Food
He helped a friend buy a S$51 Adidas T-shirt last year — and netted himself S$1 million on Sunday (Jan 15) in Changi Airport’s Be a Changi Millionaire draw.
As a bonus, Mr Ade Iskandar Roni, 39, a procurement officer from South Jakarta, drew the name of his best friend in the Guess the Changi Millionaire lucky draw, winning his friend S$500 for picking the right millionaire out of eight finalists.
Although the chances of winning increase exponentially with the amount spent at Changi Airport’s retail stores, Mr Ade’s purchase was the least expensive among the items picked up by the eight finalists in this year’s event — four of the other seven finalists, who hailed from Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates, bought liquor.
An elated Mr Ade shed tears of joy when he was announced the winner. Mr Ade, who has five children aged 2 to 12, said he plans to use his windfall to bring his extended family for a visit to the Muslim holy cities of Makkah and Madinah, and perhaps buy a new car and house.
“I didn’t think I would win, I cannot imagine how much this money is in Indonesia,” said Mr Ade through a Bahasa Indonesian interpreter.
Into its seventh run, the 2016 edition of the retail promotion drew close to 1.2 million entries from 225 nationalities, primarily Singaporeans, Chinese, and Indonesians.
To enter the draw, passengers and visitors to the airport must spend at least S$50 in a single receipt shopping or dining at Changi Airport. The eight finalists emerged after three rounds of elimination and gathered on Sunday to compete through several rounds of games to win the grand prize.
Changi Airport Group (CAG) also shared on Sunday that sales at Changi Airport reached a record high of S$2.3 billion last year, up 5 per cent from the previous year.
Online sales via the iShopChangi portal showed particularly strong growth of 76 per cent from the previous year.
Chinese and Singaporeans were the strongest shoppers across platforms, contributing to half of overall retail sales.
Travellers from Indonesia, India and Australia made up the next largest customer groups last year.
The three most popular product categories were cosmetics and perfumes, liquor and tobacco, and luxury goods, contributing collectively to 70 per cent of sales.
These were followed by electronic gadgets, and chocolates, candies, and delicatessen items. Online purchases comprised mostly beauty products, electronics, and alcohol.
CAG executive vice president of commercial Lim Peck Hoon said high concession sales help to keep aeronautical charges — such as charges for landing, parking, and aero-bridges — competitive.
The opening of second DFS Wines & Spirits Duplex at Terminal 2 — which houses a cigar room and whiskey house — and the Pokemon at Changi celebrations are examples of how the operator has tried to keep its retail strategy “innovative”, she added.
