Everything About Amazon.sg, Amazon’s Move to Compete with Shopee / Qoo10 / Lazada

By
George Yang
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In the year 2060, when I’ve become a grandfather, my granddaughter would march to me one day and say, “Grandpa, last time you all buy things must walk into something known as a mall one ah?”

(P.S. Yay, Singlish still exists)

I lower my eyebrows, just like how my grandparents used to react when I asked them how they survived without air-conditioner. “Yes.”

“That’s unbelievable,” my granddaughter says. “That meant you all must walk around to find your things? Cannot just search by asking a computer?”

I nod.

“How come? What changed it all?”

“Amazon.”

“What? The company that powers up everything here in Mars now?”

I nod slightly.

“It all came in October 2019, when your Ah Gong was a handsome lad…”

Amazon is Now in Singapore

While the above scenario is fictional, the setting could well be real: we could be living in Mars in the future, and Amazon could’ve been the company that killed the brick-and-mortar industry.

It’s already happening in the US, and the authorities are stepping in to help small businesses that are impacted more severely, but let’s face it: you can’t fight technology.

Over here in Singapore, it’s still not that bad yet: the user penetration for online shopping in Singapore is mere 69.3% in 2019, while it’s 76% in the US. Singapore currently has a few key online platforms, namely Shopee, Lazada and Qoo10.

In the US, Amazon takes the reins, with it holding a whopping 49% market share. Its other two main competitors, eBay and Walmart, are only at 6.6% and 3.7%.

Suffice to say, for Amazon to step into Singapore is a big crisis for the incumbent players, and also a big crisis for our wallets.

And well, the “crisis” is here.

But wait…

Isn’t Amazon already in Singapore?

Some of us have bought things from Amazon, so what does “Amazon” coming to Singapore mean?

To put it simply, two years ago, Amazon started Amazon Prime in Singapore, offering groceries and household essentials with lightning-quick delivery.

Prior to that, we can still buy stuff from Amazon, but we’re buying from international sellers, and they might or might not deliver to Singapore.

(Just so you know, Amazon also has an online marketplace that works like Shopee / Qoo10 / Lazada, whereby sellers set up their own Amazon stores to sell their stuff – if not how would Imran and Dominic be able to be millionaires?)

And here’s the thing: Amazon is now opening its market to Singapore, which means those sellers, like Benjamin who sells mainly in the US, can now sell in Amazon.sg.

That’s a big deal because it now works just like our favorurite online marketplace, but tagged with the Amazon name.

If you’ve worked with Amazon before, you’d know how much value they place on end-consumers.

We here at Goody Feed use many Amazon services, including our servers, our desktops in the cloud and anything cloud-related, and let’s just say that we were never disappointed with them before.

Never once.

According to Amazon Singapore country manager, “With Amazon.sg, we want to provide what customers have been asking us for: The ability for everyone to shop on desktop and mobile, more local and international selection from Amazon and trusted sellers, paired with fast and reliable delivery.”

A look at the Amazon.sg website shows that they seem to not only know what we want, but there’s some similarity to another local platform.

Other than free delivery, they’ve daily deals that expire every day, with a countdown timer that creates a sense of urgency.

I don’t know about you…but I’m already feeling at home in Amazon.sg.

Goodbye malls. It was nice knowing you.

Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:

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George Yang
Email: [email protected]