Happy Birthday, Singapore!

The new FairPrice Housebrand brings a good life to Singaporeans

Singapore’s largest supermarket chain, NTUC FairPrice (FairPrice), unveiled five housebrand labels at its National Day Observance Ceremony at Toa Payoh HDB Hub this morning. The event was graced by Mr Lim Boon Heng, Minister, Prime Minister’s Office and Secretary-General, NTUC.

The development of FairPrice Housebrand aims to support the Co-operative’s social role to help moderate the cost of living in Singapore. On average, FairPrice Housebrand produces are priced 10- 15 per cent lower than comparable national brand products.

Mr Ng Ser Miang, Chairman of NTUC FairPrice, said, “Through our Housebrand range of products, FairPrice is committed to bringing our customers the good life by offering more variety and great value.”

The mainstream FairPrice housebrand caters to the needs of the majority, offering a wide range of essentials with the promise of “Good quality. Best price.” The FairPrice Gold label serves customers who prefer the finer things in life while the Budget range caters to customers who prefer low-price, basic products. The FairPrice Pasar brand delivers fresh produce and chilled products and FairPrice HomeProud covers the range of household products and general merchandise.

Mr Ng added, “In Singapore, customer surveys show that FairPrice housebrand products have achieved high brand equity and awareness amongst grocery shoppers. From a modest range of 800 items in year 2000, the number of FairPrice Housebrand products to-date stands at more than 1,800, and is still increasing.”

Besides offering greater value and variety, FairPrice says it is equally important to ensure the highest standards of food safety and quality for its housebrand products.

To this end, FairPrice has brought on board Dr Ngiam Tong Tau, former Chief Executive Officer of the Agri-food and Veterinary Authority Singapore (AVA) as its consultant in food safety and quality assurance. Dr Ngiam’s role will bolster FairPrice’s current efforts to step up the quality quotient.

In addition to stringent product evaluation and quality control processes, FairPrice buyer and quality assurance specialists conduct factory audits on manufacturers commissioned to pack its housebrand products to ensure that they comply with international quality standards. It also carries out taste testing before launching any product and during periodic reviews of its existing products. As an added measure to ensure higher standard of food safety, FairPrice sends its products to independent laboratories for testing and analysis. Some of its housebrand products even exceed the baseline requirements of product specifications set by the authorities.

FairPrice expects to increase its sales of housebrand products from the current 13 percent of its annual sales turnover to 20-25 percent in the next few years.