Sands China Hosts Third Annual Sands Shopping Carnival to Support Local Businesses in Macao

Sands China hosted the third annual Sands Shopping Carnival September 10-12 at The Venetian Macao, welcoming more than 100,000 visitors this year to what is now the largest sales event in Macao. Spanning three days, the mass marketplace featured more than 530 booths and eight exhibition zones across 21,000 square meters for retailers and small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) to showcase their products and services.

Exhibitors provided an expansive array of offerings, including household and family products, gourmet items, sports accessories and healthy lifestyle products. Sands China provides booth space free of charge, and exhibitors retain all sales proceeds. The company also provided family-friendly entertainment, activities and games as attractions for shoppers.

Launched in 2020, the Sands Shopping Carnival was Sands China’s response to the pandemic’s business impact on retailers and SMEs, providing a forum for them to generate sales, while boosting the economy. Within three years, the event has become Macao’s largest platform for retailers and SMEs to showcase their goods and services, with total attendance for last two carnivals exceeding 210,000 people.

“The Sands Shopping Carnival has become one of the most impactful ways Sands China works to support the development of local SMEs by providing them a free business platform in the largest sale event in Macao,” said Dr. Wilfred Wong, president of Sands China Ltd. “While started to aid local businesses in their pandemic recovery, it is now an intrinsic part of our commitment to providing tangible progress to our local business community.”

As in past years, the Sands Shopping Carnival also aims to aid local nonprofits and community organizations, by giving them a platform to educate about their work in the Macao community. Sands Cares Ambassadors, the company’s Team Member volunteer corps, provided on-site support to local community organizations that participated in the carnival, including staffing their booths. Sands Cares Ambassadors represent the heart and soul of Sands’ global commitment to volunteerism aimed at extending the impact of local service organizations.

The 2022 Sands Shopping Carnival was organized by Sands China in partnership with the Macao Chamber of Commerce and supported by the Economic and Technological Development Bureau, the Macao Government Tourism Office and the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute. The event was sponsored by Bank of China Macau Branch, ICBC (Macau), BNU and Bank of Communications Macau Branch.

The Sands Shopping Carnival is a flagship initiative exemplifying Sands’ commitment to helping drive success for local SMEs in host regions. Advancing SMEs, who are integral to the success of Sands resorts, spans all three of the company’s corporate responsibility pillars: People, Communities and Planet.

As part of the People pillar, Sands focuses on advancing suppliers and partners and bolstering their enterprises. At Sands China, a core initiative supporting these goals is the F.I.T. program, which focuses on financial assistance; invitational matching to help SMEs access new procurement opportunities; and training and development to build capability for working with large-scale companies and help improve business effectiveness. The Sands China Procurement Academy is another facet of this work, which helps local SMEs gain experience and capacity for working with large international corporations.

The Sands Shopping Carnival is Sands China’s key Communities pillar focus area. Under the Planet pillar, Sands China focuses on incentivizing local businesses that focus on sustainable offerings, such as eco-friendly packaging or sustainable seafood. Beyond providing opportunities to sustainable suppliers, Sands also educates partners about the importance of environmental responsibility.

Advancing the success of SMEs is part of Sands’ global corporate responsibility commitment to making its regions ideal places to live, work and visit. To learn more, please read the 2021 ESG Report: https://www.sands.com/content/uploads/2022/04/LVSC_ESG-Report-2021_spreads.pdf