Intro to Management - Sheng Siong Supermarket

1. Introduction

In Singapore, Sheng Siong Supermarket Pte. Ltd. has been around since 1985 and the company was started by 3 brothers Mr Lim Hock Eng, Mr Lim Hock Chee and Mr Lim Hock Leng (Sheng Siong, 2015). There are more than 35 Sheng Siong Supermarkets located mostly in the heartlands and many of them are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (Sheng Siong, 2015). This grocery chain has a wide variety of produce which range from fresh to processed, and include general merchandise such as toiletries and household necessities. Sheng Siong has appealed to their customers with low cost branding and the company also developed their own brand of products to provide their customers with alternatives to known brands at substantial savings.

2. PESTEL Analysis

2.1 Political

Due to the stability of the government in Singapore, this has provided Sheng Siong with a platform to expand its retail network across Singapore. On a whole, the Singapore government has been supportive of business and provides various support such as easy-to-apply grants for each stage from start-ups to industries (SPRING Singapore, 2015).

The food import policy in Singapore has no tariffs but a strict regulatory acts that regulates the safety of various supplies products that a supermarket may bring into the country such as fresh fruit and vegetables, processed food, meat and seafood to name a few (Hawksford Singapore, 2015).

2.2 Economic

According to the Ministry of Trade and Industry Singapore (2015), the Singapore economy grew by 2.9% in 2014, compared with the 4.4% growth achieved in 2013. Sheng Siong (2015), reported a 22.3% increase in net profit for FY2014 and Mr Lim Hong Eng, Executive Chairman of the company attributes the steady net profit growth to strict cost control and adherence of administrative expenses to 16% of revenue.

From the information above, we can see that the spending power of consumers are on the rise especially in Sheng Siong’s case. Due to the...