With the annual Brunei Salebrationaround the corner, I would like to call on the public to consider shopping locally to stimulate the local economy.
Once December hits, people will most likely go on a shopping spree across the border. The thought of having a massive load of people with the same goal in mind doesn’t seem to discourage anyone. Getting caught in congestion for hours and driving on badly paved roads are just small sacrifices to spending exorbitantly on hard-to-find items and food.
I was visiting Miri last weekend when I saw 10 buses bringing hundreds of Bruneians to popular commercial zones to hunt for bargains. Imagine if they exhibited the same level of enthusiasm back home.
Perhaps the issue lies in the way local shops operate.
Most businesses seem quite happy waiting for customers to show up instead of raising their profiles through active social media promotion and sales.
We need to ring in excitement through selling goods that the public wants and making sure the public knows that the goods they want are actually available here.
While the majority continues to believe that items found in the neighbouring states are cheaper, I don’t think it holds true anymore. I was comparing the prices of durians last weekend and found them lower here. Sure, there are still goods that are cheaper outside of our country, but that has more to do with certain businesses, especially smaller ones, being too greedy by marking up the price too much.
So, I hope comes December, I would see more people opting to stay back instead of flocking across the borders like clockwork.
Bargain Hunter
