Jiaxin Entry #15
Planning for 2019
Our team has been discussing on the schedule of events for 2019 so that we can block off the dates before the hectic school term begins.
Shiju and Shun Kai were incharge of researching and collating a list of possible events for us to consider.
One of them that we were interested in is the Katong Square Lifestyle & Vintage Market January Edition that will take place from 11 January to 27 January. Although the event lasts for 2 weeks, vendors can choose to rent the booths for the whole duration, or any days. Hence, we are considering to participate on 12 & 13 Jan before school starts.
Last Sunday (30 Dec), we went to Katong Square for a site recce to check out the location and to determine whether it is a worth a shot.
Location
The mall is quite small, and retailers are mostly F&B or enrichment centres. However, it is situated right beside I12 katong that is relatively popular and might thus draw some traffic from there. Opposite Katong Square host a series of food outlets like mookata, and Korean bbq which might attract people to visit for dinner at night.
The bazaar will take place outside the mall’s main entrance which will be favourable to us as visitors to the mall will have to walk past the bazaar before entering the mall. This is unlike Whitesands or City Square Mall where visitors can easily walk away from the bazaar.
Customer Base
As we were there in the afternoon, which was neither near lunch or dinner time, the mall seems rather quiet. We stood at the side and observe the people walking through the passage to and fro the mall and realised two common group of people
- Tourists
Most of the people that walk past were Caucasians and this could be because there are hotels right behind it (Hotel Indigo & Holiday Inn Express).
- Family
There were also family with children walking past, and this could be because they had sent their kid to the educational centres in Katong Square.
After the site recce today, we have identified some problems that we may face if we were to participate in this bazaar.
As the market will mainly consist of tourist, terrariums will not be able to sell well as there are laws restricting plants to be brought out / into some countries and even if it is allowed, the terrarium will most likely be toppled over during the plane flight.
Hence, our team will have to consider this aspect greatly before making our decision on whether to hold a booth at Katong Square as it will have a great impact on our sales.
Till the next post!
Jia Xin