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CASHING IN: Undergraduates Vanessa Chan (right) and Sabrina Lim, both 21, are partners of an online shop selling items like bags and bangles. -- ST PHOTO: LIM CHIN PING
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SINGAPOREANS are flocking to overseas websites to shop, with those from the United States topping the virtual shopping lists of netizens.
Almost eight in 10 people here buy with the click of a mouse, many zeroing in on American e-mall sites like Macy's and Old Navy.
That 82 per cent figure came from the Nielsen Global Online Survey on Internet shopping habits released last week.
The online buying binge has been buoyed by a strong Singapore dollar - especially against the American greenback - and the explosion of secure shopping websites, experts say.
Singapore-based online shopping service Comgateway said it expects cross-border online business to rise by 25 per cent over the next year. The company runs a delivery service for customers who shop at some 300,000 online stores in the United States that do not ship to Singapore.
Chairman Danny Lim said there was a three-fold rise in the firm's customers from 2006 to 2007. The number of transactions jumped five times, and consumers spent 50 per cent more, doling out an average of $400 per transaction, he said.
At vPost, which offers similar services, transactions jumped by 50 per cent last year, the company said.
The most popular overseas merchants among Singaporeans are clothing retailers Old Navy, Forever 21 and Macy's, along with online pharmacy www.drugstore.com, said Comgateway and vPost.
Just a few years back, there were only a few options for secure online shopping, like Amazon.com. Now, there is a mind-boggling selection of such websites from countries like the US, Australia and Japan. Legendary brick-and-mortar US retailers such as Macy's and Saks, which were once out of reach for Singaporeans, are now a click away.
The recent plunge of the US dollar, which fell to a record low of US$1 to S$1.379 last week, sealed the deal for some shoppers.
Most shoppers, however, were already won over by the unique buys and low prices offered online.
Ten shoppers whom The Straits Times spoke to said they shop for 60 to 100 per cent of their non-essentials online.
Ms Rachel Wong, a property firm director, saved $1,000 on a Christian Dior bag on the website of American retailer Neiman Marcus. The 41-year-old said she spends, on average, $10,000 to $20,000 at online shops each month.
Others cite poor service here and the convenience of shopping from home as reasons for taking their dollars online.
Information technology consultant Julian Tan, 35, is one of them. He does almost all his shopping on the Internet, going as far as to get car parts on a Japanese website.
'The car parts I want are not available here, and service in Singapore is bad. Charges are typically hiked up, with ignorant and rude staff,' he said.
Some shoppers, though, say there are drawbacks to online buying. Shopping at small independent cyber-stores, or buying from strangers, can be risky.
But rookie online shopper Hannah Chua, 26, is undeterred: 'It was easy and painless. But I feel better if the shop has been recommended by friends or Web reviews.'
tanwz@sph.com.sg
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