To attract younger customers, heartland merchants are experimenting with Instagram reels of electric fans and passport-style loyalty cards, in collaboration with Nanyang Polytechnic students.
These were the winning ideas in this year’s Heartland Innovation Challenge, which ran from April till the award ceremony on Aug 29.
Held annually since 2021 by the Federation of Merchants’ Associations, Singapore (FMAS), the challenge provides a platform for students and heartland enterprises to co-develop prototypes of business solutions.
This year, 14 heartland enterprises took part. Each was paired with two teams, comprising a mix of students from Nanyang Polytechnic’s School of Business Management and School of Communication and Motion Design.
“For heartland businesses, when they join this programme, it’s not so much that they lack certain perspectives or ideas,” FMAS executive director Jon Lee told The Business Times at the award ceremony.
“They also want to hear from the next generation, because eventually the students also become consumers … so they want to know what attracts them, what will make them spend in the heartland.”
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Students may frequent heartland shops as consumers, yet not know how such shops are run, said FMAS president Yeo Hiang Meng. “So this innovation challenge allowed them to have a better understanding of heartland businesses.”
This year’s challenge had three categories: branding, product design and social media strategy.
In the past, it was enough to set up a shop and “wait for customers to come in”, said Lee. But today, branding – whether through the business owner’s personality or the store’s image – is important to raise awareness among consumers.
Enterprises also need creative or fresh products to attract consumers and target specific groups, while social media strategy supports both branding and product development by getting attention, he added.
From hardware to heartware
Household appliances store T S Yong Trading won two out of three award categories – branding and social media – for its work with one group of 10 students.
Located in Aljunied, the 38-year-old store sells products such as fans, refrigerators and washing machines.
Many of its regular customers are above 45 years old, and the shop cannot rely solely on them to sustain the business in the long term, said owner Yong Tick Chia in Mandarin, adding: “So I want to attract younger customers.”
Through interviews with over 50 young couples and families, the students discovered that they prefer more product options, detailed information and a guided buying experience.
They proposed turning Yong’s store into a showroom focused on displaying its best-selling products: electric fans.
This setup would include a computer for browsing fan models that are not on display; product signage explaining the features of each fan; a website with detailed information; consultation sessions with Yong; and guidebooks with beginner-friendly tips on choosing appliances.
As for a social media strategy, trendy and relatable clips could help to gather an audience first, after which the focus could shift to building Yong’s brand persona through longer interview videos, said communication and design student Phoebe Lin.
The students set up an Instagram page for the shop, with two posts and four short “reels” showcasing its offerings and Yong himself. The most popular reel – with Yong promoting different types of fans – has garnered nearly 4,900 views and 150 likes.
Since publishing the social media content, the store has received visits and calls from young consumers, Yong noted.
He added that through the challenge, he himself learned how to create social media content, as well as the importance of offering after-sales services to maintain customer relationships.
Passports, prizes and a neon glow
The winner of the product design category was convenience store chain Dojin, along with a group of eight students.
Started in 1979 as a traditional minimart, Dojin has since scaled down its offerings for a convenience store model, selling food, drinks and daily necessities but not household items such as brooms. It operates two outlets in Bedok Reservoir and Serangoon.
As buying things online becomes more convenient, heartland merchants’ foot traffic will fall if they do not create a more vibrant retail experience, said Dojin director Fabian Loi.
Through the challenge, he hoped the stores could innovate and “engage youngsters”, encouraging them to visit.
The Nanyang Polytechnic students surveyed young consumers in the neighbourhood and found that they sought a more “gamified” experience.
They therefore created loyalty stamp booklets designed like passports, in line with Dojin’s range of international products such as candies from the US.
Customers can receive a “passport” with any purchase – with a chance of getting one that includes a golden “boarding pass”, which lets them spin a wheel for limited edition prizes such as collectible key chains.
For each S$5 spent on food and beverage products, customers get a sticker for their “passport”. If they collect six stickers within two to three months, they can also spin the wheel.
Loi said he was initially sceptical as “nowadays nobody keeps membership cards in their wallet”, but the design of the “passports” turned out “quite successful”.
The team also proposed decorating Dojin’s stores with neon signs, to appeal to younger consumers and transport them to a “whole new world”, said communication and design student Ayden Ricafort.
Loi intends to use the students’ neon sign design and is already asking a vendor for a quotation.
He noted that his biggest takeaway from the challenge is learning the perspective of consumers between 18 and 20 years old – the students themselves.
“The things that they want, I feel it’s quite different,” he said, citing the example of Milo plush toys offered as collectibles alongside the drink.
