THE NEED FOR GREATER SCRUTINY
It’s not just about whether rates are going up or down; it’s also about the true costs themselves, and whether or not Singaporeans are paying more than they should.
How do these prices compare to those in other nations, and are users getting a fair deal?
I’ve recently had two purchasing experiences, and I’m curious about whether the market here is as fair as it should be.
Next month, in Munich, Germany, while on a household trip, I bought a bottle of shaving razor blade, after misplacing me. I was surprised by the cost, but pleased to find that it was about S$ 3 for a group of ten biodegradable razor blade.
In Singapore, the cheapest equal blades below, at a major mall ring, cost nearly three times as much, including its home brand.
The 10-pack of Cien knife I purchased in Munich was one I had never heard of and couldn’t get here. It works as well as any I’ve used, for a fraction of the cost.
My next encounter, which involved purchasing AA batteries for my online lock at home, was even more instructive. The company suggested using Energiser Max, which costs about S$ 22.30 for a group of 20 at two big supermarkets in Singapore.
I resisted paying these costs, so I turned to online store Lazada. The cost? S$ 11.90 ( S$ 13.29 with delivery ), or almost half the price, sold by a local supplier.
Question: Why do the large suppliers in this area charge such high prices when they sell products from other countries and online? Why do they not offer customers more alternatives and aren’t as competitive as they should be?
Aside from their higher bandwidth costs, I can imagine that there is no incentive to wage a price war when the market is dominated by a few people. Better to watch each other’s rates and fee correctly.
How else can those chargers be priced so much the same way?
How to increase competition in the market when it is dominated by a few players, especially in terms of costs, as is the case with supermarkets and consumer bank as well.
In Singapore, it is worthwhile to investigate this issue. Although the majority of its items must be imported, this does not imply that nothing can be done to guarantee good rates.
In fact, it is even more important to do so, exactly because it is so import-dependent.
These problems need to be debated more firmly, including flogging dead horses.
Han Fook Kwang is a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S Rajaratnam School of International Studies. He was a former newspaper writer.