Why retailers need to consider setting up an online shop

2 in 3 Singaporeans prefer retailers with e-commerce and mobile app.

There are only a few days before Christmas and Singaporeans are surely busy shopping around, finding the perfect gift. But what do retailers need to do to keep up with the shopping hype this festive season?

According to the latest survey by SAP Hybris, Singapore shoppers want cross-channel options more than new-age services like digital wallets and augmented reality store experiences. Over 2 in 3 shoppers (68%) prefer retailers with a physical store coupled with both e-commerce and mobile app while more than half of consumers want retailers which offer self-pickup services as physical stores.

"With high Internet and mobile penetration rates, it is of little wonder that Christmas online shopping is picking up among Singaporeans. The e-commerce market in Singapore is expected to be worth US$5.4 billion (S$7.46 billion) by 2025, according to a report by Temasek and Google released earlier in May this year, and is expected to make up 6.7% of all retail sales by 2025," SAP Hybris global vice president of fast growth markets Nicholas Kontopoulos explained.

More so, 65% of the shoppers stated that retailers can improve their Christmas shopping experience by offering free shipping. Around 48% see on-time delivery as a benefit while 41% noted that gift customization would signal yet another improvement.

“Singaporeans are amongst the most tech-savvy spenders in Asia, and no strangers to e-commerce. Despite that and reports of Singapore’s continuously challenging retail landscape, the brick and mortar stores are definitely not dead," Kontopoulos noted.

He furthered, "In fact, the SAP Hybris survey found that 39 per cent of Singaporeans still enjoy browsing through stores. This reinforces what we have been telling retailers for some time: Singapore is a truly multi-channel market, where most consumers are using a combination of devices in their online and offline shopping. The findings also point us to a future where offline and online shopping are no longer two separate business models. Singaporeans are demanding a seamless omnichannel shopping experience."