The real draw of online shopping

When a tech-savvy population indulges in its national pastime, it’s no surprise that online shopping has become so popular here. Can you resist a shiny new tablet on discount that you’re looking at on your old tablet? Or getting new shoes because you need a pair for your latest outfit bought three hours ago?

According to a survey done last year among more than 1,500 individuals aged 18 to 65 by market-research company Gfk, more than two in five Singaporeans have purchased shoes and clothing online. The actual number of online shoppers may be higher — payment-service provider Paypal’s survey last August showed that 78 per cent of consumers here shop online once a month and 55 per cent of them do it via mobile devices.

Mobile shopping among Singaporeans looks set to accelerate. Already, many retailers have been ramping up their online selling capabilities. “Online stores are making it easier to shop, ship and return — for example, Zalora includes postage for you to send your items back if needed. You need not key in your credit-card details if you use Paypal. It’s a two-click check-out; the mobile platform optimises your time as you can now shop anywhere and anytime,” explained Shanta Arul, Paypal’s public relations manager, Southeast Asia & India. “It’s safer and more convenient than ever.”

Technology has made shopping a boon without the bane associated with it, for example, queuing up to pay. As time-pressed and efficient people, we want to make better use of our time. And long queues are anticipated during this time of year, when the Great Singapore Sale is on. We simply hate waiting: 72 per cent of Singaporeans surveyed by Paypal said they are tired of queuing and 42 per cent of them rated it as the top hassle in life they want to get rid of. The penchant for shopping for groceries online has also increased: It wasn’t a major online purchase category in 2011, but it’s now the 7th-most-shopped category online for Singaporeans.

Besides the material pleasure and the fact that we can indulge anytime on the go, we love online shopping even more when there’s a social element to it — given our connectivity and the popularity of social networking sites such as Instagram and Facebook. This could explain the phenomenal success of homegrown peer-to-peer marketplace app, Carousell. First created in March 2012 during a 54-hour hackathon, Startup Weekend Singapore, by three National University of Singapore students Quek Siu Rui, Lucas Ngoo and Marcus Tan, Carousell was officially introduced in August that year. In two years, it has gained a fanatic user base here. It has consistently held the No 1 shopping-app spot in Singapore’s iOS App Store since June last year; there are now eight million listings (and counting) on the app, with an average of eight transactions every minute. The vast majority of Carousell’s users, more than 80 per cent, are Singaporeans. That’s a whole load of shopping for such a tiny nation.

“We’re a mobile-first market, so anyone who can use his smartphone to snap a photo and whatsapp, can use the Carousell app,” said co-founder Quek. “We saw that there’s huge potential among the smartphone generation and we’re enabling anyone to sell and buy things easily.”

But what differentiates Carousell is how social the app is. The trio said the most-used feature is the Chat function. “We have seen many of our users making friends with one another as they share similar interests. There were two who met on Carousell and have gone on to start their little busine. We know of users starting their own Whatsapp group chat to discuss and exchange photos of what they found on Carousell,” added Tan.

Quek observed that the organic relationships and communities built on Carousell stem from users’ desire to know the stories of the items they’re purchasing and that cuts across gender lines. The sheer simplicity of the app also makes it easy to combine the pastimes of shopping and interacting into one smooth, seamless and highly efficient experience. “It’s not just a transaction with Carousell,” summed up Quek.

Of course, if there’s one thing we love more than shopping, it’s hanging out — even if this takes place over an app.