Traditional shopping is still king in tech-savvy Singapore

Brick-and-mortar shops aren't on their way out.

Despite the hype, it seems like online shopping won’t be the death of traditional brick-and-mortar shops after all. CBRE’s Asia Pacific consumer survey showed that majority of Singaporeans still prefer traditional shopping over online retail, in spite of the city-state’s extremely high internet penetration rate.

56% of respondents indicated that their most often-used method to purchase non-food items is in-store, showing that consumers are still more comfortable with the traditional shopping format where they can touch and feel the products before purchasing.

The survey also asked respondents to project any changes in their choice of methods to purchase a product in the next two years, to which 66% indicated that they would not change their preference for shopping at a store in two years, while 21% said they would shop more often at a store.

In fact, 29% of respondents aged 18 – 34 years old will increase their spending in stores over the next two years.
A large majority, or 85% of respondents visit at a physical store at least once a month.

“All the buzz around e-commerce give the impression that physical stores are on their way out but this is not true. The physical store remains the vital piece to the shopping puzzle,” said Letty Lee, Director, Retail Services, CBRE.