Singaporeans' love for shopping is fast spreading through cyberspace.
Shoppers in Singapore spent S$1.1 billion on online purchases in 2010 and are likely to spend four times that amount by 2015, according to research by payments service provider PayPal.
In a press statement on Thursday, PayPal said results from its first "Online and Mobile Shopping Insights" study in Singapore indicated that the city-state has about 1.2 million online shoppers above the age of 18 and they spent an average of S$1,492 per person last year.
Nearly 40 percent or about S$420 million of the retail purchases were domestic or made on local websites, and even when the shoppers did buy from overseas websites, they cited "unavailability" and "greater choice" as more important reasons than "less expensive" and "better discounts".
The study commissioned by PayPal was conducted by research and survey firm Nielsen from January to February 2011 and polled 407 Singapore online shoppers aged 18 and above.
The study also showed that travel was the top category of retail purchases, accounting for S$307 million or 28 percent of Singapore's online shopping market.
The fashion and beauty category came in second at S$146 million, followed by entertainment and lifestyle at S$143 million, IT and electronics at S$117 million, general insurance at S$83 million and gifts and collectibles at S$75 million.
Movies and tickets for events at S$36 million and general insurance also at S$36 million were the top categories for domestic online shopping, while books at S$41 million and movies, music and video games at S$25 million were the top categories for cross-border online shopping.
In addition, online shoppers bought double the amount for clothing at S$84 million and travel packages S$38 million on overseas websites compared to domestic sites.
The study also showed that mobile shopping in Singapore is still in its infancy stage, but that the potential for growth is significant.
Over 364,000 online shoppers in Singapore spent S$43 million through their mobile devices last year or about 4 percent of the online shopping market.
The purchases were mainly for low-priced items like movie tickets, fashion items and mobile apps, leading to an average spend per person of S$119.
Four out of 10 online shoppers in Singapore though are willing to make a purchase on their mobile phones, the study found.
Singapore's online shopping market is expected to increase amid a strengthening of the Singapore dollar, which makes it cheaper for shoppers to buy overseas items, and the rise in the number of mass-buying websites in Singapore offering collective consumer deals such as the local Groupon site.
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