e-stores 'click start' festive spending with early sales

Festive cheer is starting as early as next week for consumers here who are eager to net the best buys online for their year-end shopping.

Several online retailers in Singapore are dangling discounts of up to 80 per cent, hoping to rival the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales of their American counterparts like Amazon.

Asian e-tailer Lazada, which launched its online shop here in May, will start its month-long promotion from Tuesday. It will be offering hourly flash sales and daily deals for everything from consumer electronics to clothes and cookware.

"We have worked hard with our partners to offer shoppers a wide range of products (and) some of the best deals online," said Mr Martell Hardenberg, chief executive officer of Lazada Singapore.

Consumers can expect up to 76 per cent off the price of popular items like digital SLR cameras and high-definition LED TV sets.

Another local e-tailer Zalora will be running a Black Friday sale during the last weekend of this month, offering discounts of up to 80 per cent for 6,000 items, or half of its entire online inventory.

The online fashion store carries brands such as River Island, Material Girl, Lola Skye, H.E. by Mango, Burton Menswear, as well as its in-house label Zalora.

During the same weekend, Singapore-based online cosmetics retailer Luxola will also be offering heavy discounts for its entire range of 6,000 products.

They include hot favourites like the Alpha-H skincare range from Australia and the Sigma Beauty make-up series from the United States.

For 24 hours on Nov 28, Luxola will be offering e-mail subscribers a 35 per cent storewide discount. For 12 hours on Dec 1, there will be a 40 per cent discount storewide.

Pre-school teacher Jasmine Kaur, 30, said local websites have the advantage of faster goods delivery, compared with overseas websites.

"But it all boils down to price and variety," said Ms Kaur, adding that she will compare local fashion finds with those from her favourite British e-outlets.

Marketing director Michael Lim, 36, said he would browse around for cheap consumer electronic goods. He normally shops at Amazon but said: "The lack of product warranty is often an issue, especially for big-ticket items like a computer."

The year-end shopping spree is expected to contribute to the more than $1 billion that consumers are expected to spend online this year, said British- based market research firm Euromonitor International.

itham@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on November 8, 2014.
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