Amid a marriage recession in Singapore, here’s how The Chinese Wedding Shop plans to survive

Fewer {couples} are getting married, and it has impacted The Chinese language Marriage ceremony Store’s gross sales

Marriage has lengthy been seen as an necessary union between two households throughout cultures. However in Singapore, fewer {couples} are selecting to tie the knot.

Not too long ago launched figures present that marriages in Singapore fell by about 6.2%, from 26,328 in 2024 to 24,687 in 2025. This decline follows a broader drop after the nation hit a report peak of 29,389 marriages in 2022.

However this pattern doesn’t simply replicate shifting social priorities within the city-state—it’s forcing Singapore’s marriage ceremony trade, from banquet companies to bridal studios, to rethink their methods. And for area of interest retailers like The Chinese language Marriage ceremony Store, they should discover a approach to stability custom and staying related in a market the place fewer persons are saying “I do.”

Vulcan Publish speaks to co-founder Michelle Neo on how The Chinese language Marriage ceremony Store, a specialist in conventional Chinese language marriage ceremony merchandise, is navigating a marriage recession.

The Chinese language Marriage ceremony Store has been round for nearly 20 years

Michelle first established The Chinese language Marriage ceremony Store along with her husband in 2009, investing S$400,000 of their financial savings to open their first retailer at Ang Mo Kio. From the beginning, they positioned the store as a one-stop vacation spot for {couples} searching for objects for conventional Chinese language marriage ceremony customs.

One instance is the Guo Da Li (过大礼), a ceremony the place the groom’s household presents marriage ceremony presents to the bride’s household as an indication of respect as sincerity.

Again then, the co-founder shared that there was robust demand for such merchandise.

“At the moment, a lot of our buddies who had been getting married had been extraordinarily pressured making an attempt to supply conventional Guo Da Li objects,” stated Michelle. “They needed to run from store to buy, usually with little steerage, and had been frightened about ‘doing it fallacious’ in entrance of the elders.”

Past retail, the enterprise additionally guides {couples} by means of conventional marriage ceremony customs. Every go to begins with a dialog to know the couple’s background, which incorporates particulars like:

Dialect group

Household expectations

Marriage ceremony timeline

How conventional or fashionable they need the ceremony to be

After consolidating this data, the workforce guides prospects step-by-step by means of the customary sequence, explaining the necessities and non-obligatory objects, and the way sure practices might be simplified or tailored.

“Our focus is to make sure {couples} really feel assured and reassured, moderately than overwhelmed,” emphasised Michelle. These consultations helped the enterprise construct credibility and finally increase to 5 areas throughout Singapore.

Adapting to a shrinking market

However shifting marriage ceremony tendencies over the previous few years have compelled the enterprise to adapt.

Except for the declining variety of marriages, it has additionally change into costlier to carry weddings in Singapore. Banquet costs, as an example, elevated as a lot as 10% in 2022 amid inflation, prompting many {couples} to go for smaller, extra intimate ceremonies.

Whereas she didn’t disclose figures, Michelle shared that these tendencies have regularly lowered total gross sales volumes. Clients have additionally change into extra intentional with their spending, rigorously weighing what’s important and what’s not.

“Beforehand, {couples} had been extra frightened about following traditions strictly. At this time, they’re extra centered on why sure customs exist and the way they’ll adapt them meaningfully with out it being unnecessarily complicated,” stated Michelle.

To fight the decline, the store has regularly launched new methods: diversifying its curated conventional marriage ceremony units, providing leases of particular person objects like marriage ceremony baskets, and creating extra versatile packages that allow {couples} personalise dowry units and different ceremonial necessities.

As extra shoppers shift their buying habits on-line and worth comfort in buying merchandise, significantly after the COVID-19 pandemic, the enterprise additionally began promoting its merchandise on-line in 2020, each by means of its personal web site and e-commerce platforms like Shopee and Lazada.

“These new streams helped offset the drop in conventional transactions,” stated Michelle, including that the shift has pushed the enterprise to “innovate quicker” and “serve {couples} higher” moderately than counting on custom alone.

Past these initiatives, the store has embraced a one-stop marriage ceremony strategy, aiming to place itself as a go-to vacation spot the place {couples} can supply extra than simply conventional objects.

For example, the corporate additionally facilitates marriage ceremony cake and pastry orders by partnering with native bakeries equivalent to Baker’s Brew, Tong Heng, and Thye Moh Chan.

One other manner the store is positioning itself as a one-stop marriage ceremony vacation spot is by increasing past retail into an advisory and academic platform. Social media has change into a key channel for the enterprise to teach youthful {couples} about conventional marriage ceremony customs.

“The objective is to cut back stress for {couples} whereas retaining traditions significant, not burdensome,” she added.

Diversification is vital to survival, however weddings stay their bread and butter

Since renewing its choices post-pandemic, Michelle shared that they’ve been nicely acquired by each {couples} and oldsters alike, although she didn’t elaborate additional.

Even so, the shrinking variety of marriages means the general market is more likely to proceed contracting, elevating the query of whether or not the corporate ought to diversify past weddings.

Michelle and her workforce have explored this potential, contemplating expansions into different Chinese language traditions—equivalent to promoting festive banners and purple packets for Chinese language New Yr—however plans aren’t concrete but, and any transfer into new areas would wish the identical stage of cultural sensitivity, information, and relevance.

Weddings proceed to be the enterprise’s bread and butter as of now, because the credibility they’ve gained over time allowed them to determine a distinct segment in Singapore’s crowded marriage ceremony scene.

“For now, our precedence is to deepen our wedding-related choices, equivalent to rental units for particular makes use of and modernised options, earlier than extending into different areas.”

Be taught extra about The Chinese language Marriage ceremony Store right here.

Learn extra tales we’ve wrote on Singaporean companies right here.

Featured Picture Credit score: The Chinese language Marriage ceremony Store