Singapore top market for cross-border ecommerce - report

The local market is promising due to the highest disposable income per household in Asia, a large population of expatriates, a thriving economy and shoppers’ familiarity with global brands, according to a report issued by the ecommerce solutions provider Borderfree, retailtimes.co.uk reports.

Buying online from foreign retailers is ingrained in Singapore’s shopping culture, with more than 50% of their online shopping being cross-border. Borderfree ranks Singapore as the fifth largest market by sales volume, with shoppers spending an average of GBP 142 per order with retailers on the Borderfree platform in 2014.

Along with English being one of Singapore’s four main languages, a bricks-and-mortar presence within the city-state from fashion retailers like Jimmy Choo, Coast and Karen Millen has helped to bolster brand familiarity with UK retailers. Other online global brands include Valentino, Prada and Christian Louboutin.

Singapore’s retail ecommerce spending stands at GBP 2.8 billion, with 50% of traffic coming from mobile devices. Most goods are imported duty-free with only those items with a value of more than GBP 193 (SGD 400) subject to Goods & Services Tax (7%).

Key to successfully targeting the Singapore market is understanding its demographics and shoppers’ unique preferences. 87% of the population use the internet and 82% use smartphones, among the highest in Asia. An average of three hours and three minutes per day is the interval a Singaporean spends using the Internet with peak shopping hours during 10:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m. local time

Expenses for personal appearance-related purchases top out at GBP 2,255 per year. The 20-64 year old population has 2.7 credit cards per adult with 80% preferring credit as a payment method Borderfree developed the Borderfree Index (BFI), a proprietary quantitative and qualitative measure to provide an indication of a market’s relative cross-border ecommerce attractiveness. Singapore received four out of five possible shopping carts on the BFI.

Check out our Cross-border Ecommerce Research section here for more info on specific ecommerce facts and figures, preferred payment methods, risk and fraud, as well as ecommerce legislation and regulation in Singapore.