Great Singapore Sale Ended

The campaign for Great Singapore Sale 2009 was pretty clever with the tongue in cheek tagline "This item is not on sale, but just about everything else is."

All along Orchard Road, you could see this sign on just about everything.

The banners along Orchard Road also carried the same theme on other iconic or historical figures or buildings.

Maybe the current economic crisis was a factor, but the sale did certainly quite good, especially for those who still had the power to spend. Deep discounts plus the usual additional discounts given by credit cards or to VIP customers. I would say this has been going on since last year and the GSS just compounded it.

The best deal which happened during this period (to me) was when Takashimaya gave its cardmembers an additional 10% off on top of the sale items, and it coincided with Bottega Veneta starting its 2nd cut of 50% off.

Otherwise I would say it was the usual 30% to 50% off at most retail outlets, before they dropped to 70% off towards the end. Another good deal was from G2000 which gave its VIP members an additional 25% off on top of sale items of up to 70% off then. Currently the promotion is now an additional 15% off in the store.

The GSS might have ended on 26 July, but some stores are still having sales on last season's items. This might end this weekend. But then it would be National Day weekend and there would be more promotions again.

Singapore retail scene is getting too predictable that there seemed to be discounts for every major holidays here, besides the usual end of season sales.

My current shopping philosophy

If you can wait till sale/promotion period, then wait cos it will definitely happen. Otherwise pay full retail (unless you have vip discount cards) for things which will either go out of stock fast or are in limited quantity or is needed urgently.