Is Covid-19 fueling the ecommerce surge in Singapore?

While Covid-19 has caused major disruptions in Singapore, many ecommerce players in the country stand to benefit.

The sector received a surge in transactions for both essential and discretionary items in the past few months as the pandemic forced most people to stay at home, according to a study conducted by iPrice Group.

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It found that Singaporeans spent an average of S$113 online from January to June 2020, driven mostly by high-value shoppers. The average basket size in the city-state – considered as ASEAN’s most prominent ecommerce hub – also increased by 51% when compared to the same period in 2019.

Given the current situation in Singapore, iPrice Group and SimilarWeb updated the Map of E-commerce report to shed light on the biggest developments from the Lion City’s leading platforms.

Who is the king of the hill?

Data reveals that ecommerce platforms in Singapore experienced a two-digit growth (23%) in total web visits (desktop and mobile web) throughout the first half of 2020, signifying strong consumer confidence in ecommerce retail and further growth in the digital economy.

Based on the overall ecommerce traffic in Singapore, the top five ecommerce players were Shopee, Lazada, Qoo10, Amazon, and Ezbuy.

Shopee took the crown as the most visited ecommerce platform in the city-state as of Q2 2020. The company saw an 82% increase in the number of users from Q1 to Q2, gaining nearly an additional 5 million in average visitors in the second quarter alone.

While it’s no surprise that substantial backing from parent company Sea has helped Shopee acquire additional visitors in the first half of 2020, the surge in the number of visits was also potentially driven by its constant efforts to promote and help shoppers during Singapore’s circuit breaker period. Marketing initiatives include the 4.4 flash sale and Super Mart Month as well as sale days like 6.6 and 7.7, among others.

With Sea becoming the world’s best-performing large-cap stock and the first sole applicant for digital full bank license in Singapore, the company aims to engage shoppers and merchants through digital payments/lending for millennials and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore.

Meanwhile, Lazada played second fiddle to its key competitor with an increase of 10% in traffic compared to Q1 2020, recording an average of 8.5 million visitors (desktop and mobile web) as of Q2 2020.

Alibaba’s Southeast Asian arm retained a strong presence in Singapore with 23% of the web market share, indicating healthy growth in both customers and merchants.

Harnessing the power of its parent company, Lazada also aims to stand out through its strong brand connections in engaging livestreams. Moreover, it plans to assist more brick-and-mortar stores to be part of its online platform.

From dark horses to front-runners