The 10th ICA Regional Workshop for Managers on “Management of Consumer Co-operatives in Asia-Pacific” was held on 28-29 April 2010 at NTUC FairPrice Training Institute (FPTI) in Singapore. Hosted by Singapore National Co-operative Federation (SNCF) and supported by NTUC FairPrice, 23 managers of consumer co-operatives from seven countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam) actively participated in the two-day workshop.

The workshop commenced with the welcome address by Mrs. Dolly Goh, Chief Executive Officer of the SNCF, followed by opening address by Dr. Chan Ho Choi, Regional Director of the ICA-AP, and a detailed briefing on NTUC Fair Price by Ms. Juliana Tan, Manager of the FPTI.

During the two-day workshop, Mr. Beng Lee Kao, Ms. Juliana Tan and Mr. Ngee Chiang Tok from NTUC FairPrice covered four important areas of retail business, “Store management”, “Merchandizing”, “Store Comparison” and “Staff Training”. The participants also learnt about good customer service from the GEMS (Go the Extra Miles for Service) which is a nationwide movement to improve service levels in Singapore.

On the second day of the workshop, the participants visited three supermarkets of NTUC FairPrice and a competitor. They learnt about practical techniques for operating stores such as merchandise assortment, display, pricing and store comparison by using a check list.

After the store visits, the participants were divided into four groups and made presentations on the “solutions” to the scenarios given on the first day. One of the groups unveiled their detailed strategy to compete with an international hypermarket by targeting more towards family-typed customers.

On 30 April, most of the participants attended an optional program of visiting a hypermarket, a high-end supermarket and a convenience store operated by NTUC FairPrice, while they also visited a competitor’s store on the afternoon of the day.