Online Shopping 
From Singapore Hotels & Singapore Lifestyle
|
Online Shopping - if recent trends are a good gauge, online shopping and local shopping websites are becoming more and more popular among Singaporeans in our Singapore lifestyle.
Contents |
What is Online Shopping
Online shopping is the process consumers go through to purchase products or services over the internet. An online shop, Internet shop, webshop or online store evokes the physical analogy of buying products or services at a bricks-and-mortar retailer or in a shopping mall. It is an electronic commerce application used for B2B or B2C. Online shopping is popular mainly because of its speed and ease of use. Some issues of concern can include fluctuating exchange rates for foreign currencies, local and international laws and delivery methods.
Benefits of Online Shopping
The benefits of online shopping are obvious: You can lug around shopping bags and jostle with thousands or you can click your mouse to have your purchases delivered right to your doorstep.
And if this is not a compelling enough reason to do your shopping online, consider how easy it has become. An advantage of shopping online is being able to use the power of the internet to seek out the lowest prices for items or services. For example if you are buying a digital camera you should enter "digital camera" into a search engine or a price search engine. Most price search engines have the advantage of store ratings and reviews. Getting the lowest price is important but do also make sure that the merchant or store you are purchasing from is reputable.
Online Shopping in Other Parts of the World
Not only is there now a plethora of comparison-shopping websites, there are also now portals with compliations of sites offering the best bargains. Product-comparison websites such as Shopping.com, Shopzilla.com, PriceRunner.com, [1] and Price-Grabber.com are now the rage in the United States and in Europe. These sites allow users to search and compare various prices and peer reviews of a particular product offered by different online retailers. Instead of clicking from one online store to another in search of the best bargain, these shopping engines do all the work for you by providing you with the relevant information in one place. However, many of these stores which offer online shopping still do not ship their products to Singapore.
The Singapore Online Shopper
But smart Singapore shoppers are making use of the wealth of product information available on these websites, like product specifications and peer reviews, to aid in their purchasing decisions.
Also, Singaporeans tend to have unique online shopping habbits. A possible reason why some Singaporeans shop online is that they can get bargains that are not offered elsewhere. Online shopping in Singapore tends to focus more on unique finds rather than the everyday commercial goods that are easily available at the local retail stores.
Although Singapore does not have its own shopping engine, resourceful shoppers here refer to the comprehensive list of local online stores found in Singapore Lifestyle Wiki's Online Shopping Directory. This directory features more than 50 local websites selling accessories, clothes, cosmetics, weight-loss and skin-care products and tech gadgets.
It certainly appears that our local online shoppers now have the best of both worlds - the in-depth comparison-shopping websites and the numerous local online stores, without having to fork out money for expensive shipping costs.
See also
References
- Wikipedia.org
- "Click", Pg.41, The Sunday Times, November 20, 2005
