Another reason why live shopping has not quite taken off in Singapore is the accessibility of brick-and-mortar shops, said Dr Kapil Tuli, a marketing professor at Singapore Management University’s (SMU) Lee Kong Chian School of Business.
“We have an incredible retail footprint, we are surrounded by stores that are very conveniently located. There is that ease of going in and trying things physically and talking to a person. In a lot of other countries, this is not the case,” he said.
CHINA’S LIVE-STREAMING BOOM
Livestreaming e-commerce boomed during the COVID-19 pandemic in China, when authorities there imposed some of the toughest lockdown measures in the world.
Millions of Chinese, confined to long spells at home, turned to online shopping and propelled the explosive growth of live selling.
“It is an exciting channel that allows people to, from the comfort of their home, see a master salesperson in action, in product categories where they might not have complete information and they want to know more, and even interact one-on-one,” said Dr Tuli.
The phenomenon is projected to rake in over US$562 billion in China this year, with more than 373 million shoppers expected to make purchases through livestream platforms, according to research firm Insider Intelligence.
However, unlike China, Singapore did not experience prolonged, intense lockdowns where the only option for shopping was online, said Dr Tuli.