Pedestrians on Orchard Road in Singapore. — Bloomberg
SINGAPORE: Luxury spending is defying a global slump in Singapore, a beacon for high-end retailers grappling with sluggish demand in major markets, including China and the United States.
Luxury sales in the Republic are expected to climb 7% to US$13.9bil in 2025 compared with 2024, outpacing heavyweight regional shopping hubs Japan, China and South Korea, according to data shared with Bloomberg by Euromonitor International.
The country’s 2024 year-on-year growth in luxury sales surged past every other Asian market tracked by the analytics firm – except Japan.
In 2026, it is projected to catch up to its 2019, pre-Covid-19 peak of US$14.7bil.
Singapore’s population of around six million is dwarfed by the likes of megacities like Tokyo and Shanghai.
Yet, it had the third-largest share of luxury store openings in 2024 among 32 Asia-Pacific cities, excluding those in China’s mainland.
That is benefitting places like The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, where Italian label Marni opened its first store in August 2024.
The mall provides services like buggies to drive VIPs around for personalised styling sessions, and is set to launch salons previewing unreleased luxury collections for top clients, said senior vice-president of retail Hazel Chan. — Bloomberg
