Singapore can be said to be the most mature e-commerce market in Southeast Asia. It has a complete infrastructure, a wealthy population, and an Internet penetration rate of up to 82%. Several major international e-commerce giants are vying for the Singaporean market. According to a recent "e-commerce map" produced by Iprice, a Southeast Asian e-commerce aggregation platform, Qoo10 is the most visited e-commerce platform in Singapore, with traffic exceeding eight digits in the first quarter!
2017 Q3, No. 1 in traffic
In the third quarter of 2017, Qoo10's website traffic reached 8 million, ranking first among Singapore's e-commerce platforms, 4 million higher than the second-ranked Lazada.
In Q4 2017, traffic exceeded eight figures
Data shows that in the fourth quarter of 2017, Qoo10's traffic reached 14 million, making it the first e-commerce platform in Singapore to exceed eight digits in "quarterly traffic". Lazada still ranked second, also exceeding 10 million in traffic.
Characteristics of consumer groups
Most online shoppers in Singapore are aged between 25 and 34, or millennials, at 38%. The second largest group is those aged 35-44, accounting for 27%; followed by those aged 18-24, accounting for 14%. Most of this group are students with limited spending power.
An estimated 75% of Qoo10's users are women, with an average age of 27.
More than half (60%) of the users surveyed said they use search engines such as Google as the main source of information for shopping decisions. Therefore, SEO is very important for e-commerce companies to gain the attention of online shoppers.
Online shopping product preferences
According to research by Criteo and Edelman, travel products are the most common digital purchase category in Singapore. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of digital shoppers said they had made a travel-related digital purchase, while 57% of respondents said they had bought clothes and shoes online. 48% of digital shoppers said they had purchased entertainment items such as movie tickets, followed by beauty and personal care products at 38%, electronic devices at 32%, and books at 31%.
About a quarter of shoppers buy online because of discounts and promotions, so sellers can use online coupons and promotional codes to attract consumers.
At the same time, 19% of consumers buy gifts for themselves online, which matches the consumption behavior at the end of the month after receiving salary. And 18% of shoppers shop online to solve problems faster and more conveniently, such as buying office equipment online. Because the city-state of Singapore is relatively short, it is easier to achieve same-day delivery.
As the largest e-commerce platform in Singapore, Qoo10’s advantaged categories are fashion, 3C and beauty.
Payment Methods
Unlike other parts of Southeast Asia, credit cards are the preferred payment method for the vast majority of online shoppers in Singapore. Based on surveys by SingSaver and ShopBack, as many as 79.0% of digital buyers in Singapore prefer to use credit cards to pay for digital purchases; followed by PayPal, which accounts for 12%.
Only 3.8% of respondents said they prefer local payment service eNETs (similar to China UnionPay); followed by cash on delivery 2.3% and bank transfer 2%.
