MasterCard Spending at Great Singapore Sale 2009

Overall spend by both local and tourist MasterCard cardholders combined held steady at The Great Singapore Sale this year.

Total spend over the two month period of the GSS (29 May - 26 July 2009) was US$697.7 million, down marginally by 0.5% compared to the US$701.1 million spent in the same period last year (23 May – 20 July 2008). Overall, the number of transactions rose 13% to 6,097,211 this year.

Tourist spending also maintained at levels similar to 2008. Visiting MasterCard cardholders spent US$248.5 million, slightly more than the US$248.4 million spent in the same period last year.

Cardholders from the US, Australia, UK and Malaysia were the biggest spenders.

Spend by Singaporean MasterCard cardholders was almost equal to last year, down only 1% to US$ 449.2 million. Transactions though were up 13%, indicating that local shoppers made a larger number of small-ticket item purchases during the Sale.

“We are very pleased that MasterCard, as the official card for the GSS, has achieved such encouraging figures. If their data is indicative of all sales achieved during this period, then retailers will be happy as they were hoping that sales achieved during this year’s GSS would at least equal that of GSS 2008, given that sales were slow in the months preceding GSS 2009. The steep discounts and promotions that  retailers offered this year to attract customers who were after great savings and big value, were probably among the key factors which contributed to this very laudable result,” said Lau Chuen Wei, Executive Director, Singapore Retailers Association.

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