Online shopping will never defeat brick-and-mortar shops in Singapore: report

Store-based retailing will continue to rule.

The rise of e-commerce will be insufficient to dethrone brick-and-mortar shops in Singapore, according to a report by RHB Research.

RHB noted that even if the popularity of online shopping continues to grow, traditional shops will retain the upper hand because of their wider reach.

"We think the e-commerce business is unlikely to impact retailers to a large extent. Based on Euromonitor’s 2015 data, non-store retailing made up a mere 6.2% of the overall retail market in Singapore. Given its small scale at the moment, we think it is unlikely for the e-commerce sector to make a dent on the brick-and-mortar stores domestically," RHB said.

Even if the e-commerce sector grows at a much higher rate, RHB reckons that traditional stores will continue to dominate.

“If non-store retailing growth rates were to double Euromonitor’s assumption every year, brick-and-mortar stores would still dominate at least 88% of the market share, even after five years. Hence, this suggests that the e-commerce business is unlikely to result in any big changes within the domestic retail scene,” said the report.