About Us

Profile - The Organisation - Brand Promise & Policies	NTUC FairPrice Annual Report 2006/2007
The Story of NTUC FairPrice... Singapore's Very Own

Where it all began

The story of NTUC FairPrice could be traced back to the early seventies. Then, Singapore was faced with the oil crisis and rising prices due to inflation. The Labour Movement together with the determined Singapore government worked closely to find a solution to this serious problem. In 1973, the National Trades Union Congress launched a supermarket co-operative called NTUC Welcome in Toa Payoh. The then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew was there to officially declare the store opened. This was a significant indication of the strong support from the government. At about the same time, other unions such as the Singapore Industrial Labour Organisation (SILO) and Pioneer Industries Employees Union (PIEU) also set up co-operatives to run supermarkets to help curb profiteering. SILO and PIEU later merged to form the Singapore Employees Co-operative (SEC) in the early eighties. In May 1983, amidst growing competition and the need to be more efficient in costs, a merger between NTUC Welcome and SEC resulted in the enlarged co-operative known as NTUC Fairprice Co-operative Limited. Since then, NTUC FairPrice has continued with its original mission to stabilise the prices of essential consumer products and gone on to become the people's supermarket.

FairPrice Today

Today, FairPrice has grown to become the leading supermarket retailer in Singapore. It has a retail network of over 225 stores island-wide. Owned by about 500,000 Singaporeans, it serves the needs of more than a million everyday, and is indeed "Singapores Very Own". Its founding mission to help moderate the cost of living for low income households in Singapore remains at the heart of its operations. With sales of more than $1.49 billion in the financial year 2006/2007 and a staff strength of over 5,000, the corporate mission of FairPrice incorporates an additional responsibility not only to its customers but also its staff, who have made its success possible. "NTUC FairPrice, Best Place to Shop, Best Place to Work and Best Corporate Citizen" underlines its commitment to bring value to the community, its customers, its staff, and ultimately to its co-operative members who by their support make FairPrice Singapore's Very Own largest supermarket chain. Over the years, FairPrice has continuously revolutionised its business to remain in the forefront of retail technology and innovation, and remain responsive to the changing environment and customers' needs.  Business Formats   The mainstay of FairPrice business is retailing. Besides its flagship FairPrice supermarkets, the FairPrice Group also has various store formats targeting at different market segments. In its operations, it has ventured into new formats and services in recent years, such as Cheers Convenience Stores, FairPrice Xpress, FairPrice Homemart, FairPrice Online, FairPrice Xtra and FairPrice Finest. FairPrice also caters to increasingly popular niche markets. Examples are the halal fresh and deli items for Muslim shoppers, more healthy-choice products and nutrition programmes for the health-conscious shoppers, more exotic products that come from non-conventional sources like Chile, Hungary, South Africa, to cater to the adventurous consumers, as well as online-shopping for the Internet savvy shoppers. All these improvisations and additions to the traditional range of products and services is to better serve its new millennium customers who are well-travelled, better educated and lead increasingly modern and global lifestyles. Central Warehousing & Distribution FairPrice prides itself in being the first supermarket retailer in Singapore that has its own central warehousing and distribution system. In 1998, NTUC FairPrice took full ownership of its central warehouse and distribution company and renamed it Grocery Logistics of Singapore Pte Ltd. It has since invested in a new warehouse management system to achieve better inventory control and streamline orders from operations so as to enhance customers shopping experience. FairPrice's also set up a 13,000-square-metre Fresh Food Distribution Centre in January 2003. This refrigerated distribution facility centralises the distribution of temperature-sensitive fresh and chilled products to all its outlets. FairPrice is the first supermarket retailer to build, own and operate a Fresh Food Distribution Centre. The centre has also been given the HACCP certification. To further its growth in Singapore and the region, FairPrice is constantly exploring new business ventures that will complement its existing activities.  Vision, Mission and Core Values Vision: To be Singapore's Leading World-Class Retailer with a Heart. Mission: To provide customers with the best value, quality products and excellent service, be a preferred employer, moderate the cost of living in Singapore, and serve the needs of our members, labour movement and the community. In short, FairPrice aims to be the        Best Place To Shop       Best Place to Work      Best Corporate Citizen   FairPrice is determined to gear itself up and continuously strive to look out for innovative and refreshing ideas and products to keep up with the new age developments.  Its three core values - Customer-Focus, Professionalism and Teamwork will be the cornerstones of the new organizational culture. It will propel the organization in achieving its mission and vision. FairPrice A Trusted Brand On 22 April 2008, FairPrice was presented with the Platinum Trusted Brand Award for supermarket chains in Singapore at the Readers' Digest Trusted Brand Awards ceremony. FairPrice has become a leading trusted brand by consumers over the years, having won the platinum award in 2006 and won the gold award in 2007. Our housebrand range of cooking oils also bagged the Gold Trusted Brand Award for cooking oil this year.