'I've never been so lucky in my life': Retired hawker wins $1m condominium unit in Lazada's grand draw

'I've never been so lucky in my life': Retired hawker wins $1m condominium unit in Lazada's grand draw
Lazada Singapore chief executive Loh Wee Lee, retired hawker Chow Meng Cheng and PropNex chief executive officer Ismail Gafoor. PHOTO: LAZADA SINGAPORE
PHOTO: Lazada Singapore

SINGAPORE - When retired hawker Chow Meng Cheng spent about $3 on a bottle of aloe vera gel and a voucher for nasi lemak, he did not expect to win a one-bedroom condominium unit at Normanton Park, valued at $1 million.

The 70-year-old was the biggest winner of e-commerce platform Lazada's 11.11 giveaway, which announced its winners on Wednesday (Nov 17).

Held on Nov 11 every year, 11.11 is a multibillion-dollar global online sales event, where e-commerce firms organise contests to entice customers to use their platforms.

In October, Lazada announced that it would be giving out a condominium unit, which would be co-sponsored by real estate agency PropNex, in a lucky draw as part of 11.11 this year.

To participate in the draw, shoppers had to collect golden keys by completing missions and playing a game on the Lazada app called Lazzie Star. Some of the missions included referring a friend to Lazzie Star and purchasing the PropNex edition of Monopoly in the Lazada store. The more keys collected, the higher the chances of winning the condominium.

Mr Chow, who sold fish noodle soup for over 30 years to support his family of five, said that he won five golden keys after he was introduced by his daughter to the game.

[[nid:549561]]

He said that he was surprised to find out about his win. "The good news about winning has not fully sunk in yet. Originally, I thought it was a scam when the Lazada team surprised me with the news. I have never been this lucky in my life," said Mr Chow.

He added that he started shopping on Lazada in 2017, and had purchased more daily necessities online since the start of the pandemic, when seniors were encouraged to stay at home.

Mr Loh Wee Lee, chief executive of Lazada Singapore, said: "Our key focus was to support our sellers through this challenging year, and we are glad to see both our shoppers and sellers rewarded.

"With this year's 11.11 achieving record-breaking sales once again, we're glad to be able to showcase the possibilities that e-commerce brings in changing lives."

This article was first published in The Straits TimesPermission required for reproduction.

This website is best viewed using the latest versions of web browsers.