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Ecommerce seems like a no-brainer for Singapore. It may be a tiny market, but it boasts a stable economy, astonishing internet and smartphone penetration, and a strategic position smack in the middle of numerous developing economies. Ecommerce is blowing up throughout Southeast Asia, and Singaporean startups have moved to take advantage, even while conquering their home market.
Let’s take a look at some of the most popular ecommerce sites in the country today, some of which have moved beyond the border, and some of which have crossed sea and land to reach Singapore from elsewhere.
Obviously, the list is indicative rather than exhaustive, intended to show which types of ecommerce are particularly dear to Singaporeans’ hearts. Feel free to suggest more sites you think we might have missed in the comments!
Qoo10
A stalwart in Singapore’s ecommerce space, Qoo10 is a B2C marketplace that carries everything from keyboards to pet supplies. It offers regular promotions and discounts on a lot of its wares to keep customers coming back. It’s not the prettiest website to look at, but substance seems to win over style in this case – or at least, the sheer volume of available stuff – making it one of the most popular ecommerce sites in the island city.
SimilarWeb rank: #11 in Singapore with 4.2 million desktop visitors in September 2015
Carousell
The Singaporean startup continues to hold a big piece of the market pie. People in Singapore say “sell it on Carousell” in the same way people in the US say “sell it on eBay.” The mobile-first C2C marketplace has gone far in making the experience of listing, selling, and buying items easy and straightforward. In recent years it has expanded in Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, and China. Its series A in November 2014 was worth US$6 million, attracting investors like Sequoia Capital, 500 Startups, Golden Gate Ventures, Darius Cheung, and Rakuten Ventures.
SimilarWeb rank: #30 in Singapore with 1.2 million desktop visitors in September 2015
Lazada
Lazada is a major ecommerce presence in Southeast Asia. The site offers a wide range of items, including electronics, fashion, and home appliances. It even sells wines and spirits! Operating in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand, the company has raised a blockbuster US$686 million in total disclosed funding so far.
SimilarWeb rank: #64 in Singapore with 1.3 million desktop visitors in September 2015
Zalora
Much like Carousell, Zalora has achieved mainstream recognition from the “shopper on the street.” The three-year-old fashion ecommerce website has spread to a number of markets in Asia Pacific, and has received US$238 million in total disclosed funding so far. Users can shop through the website or its mobile apps. Last year, it launched a marketplace for independent merchants to sell their wares through the platform. It also features Zalora Magazine, a content blog that offers tips on fashion, beauty, and lifestyle.
SimilarWeb rank: #99 in Singapore with 800,000 desktop visitors in September 2015
eBay.com.sg
The grandaddy of the C2C ecommerce sites is unsurprisingly pretty popular in Singapore. Access to a global pool of sellers and two decades’ worth of market presence maintain the site’s place as the go-to destination for spending money on all kinds of stuff you don’t need, from the comfort of your home.
SimilarWeb rank: #135 in Singapore with 830,000 desktop visitors in September 2015
Redmart
Redmart is working hard to establish itself as the number 1 way to get your groceries online, although there are incumbents like Honestbee and supermarket chains themselves are getting more serious about the game. Currently operating in Singapore, it has also just entered Hong Kong and is gearing up for expansion into Indonesia, where it will undoubtedly face competition from local grocery delivery startup HappyFresh.
SimilarWeb rank: #403 in Singapore with 200,000 desktop visitors in September 2015
Rakuten Singapore
If eBay is the ecommerce grandaddy, Rakuten is his long-lost brother from abroad. Following a model similar to Amazon’s, the site features a broad range of items, from electronics to clothing to car accessories. The Japan-born ecommerce giant has spread worldwide through aggressive acquisitions and fundraising. It’s not slowing down either; just last June it announced it was looking to raise US$1.5 billion to fuel more acquisitions.
SimilarWeb rank: #468 in Singapore with 230,000 desktop visitors in September 2015
Shopback
Shopback isn’t an ecommerce site per se, but rather a service piggybacking on other estores. It aggregates deals from sites like Zalora, Redmart, Taobao, and so on, and as an added bonus (or incentive) it rewards users with money back on every purchase. Founded in 2014 in Singapore, the startup secured seed funding from East Ventures and Accel-X in March 2015.
Disclosure: East Ventures is also an investor in Tech in Asia. See our ethics page for details.
SimilarWeb rank: #537 in Singapore with 170,000 desktop visitors in September 2015
Reebonz
Another long-running presence in Singapore’s ecommerce space, Reebonz is a marketplace for luxury items, like branded handbags, designer shoes, and jewelry. The site has created a brand identity, using an elegant site design and delivering items in signature black boxes tied with a golden ribbon. It has expanded to several markets across Asia Pacific, and has so far raised a total of US$50 million in disclosed funding.
SimilarWeb rank: #929 in Singapore with 85,000 desktop visitors in September 2015
HipVan
HipVan offers designer furniture for the savvy, affluent millennials who have grown up shopping online and now have more sophisticated needs than gadgets, media, and sneakers. It says it currently stocks more than 20,000 products in furniture, home decor, and kitchenware. A blog section of the site called Inspirations offers interior decoration advice tips. The startup recently raised a series A round worth US$3.3 million from East Ventures, Golden Gate Ventures, Skype co-founder Toivo Annus, and Lionrock Capital.
Disclosure: East Ventures is also an investor in Tech in Asia. See our ethics page for details.
SimilarWeb rank: #940 in Singapore with 100,000 desktop visitors in September 2015
Honestbee
Redmart competitor Honestbee is also gunning for Southeast Asia’s online grocery delivery market. Partnering with established supermarket chains in Singapore, like NTUC Fairprice and Cold Storage, it uses an Uber-like model of shoppers who receive a user’s order, purchase the goods and deliver them at home. Besides Singapore, it has just launched in Hong Kong and it raised a US$15 million series A round just a few days ago.
SimilarWeb rank: #979 in Singapore with 65,000 desktop visitors in September 2015
Luxola
Cosmetics and beauty products website Luxola is one of Singapore’s recent success stories. In July 2015, it was acquired by global cosmetics bigwig Sephora, a subsidiary of luxury conglomerate LVMH, for an undisclosed amount. The site is available in several markets across Asia Pacific.
SimilarWeb rank: #1,088 in Singapore with 200,000 desktop visitors in September 2015
Megafash
Megafash offers a variety of stylish stuff – mostly clothing, accessories, and lifestyle items. The twist is it features mostly indie brands that aren’t usually found in malls and major ecommerce websites. That, in turn, makes for a bit of a niche audience, if a damn tasteful one. The site is also available in Malaysia and Indonesia.
SimilarWeb rank: #7,948 in Singapore with 10,000 desktop visitors in September 2015
Smooch The Label
Behind the catchy name there’s a fashion estore for women. Its purview is stylish, fashionable clothes at affordable prices. The site also features its own label, dubbed Smooch (obviously), with creations sourced by co-founder and creative director Sarah Lim. The site also offers personalized style tips based on its items.
SimilarWeb rank: #12,908 in Singapore with 5,000 desktop visitors in September 2015
This article is an update of an older piece by Daniel Tay.
This post 14 popular ecommerce sites in Singapore appeared first on Tech in Asia.
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