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Connecting A Comprehensive Shopping Experience
It is now 2020. The constantly changing business landscape means that all businesses must continuously reinvent themselves to stay relevant and meet the changes in consumer preferences. POPULAR is no exception. That is why POP@ Central has recently been given a new lease of life with a major renovation to revitalise POPULAR’s flagship store for the future.
Previously showcasing Text & Assessment merchandise, the first level of POP@Central is now a 6,000-square-foot retail wonderland with a comprehensive range of Gadgets & Information Technology (GIT ) products. The grand centrepiece of POP@Central is the purposefully designed stairway between Levels 1 and 2. The riser on every step is intricately covered with eye-catching pink carnival artwork print showcasing the various titbit products that our customers can look forward to enjoying as they ascend to the Titbits Carnival on the second level.
Previously the showroom for CD-RAMA and its comprehensive range of music offerings, the 676-square-foot mezzanine is the colourful home of the Titbits Carnival, which features a joyous carnival theme with matching wall-to-wall product displays bursting with the hottest and trendiest food and beverages. Our customers will now be able to take a well-deserved break here, whilst satisfying their taste buds and soothing their parched throats, before continuing on their shopping experience at Level 3.
As the wide stairway spirals upwards onto the next level, the giant printed vinyl wall showcases the various POPULAR milestones from its beginning in 1924 as Cheng Hing Company located along Tanjong Pagar Road. On Level 3, the massive 16,000 square feet of retail space offers the largest comprehensive collection of book titles and genres, with something for everyone regardless of age. The wide walkways are lined with attractive colourful book headers and indexed book titles, ensuring that our customers can easily and quickly locate their desired books.
For customers seeking inspiration for gift ideas and stationery needs, a large prominent directional signage located on the backwall of the third level which proclaimed “Stationery Hub & UrbanWrite” gestures them to a flight of stairs up to Level 4. Here, our customers will be spoilt for choice with the wide displays of stationery and UrbanWrite merchandise.
An Unveiling with a Bang
As part of the unveiling of the newly renovated POP@Central to the public, the 14-day Big Bang Sale kicked off on 27 January 2020 to celebrate the 2020 Lunar New Year with rewarding perks, fun-filled family activities and a lucky draw over two weekends. Hyping up the crowds, rows after rows of Big Bang Sale ceiling banners in contrasting fluorescent colours advertised the 15% storewide discount and 10% off Gadgets & IT products with no minimum spending tier entitlement
catered exclusively for POPULAR members and Maybank Family & Friends cardholders.
To further sweeten the deal for Maybank cardholders, customers would also receive free $5 Maybank cash vouchers, 1-for-1 Swensen’s vouchers and $5 POPULAR discount vouchers with a minimum $50 nett purchase charged to their Maybank credit cards. And on the last Saturday before the Big Bang Sale ended, the first 100 visiting customers were each rewarded with a special goodie bag filled with snacks and exclusive $10 GRAB gifts for choosing to spend their fun-filled weekend at POP@Central.
The Big Bang Sale was a remarkable success! Even with the gloom casted by the emergent novel coronavirus outbreak then, the sales revenue of the Big Bang Sale was over 40% more than our sales target.
To Continue Serving and Growing
Foo Yoke Keong (Felix), the newly designated Outlet Head of POP@Central, clinched both prestigious Best Outlet Head Award and Best Category A Store Award at the POPULAR Awards Ceremony 2019 held at Carlton Hotel in November last year. Felix was extremely pleased with the sales performance of Big Bang Sale: “The resounding success of the Big Bang Sale could not have been possible without the cohesive teamwork pushing for efficient inventory management and the timely conceptualisation of effective pre-campaigns and promotions!” He also pointed out some of the new exciting
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