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With Qoo10 gone, can consumers look forward to a new e-commerce player?
The fall of the once ‘go-to’ platform for online shopping shows the dynamism of this fast-paced industry.
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Qoo10 was founded in 2010 when the Singapore e-commerce industry was in its early stages.
PHOTO: QOO10
Li Jianggan
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In late 2015, a founder of an e-commerce operations company I was advising confidently declared: “The future of e-commerce is in Qoo10. It’s more engaging for consumers, and our sales there are much higher than on any other platform.”
At the time, his optimism was well placed. Daily deals platforms like Groupon were faltering, the future of Singapore e-commerce early entrant Lazada was uncertain amid rumours of a potential Alibaba acquisition, and upstart Shopee – launched earlier that year – was little more than a Carousell copycat.
