The three-month “Macau Consumer Grand Prix” ended on Sunday, and Economic and Technological Development Bureau (DSEDT) Acting Deputy Director Chan Chou Weng said yesterday that the bureau has already started to review the overall effectiveness of the campaign at this stage, underlining that “there is no, for the time being, additional information” showing whether it will launch similar consumer promotions campaign.
“At this stage, we will first collect relevant data from various e-payment institutions to understand the overall effectiveness of the campaign, and coordinate with a number of chambers of commerce in commissioning a third-party organisation to gauge the evaluation of the campaign by local small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) operators and consumers,” Chan said, adding that the outcome will be announced as soon as possible, with the amount of promotion expense expected to be available within two to three weeks.
Chan underlined that the “Macau Consumer Grand Prix”, launched in late September, was just one of the initiatives launched by the government to support SMEs in terms of improving their business environment, adding that on top of the recently concluded campaign, the bureau has also launched a raft of initiatives, including support for SMEs’ digitisation, to cater for the current consumer segments.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of yesterday’s closing ceremony of the “Central & Southern District Consumer Carnival” at Rotunda de Carlos da Maia (嘉路米耶圓形地 – also known as the Three Lamps in Chinese), Chan also said he believes that the “multi-entry” permits for residents of the Guangdong-Macau In-depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin and the “one-trip per week” permit for residents of Zhuhai to visit Macau, which will take effect from New Year’s Day, i.e., tomorrow, would have a “positive impact” on the local market, in particular on the tourism and retail sectors. He urged local SMEs to make good preparations with a view to providing their customers with better services and products in response to the measures introduced by the central authorities in Macau’s favour.
‘Central & Southern District Consumer Carnival’
Also after running for three months, the “Central & Southern District Consumer Carnival” ended yesterday. Lei Cheok Kuan, chairman of the Industry and Commerce Federation of the Macau Central and Southern District, told reporters on the sidelines of the ceremony that the campaign has achieved the expected results, with consumption amounting to nearly 50 million patacas and the number of participating SMEs increasing to 11,000 compared to previous years. He quoted some of the participating SME operators as indicating an increase of 20 to 30 percent in their business turnover during the campaign: “The more similar their products or services are, the smaller the increase in their revenue is, by less than 10 percent”.
Lei pointed out the importance of product differentiation, urging SME operators to “try to make some differences in the process while optimising their own products”.
Representatives of the organisers of the “Central & Southern District Consumer Carnival”, including Economic and Technological Development Bureau (DSEDT) Acting Deputy Director Chan Chou Weng (sixth from right) and Lei Cheok Kuan (second from right), chairman of the Industry and Commerce Federation of the Macau Central and Southern District, pose during yesterday’s closing ceremony at Rotunda de Carlos da Maia. – Photo: Yuki Lei
