When it comes to purchasing products and services, online shopping has become the go-to option for most Singaporeans including writer QY Tan. While shopping online, she came across a website that offers a unique shopping experience.
I do much of my shopping online these days – from books and furniture to clothes and groceries. I am one of the shoppers who have contributed to the estimated US$8 billion (S$10.9 billion) worth of Internet sales transactions that took place in Singapore in 2021. During the pandemic, all of us have turned to the Internet to shop.
In other words, online shopping is ubiquitous. It’s efficient and practical, it can get you the best bargains, it can save you all the time but let’s admit it, it’s so boring that it is almost a chore. Most websites look similar, with pages after pages of product photos and captions.
So I was pleasantly surprised to come upon Singapore’s very own silk scarves website SilkSpells.com. I knew I was on to something unique and innovative when the banner slogan, "It’s better to be a pirate than join the navy", greeted me on the homepage.
The saying is one of three that the late Apple founder Steve Jobs offered to his employees at an off-site retreat in 1983 in California. Back then, he and his team were working on the Mac and Jobs wanted to motivate his staff. To be a pirate meant being a bold, courageous risk-taker.
These qualities definitely resonated with me and I couldn’t wait to experience this ‘shop like a pirate’ concept. Intrigued, I reached out to SilkSpells’ founder Vandana Bhagat, to learn more about this new concept. According to her, it means shopping adventurously “with your instinct” and enjoying the element of serendipity and surprise in one’s online purchases.
A whole new (adventurous) way of shopping online
I must have shopped on thousands of websites and marketplaces since the Internet became a part of our everyday lives, but I had never seen an online shop that has no display of product photos.
All you get with each product is a description and a rather vague idea of the colour and pattern. For instance, in the silk scarves section, I found scarves with quirky product names like 36 Moods of Pink, Instant Rapport and Unstoppable. There are men’s silk ties with names like Bona Fide, De facto and Zest. The idea here is to shop with your instincts, going with the product that calls out to you.
Ms Bhagat shares that SilkSpells actually started out as a “typical online shop” with the usual product photos and all. During the pandemic, some of her customers wanted to be surprised by their purchases so they left the buying decision to her. She says that they were “thrilled” to receive her picks as these were almost like gifts that someone else had chosen for them.
She believes SilkSpells.com to be the first website in the world to not have display photos for its merchandise.
She adds, “We discovered very fast that our new concept of ‘shopping with a feel’ is not for everyone. There was only a select group of professionals who loved it. They are the ‘pirates’ — fearless, bold, feisty team players who tend to be stubbornly individualistic.”
The product range at SilkSpells is 100 per cent silk scarves and neckties in only bright and vibrant shades – accessories that she thinks will help to perk up her customers’ dressing – and mood – when they return to the office.
After perusing the many choices of silk scarves available, I decided on the subtly named Pink Blue as it made me think of Pantone’s colour for 2022, a periwinkle, and also on the auspiciously named Lucky Lottery as a Chinese New Year gift for my mother.
Shopping on SilkSpells.com was a one-of-a-kind experience. It felt fun. Risky? Yes, a little, and definitely an adventure.
Just for the record, on this site, there are no refunds or returns. The reason? SilkSpells says, “Our true instincts work when something is at stake.”
Shopping online should not be a chore. It can be fun and adventurous.
Consider me a pirate convert!
For more information, visit https://silkspells.com.
