Cold Storage SingaporeIntroductionThe name "Cold Storage" is iconic and has a unique history in Singapore's business history. Founded in 1903, the company had a small depot that stored and sold mostly frozen meat from Australia, hence the name. From this it grew to become the largest retail operator in Singapore. Since 1965, Cold Storage has adopted the concept of multiple retailing to achieve economies of scale, for which it has carried out wholesale purchasing and distribution of food products to a network of stores throughout Singapore and the Malay Peninsula. Cold Storage excelled in the production of condensed milk and other dairy products such as UHT milk, Magnolia soft drinks and soy milk to satisfy the ever-evolving taste buds of consumers. In 1993, Dairy Farm International Holdings, which had plans to expand its operations in Singapore, acquired Cold Storage with its 11 stores at that time. Cold Storage's core strategy remains unchanged even now. Its vision is to always satisfy the specific needs of customers. Cold Storage started its fresh food distribution center in Singapore in 1999, once it realized the importance of guaranteed freshness for food products. This distribution center is a composite multi-temperature warehouse for the distribution of fresh and frozen foods. In its early days the company's main concern was to have a quick and profitable turnover of its imported meats and product range. Cold Storage later moved its system from counter services to self-service and introduced the supermarket to Singapore. Cold Storage was the first retail supermarket in Singapore to install a fully integrated cold chain distribution system, from supply chain to store level, to ensure safe handling... half the paper... have an edge compared competitors.ThreatIt is facing a threat from its competitors such as Fairprice and Sheng Siong. The biggest threat it faces comes from NTUC Fair Price, which caters to lower and middle class customers and has a very large customer base. NTUC Fair Price has over 100 outlets in Singapore, which poses the biggest threat to cold storage which has almost half the number of outlets. Singapore is a relatively densely populated city, and people prefer to visit retail outlets more often than consumers in the United States. People in a normal family visited and shopped two or three times a week. This puts Fairprice ahead of Cold Storage as the presence of these outlets is much larger. Fairprice also offers a similar range of products and similar levels of freshness and hygiene but at lower prices than Cold Storage.(PWC, 2005)