisis. We introduced the Digital Resilience Bonus (DRB) to encourage our Food Services and Retail enterprises in their digital transformation journey. More SMEs are now seeing the benefits of digitalisation on multiple fronts, by reaching new customers with e-commerce and becoming more efficient in internal processes. We want to encourage SMEs that have not digitalised to start doing so now, and for those who have started, to look at the next steps, during this period when the DRB and enhanced Productivity Solutions Grant are available.”
Food Services and Retail enterprises can approach any SME Centre and supporting bank for assistance on the Digital Resilience Bonus. For more details on the SMEs Go Digital programme, please visit: https://www.imda.gov.sg/SMEsGoDigital.
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