FairPrice lowers house brand prices

FairPrice lowers house brand prices
By Hoe Yeen Nie | Posted: 14 February 2011 1142 hrs

SINGAPORE: NTUC FairPrice is giving a flat five per cent discount for 500 house brand items for the next three months starting Tuesday, in a move to ease the pressure of rising food prices.

These items include essential items such as rice, cooking oil and detergent.

Customers who hold the Plus!Visa or NTUC Plus! Card would receive a further 10 per cent discount on house brand items.

These are expected to cost FairPrice S$2.3 million over this period.

The initiative comes under the supermarket cooperative Stretch-Your-dollar programme which was introduced between 2007 and 2009 amid the economic downturn.

FairPrice said its house brand products are typically at least 10 per cent lower than market prices.

Its CEO Seah Kian Peng said FairPrice would monitor inflation before deciding if the scheme would be extended.

"We've always played the benchmarking role, in our quest to fulfil our social mission," Mr Seah said.

"And because of the market leadership position that we have, everything that we do will be closely-watched by our competitors, and therefore I believe that what we do today will also lead to our competitors adjusting their prices somewhat."

Over the last few months, FairPrice has also been increasing its stockpile of rice to about three months' supply, beyond the two-month stockpile required of retailers.

But Mr Seah said the move is part of routine forward-buying.

"If we believe that the prices of some of these items are likely to go up, we'll do some forward-buying, stockpile a bit more, and with that, we can hold off price increases, if any, for as long as possible," Mr Seah said.

He added FairPrice is concerned about the prices of all staples as a whole.

The co-op runs one of the largest supermarket chains in Singapore, with more than 110 outlets.

-CNA/wk

- wong chee tat :)