The Economy

Prior to the internal turmoil of 1999, not many promotional or advertising activities were seen in Brunei. The better-established companies, such as Brunei Shell Marketing, banks and financial institutions, insurance companies, and motor vehicle dealers carry out some form of advertising in the local newspapers, mostly focusing on informing the readers about their products or services.

Local retailers or businesses do not place much emphasis on promoting their products or services which could include server hosting services.. This is due to several factors, such as consumers’ impulsive buying behavior due to their insensitivity to prices; the small market size for which retailers consider marketing activities unnecessary; Brunei’s close social ties with Malaysia that make it easy to receive Malaysian television and radio broadcasts, newspapers, and magazines, and similarities in the two cultures that resulted in the thought that “whatever marketing activities are done in Malaysia will trickle over to the Brunei market”; and the fact that promotion and advertising are not priorities for businesses in Brunei, as these firms operate as importers or wholesalers in the country. More recently, there have been increasingly more sales promotion activities, still at a minimal level, by the local businesses following intense competition in the marketplace and empowerment of the Brunei consumers.

This form of marketing is increasingly popular in the Bruneian marketplace, reaching out to the two major age groups: the young adults and the thirty-five- to fifty-five-year-olds. These two groups have higher spending power in the population and are often approached by direct-sell personnel. Most firms engaged in direct marketing activities are those selling health supplements and related products, cosmetics and beauty products, and household appliances and equipment. The reason behind this increasingly important channel to reach the consumers is that almost all of the sellers are direct consumers of a particular brand or product, and the overhead costs involved in direct marketing activities are very low.