Big Online Shopping Malls / Stores in Singapore?

[lmcfreekz]

Hi all... new to the forum and will be new to Singapore as of Saturday!

I've just been digging around online to find some big online stores for things like clothing, electronics... well, everything really because of the convenience and price comparison benefits... looking around though I'm seeing practically nothing... even the big electronics stores don't have an e-shop on their own website...

Is this indicative of Singapore and the attitudes to online shopping or am I just not looking in the right places?

Would appreciate links to any good online stores for everything from household goods to electronics


Thanks

[Saint]

There aren't any which you have found out. Even the very few smaller electrical shops that have websites will never state the price.

Online shopping just isn't a concept that has, or will, catch on here.

[lmcfreekz]

Wow... what's the big secret!? lol...

Even the Cold Storage and Fairprice websites look super basic compared to our leading supermarkets in the UK...

C'est la vie...

[sundaymorningstaple]

You cannot bargain on an online shop. Here, if you post your prices somebody else will post and tell you they will beat any advertised price. Service? All sucks here for the most part so the "level" of service doesn't enter into the equation at all. Everybody holds their card close to their chest. This is also why eBay doesn't work over here. They don't have any concept of auctions either. Their opening bids are usually the same as a BIN price.

[nakatago]

I found some online shops while lurking for some netbooks...with posted prices and shopping carts and delivery and all. But I think they're the exception.

If you just want to know prices, creative googling may point you to forums whose users compile price lists of different shops. Your mileage may vary, of course.

[x9200]

Would appreciate links to any good online stores for everything from household goods to electronics

I am not aware of any truly big-ones and with everything onboard. For electronics try to google with these keywords: bargaincity, gaincity, jbronline. I have purchased only once from bargaincity - seems ok. If you google patiently you may find a dozen more that are more specialized. I use pretty regularly Coldstorage online but for more complicated stuff I prefer to see with my own eyes what I am going actually to buy.

[sundaymorningstaple]

I prefer to see with my own eyes what I am going actually to buy.

This is the reason that most online shops fail here in Singapore. The average Asian want's to poke and prod and pull and destroy most of the goods before buying. They aren't trusting enough to shop online. The reason Cold Storage has a good following online is the foreign community here which are more inclined to use it for the convenience it provides.

[x9200]

I prefer to see with my own eyes what I am going actually to buy.

This is the reason that most online shops fail here in Singapore. The average Asian want's to poke and prod and pull and destroy most of the goods before buying. They aren't trusting enough to shop online.

A bit different in my case. I simply don't want to get something already processed by the average Asian - but this is also often the case if you buy something from normal shops. Never trust what sits in the box. Always request to have it opened and checked. For online shopping It also happens that some more pricey items listed on the webpage are not actually on stock. Of course you find it out after your payment is processed. The stock will arrive in a month or so.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Yeah, that's a habit here that I really hate! The number of times you open a box to find something missing inside because the box was opened by someone and then resealed by the shop without checking the contents. The habits here are atrocious with that regard. It's not the fact that you can take it back (normally - unless it's SLS/SLT), it's the inconvenience of it all - time & transport costs. Normally, factory sealed boxes are fine. It's when they are opened and pulled on and poked and opened that the problems come in. I've had to deal with that for 26 years of marriage to an local - but she also hates Singaporeans in fresh food stores as well!

[lmcfreekz]

Interesting mentality... I've lived in South Korea and Japan before and they're HUUUUUGE when it comes to online shopping... they'll even price search the simplest thing, wire the money from their mobile phones and chances are the goods will be there the next day...

I noticed a link for airfares.com.sg in another thread which isn't quite a top notch travel comparison site but pretty useful and from the sounds of it, the best of what I can expect in SG!

Thanks for the tips so far...

[Orchard]

Most Singaporeans make their online purchases through international e-commerce sites, such as amazon.com, buy.com, or e-Bay US, not e-Bay Singapore.

Local retail stores don't offer any meaningful online services.

As some of these US sites don't ship to Singapore, they often use the services of local portals, such as vPost, Comgateway or Tarazz.com to help them get their products from the US.

When it comes to buying airtickets, we prefer to book our tickets on the websites of the airlines direct, e.g. SIA, Cathay Pacific, JetStar, Tiger, Air Asia, etc.