RETAIL TRADES IN HOTELS

Abstract

The history of retailing has come a long way, from the Roman empire when peddlers, fairs and markets were dominant to today's shopping centres, speciality stores, mail order houses and automatic vending. Many changes are occuring that are effecting retailers in their mode of operation as well as resulting in various retail configurations. During the late sixties and early seventies, as a result of the Government's plan to promote Singapore as a tourist spot, many sites were offered for sale for development of hotels. Whole levels in the lower stories would be allocated for shopping arcades. This served as an added feature to attract tourists to the individual hotels. Over the past years, there has been a vast increase in the number of retailers in hotels. It would be interesting to take a look at the profile of these retailers. It appears that certain types of trade tend to locate in hotels. This is due to the type of goods they carry and hence their reliance on a certain target group. A breakdown of the retailers' clientele helps to explain which trades in particular are more dependent on the tourist industry. At the same time, this study seeks to examine what are the factors which retailers consider important in their selection of a retail site. Is the prestige of the hotel more important or are factors like cost and car parking more important?