The Future of Singapore’s Supermarkets Will Be Won Beyond the Aisles

For decades, Singapore’s supermarket business was brutally straightforward. Get the basics in check. Keep prices low. Operate where people live. Make sure shelves stay well stocked.

That formula transformed three brothers who once worked on their father’s farm into billionaires. It may also explain why one home-grown supermarket giant continues to thrive while another has unravelled under the weight of ambition. But as Sheng Siong enters its next chapter through an exclusive partnership with foodpanda, that is targeting delivery within an hour, and multinational brands such as Unilever experiment with purpose-driven direct-to-consumer platforms, Singapore’s grocery sector is entering a new era altogether.

The question is no longer who has the best locations. It is who can remain relevant.

Sheng Siong: Disciplined First Generation

This supermarket story has become part of Singapore’s entrepreneurial folklore. The middle child in a family of nine children, he dropped out of school after struggling with English, completed a vocational course and National Service, and returned to help with the family’s farm. When a pork surplus hit in the 1980s and Singapore began phasing out pig farming, Sheng Siong’s founder, together with his two brothers and his father’s capital, acquired Savewell Supermarket in 1985. That became Sheng Siong.

Unlike competitors chasing prime retail spaces, the brothers opened stores in quieter heartland locations where rents were lower. They blended wet-market familiarity with supermarket convenience and expanded cautiously. “We didn’t worry about competing with the bigger chains,” Lim once said. “We just worked very hard, because we didn’t want the business to fail.” Four decades later, Sheng Siong operates 88 stores and commands a market capitalisation exceeding S$4.5 billion. The business built by former farmers has become one of Singapore’s most successful listed retailers.

Hao Mart: Complicated Risk

If Sheng Siong represents the strengths of founder discipline, Hao Mart increasingly illustrates the fragility of second-generation retail leadership.

At its peak, Hao Mart operated more than 40 outlets across Singapore. Today, according to the Business Times, only a fraction remain operational. Losses deepened year after year, ballooning to S$49.6 million in its latest filings in 2025. Multiple High Court lawsuits now hang over the company. The primary dispute involves Hao Mart’s main Landlord OG, pertaining to its lease of, “Taste Orchard”, which it operates and sub leases to other operators. OG is represented by Dentons Rodyk’s Koh Kia Jeng, who is pursuing the recovery of a S$66.2 million loan, with OG as lender and Dr Tan Kim Yong as borrower. 

The contrast between the two retailers extends beyond financial performance. In an earlier podcast this year, reflecting on her role within the family business, former chief marketing officer Germaine Tan reportedly humorously remarked: “My dad has a problem saying no to mew which does not help in a work situation because he is my boss,” and added. “Then he ends up saying yes to me, it causes [like] conflicts with the other departments. It was very complicated to navigate.” It was an unusually candid observation about family enterprises. 

Many founder-led businesses struggle with succession precisely because the instincts that built the company: trust, loyalty and familial obligation, do not necessarily translate into effective leadership for the next generation. The valid legal complications, and impending foreclosure by the institutional banks, surrounding Hao Mart underscore how deeply the retailer’s troubles now extend beyond operations.

Among those still stubbornly representing the alleged claimants is lawyer Sean La’Brooy of Vita Law, who has appeared in proceedings linked to Hao Mart’s disputes. The tragedy is not that Hao Mart tried to reinvent itself. It is that reinvention may have outpaced the fundamentals that sustain supermarkets in the first place.

E-Commerce Platform Era

Even Sheng Siong recognises that physical stores alone are no longer enough.

The exclusive partnership foodpanda announced, bringing Sheng Siong onto its grocery marketplace, involves more than 12,000 products from 43 Sheng Siong outlets that will be available for delivery within an hour, with additional stores expected to come onboard progressively. The launch is accompanied by S$280,000 worth of giveaways and promotional discounts. This is more than a distribution agreement. It represents an acknowledgment that the supermarket of the future is both destination and platform, hence the delivery platform has aligned itself exclusively with Sheng Siong instead.

One retailer became a quick-commerce partner. The other became a cautionary tale. The battleground has shifted. Consumers who once planned weekly supermarket trips increasingly expect essentials to arrive at their doorstep within an hour. For supermarkets, convenience is no longer defined by proximity to home. Convenience is becoming algorithmic.

Another force is reshaping retail: Purpose. Unilever International’s Good Cart, launched in Singapore in 2022, bypasses traditional retail channels altogether through a direct-to-consumer platform. But unlike conventional e-commerce, Good Cart embeds social impact into the transaction itself. Its latest partnership with the Goh Chok Tong Enable Fund allows consumers to contribute towards empowering persons with disabilities through everyday purchases. “Buy good, Do good” is more than a marketing slogan.

It reflects a growing expectation among consumers that brands should stand for something beyond product attributes and price points. Direct-to-consumer channels also offer something supermarkets increasingly struggle to maintain: direct relationships.

Beyond Shelf Space

The future of Singapore’s supermarkets will not be decided solely by who sells the cheapest eggs. It will depend on who can balance four competing demands.

The first is operational discipline — the unglamorous fundamentals that built companies like Sheng Siong. The second is governance, particularly as family businesses transition across generations. The third is technological adaptability, as delivery platforms reshape expectations around speed and convenience. The fourth is meaning, as consumers increasingly reward brands whose values align with their own.

Singapore’s grocery landscape therefore finds itself at an inflection point. The old model of merely operating stores is fading. Tomorrow’s winners may be those that operate ecosystems — physical outlets, delivery partnerships, direct consumer relationships and social purpose initiatives working in tandem. Forty years ago, success in supermarkets meant securing a good location in the neighbourhood. Today, success means earning a place in the consumer’s feed, basket and conscience.