SRA Retail Awards 2025 • Official Launch of Singapore Retail Festival

The Singapore Retailers Association (SRA) hosted the SRA Retail Awards 2025 this evening, celebrating the retail industry's leading innovators and officially launching the first Singapore Retail Festival—a nationwide initiative to rejuvenate Singapore's retail sector. Ms. Low Yen Ling, Senior Minister of State for the Ministry of Trade and Industry and Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, presented the awards and inaugurated the Singapore Retail Festival at the SRA Retail Awards Gala Night 2025 at The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore.

Celebrating Resilience, Innovation, and Leadership in Retail

As Singapore's retail industry undergoes a bold transformation amid shifting consumer expectations, digital disruptions, and sustainability demands, this year's SRA Retail Awards highlighted visionary leadership, groundbreaking innovations, and outstanding customer experiences.

The evening honored top performers across 19 categories in the SRA Retail Awards 2025, covering department stores, supermarkets, fashion, lifestyle, beauty, home, electronics, and more. Categories included Department Store of the Year, Experiential Store of the Year, Pop-Up Experience of the Year, Social Impact Award of the Year, Retail Leader of the Year, and the People's Choice Retailer of the Year.

Submissions were evaluated by a panel of independent judges from the retail, business, and innovation sectors, based on criteria such as creativity, innovation, business impact, customer experience, digital transformation, sustainability practices, and community engagement. Each entry was assessed for its contribution to elevating industry standards and fostering meaningful progress in the local and regional retail landscape.

Workforce Transformation Award

Workforce Singapore collaborated with SRA to present the Workforce Transformation Award, recognizing companies committed to workforce transformation through job redesign and employee training. The evaluation included industry-specific outcomes, combining both qualitative and quantitative measures of workforce transformation efforts to reflect the transformation journey of retail businesses.

Official Launch of the inaugural Singapore Retail Festival

This year's gala celebrated a significant milestone with the official launch of the Singapore Retail Festival, an event celebrating innovation and transformation in the retail industry. The festival aims to reignite consumer interest in visiting physical stores while highlighting the innovation, creativity, and spirit of Singapore's retail sector.

Designed as a bold, unified effort to rejuvenate the industry, SRF united department stores, flagship retailers, emerging brands, and shopping malls across the island to offer value beyond discounts, providing shoppers with fresh and dynamic experiences that transcend traditional sales.

During the Festival, shoppers and tourists can anticipate interactive in-store activations, limited-time pop-ups, curated workshops, sensory and personalization activities, as well as exclusive product releases, bundles, and brand collaborations, all crafted to revive the magic of discovery, engagement, and on-ground excitement.

What’s New

• Exclusive Value-Driven Offerings: The festival will showcase limited-time, specially curated products and exclusive collaborations, offering unique and meaningful purchases that go beyond typical discounts.

• Experiential Retail Concepts: From interactive in-store activities to temporary concepts like pop-ups, the aim is to create immersive environments that excite and engage shoppers, providing memorable experiences and Instagram-worthy alternatives to the convenience of online shopping.

• New Retail Brands: SRF will highlight not only well-known household names but also new retail brands entering the market. These newcomers bring innovative ideas, niche products, and bold concepts that cater to changing consumer preferences, adding vibrancy and diversity to the retail experience. Their involvement also underscores Singapore’s ongoing appeal as a hub for innovative retail concepts.

• Thematic Celebrations: Each year, the SRF will adopt a unique theme to keep the experience fresh, relevant, and aligned with consumer trends, offering something to anticipate and experience firsthand. This strategy not only enables creative storytelling and curated retail experiences but also helps generate annual excitement and deeper engagement for both retailers and shoppers.

During the Festival, Orchard Road will be enlivened by eye-catching retail displays and engaging pop-up containers along the walkway outside ION Orchard. In this setting, various rotating brands will turn the streetscape into a lively playground of exploration, providing shoppers with new opportunities to connect, interact, and experience retail directly, while enhancing their brand visibility in the heart of Singapore's leading shopping district.

Rallying the retail industry towards global competitiveness

In celebration of Singapore's 60th year of independence, the festival, scheduled from 26 September to 12 October 2025, will coincide with the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix 2025. This timing takes advantage of the seasonal increase in international visitors and tourists. By uniting marketing efforts and on-ground activities under a single nationwide banner, SRA seeks to enhance visibility, increase foot traffic, and rejuvenate physical retail amidst rising online competition and evolving consumer behaviors.

Mr. Ernie Koh, President of the Singapore Retailers Association, stated, “The Singapore Retail Festival aims to rejuvenate the shopping experience by reintroducing the magic of discovery, engagement, and in-person experiences, turning everyday shopping into something exciting, lively, and unforgettable. This initiative strengthens Singapore's reputation as a vibrant and future-ready retail hub for both locals and tourists.” He continued, “Shoppers can anticipate a lively, value-focused celebration of Singapore's retail scene that aligns with the evolving demands of today's consumers and the contemporary retail environment.”

“It’s no longer just about sales; it’s about highlighting the creativity, resilience, and distinct value of our retail community. We aim to inspire the industry to reach higher standards and achieve global competitiveness while showcasing the best of Singapore’s retail offerings.” The festival is collaborating with 3,000 participating stores, including major mall operators like CapitaLand Investment Limited, Far East Organization, ION Orchard, Lendlease, Takashimaya Shopping Centre/Ngee Ann City, WEAVE at Resorts World Sentosa, and Wisma Atria.

The lineup of retail brands features prominent department stores such as BHG, Metro, OG, TANGS, and Takashimaya, along with a diverse range of brands in beauty, lifestyle, electronics, fashion, and health, including Watson's, Harvey Norman, Eu Yan Sang, Crocs, GINLEE, Pet Lovers Centre, Swarovski, and TC Acoustic.

Retailers who are keen to participate in the Festival can visit www.singaporeretailfestival.com  for more information.

The Singapore Retail Festival is supported by Enterprise Singapore (ESG).

Photo Credit: Singapore Retail Association (SRA)