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Better Prospects Seen For Watch Industry!
Better Prospects Seen For Watch Industry
Business Times 24 Oct 09
Trade body working with WDA on qualification system to equip retail, service staff with skills and knowledge.
By TEH SHI NING
SINGAPORE imported 20 per cent fewer Swiss watches in the first nine months of this year than in the same period last year.
But prospects look better now, with the return of positive consumer sentiment and a growing population of high net worth individuals, says Tay Liam Wee, president of the Singapore Clock and Watch Trade Association (SCWTA). Mr Tay reckons that in the face of the global financial crisis, depressed consumer spending and lower exports, Singapore's watch business performed 'relatively okay'.
SCWTA's member companies, big and small, have shown resilience, he says. 'After the breathtaking kind of growth we saw before last year, this crisis actually allowed companies to take stock, consolidate, cut excesses.'
This meant closing stores that were not doing well and making use of opportunities to retrain people, Mr Tay says.
In fact, a key element of SCWTA's push to promote Singapore as an international watch hub is to raise the professionalism of the business. It is therefore working with the Workforce Development Authority to develop a Workforce Skills Qualification system to equip retail and after-sales service staff with the technical skills and specialised knowledge of timepieces.
This will help the industry prepare for the return of strong growth, which Mr Tay expects will be driven by Singapore's strategies to attract talent, projects such as the integrated resorts, F1 race and the growing wealth management industry here.
SCWTA, which celebrates its 80th anniversary this year, has 180 members. This compares with a high of more than 600 at one point, reflecting how much the business has consolidated over the past 40 years, says Mr Tay. But Singapore now also enjoys a larger share of the global watch market, with total watch trade of $3.4 billion last year.
According to the most recent statistics from the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, Singapore imported 460.5 million Swiss francs (S$638 million) of Swiss watches in the first nine months of this year, making it the seventh-largest market worldwide and the third-largest in Asia after China and Hong Kong.
Business Times 24 Oct 09
Business Times 24 Oct 09
Trade body working with WDA on qualification system to equip retail, service staff with skills and knowledge.
By TEH SHI NING
SINGAPORE imported 20 per cent fewer Swiss watches in the first nine months of this year than in the same period last year.
But prospects look better now, with the return of positive consumer sentiment and a growing population of high net worth individuals, says Tay Liam Wee, president of the Singapore Clock and Watch Trade Association (SCWTA). Mr Tay reckons that in the face of the global financial crisis, depressed consumer spending and lower exports, Singapore's watch business performed 'relatively okay'.
SCWTA's member companies, big and small, have shown resilience, he says. 'After the breathtaking kind of growth we saw before last year, this crisis actually allowed companies to take stock, consolidate, cut excesses.'
This meant closing stores that were not doing well and making use of opportunities to retrain people, Mr Tay says.
In fact, a key element of SCWTA's push to promote Singapore as an international watch hub is to raise the professionalism of the business. It is therefore working with the Workforce Development Authority to develop a Workforce Skills Qualification system to equip retail and after-sales service staff with the technical skills and specialised knowledge of timepieces.
This will help the industry prepare for the return of strong growth, which Mr Tay expects will be driven by Singapore's strategies to attract talent, projects such as the integrated resorts, F1 race and the growing wealth management industry here.
SCWTA, which celebrates its 80th anniversary this year, has 180 members. This compares with a high of more than 600 at one point, reflecting how much the business has consolidated over the past 40 years, says Mr Tay. But Singapore now also enjoys a larger share of the global watch market, with total watch trade of $3.4 billion last year.
According to the most recent statistics from the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, Singapore imported 460.5 million Swiss francs (S$638 million) of Swiss watches in the first nine months of this year, making it the seventh-largest market worldwide and the third-largest in Asia after China and Hong Kong.
Business Times 24 Oct 09
