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Over the past 20 years, E-Commerce has grown to be one of the fastest-growing industries in Singapore. Thanks to well-developed E-Commerce Platforms and a digital-savvy population. Not to mention, due to the surge in demand when the pandemic happened in 2020.
Today, Singapore’s E-Commerce sector is crowded with both large and small businesses; made up of a mixture of solely online businesses and traditional brick-and-mortar companies that have shifted their focus online.
Hence, it has become even more important for you to choose the E-Commerce Platform that is best suitable for your business in Singapore.
In this article, let’s look at the 5 Most Popular Platforms in Singapore that you can consider.
What is an E-commerce Platform?
An E-Commerce Platform is defined as software that supports the business activity of buying and selling over the Internet.
In Singapore, there are many E-Commerce Platforms available for you to sell your products or services online. The basic features allow you to list your products or services on your E-Commerce store, accept payments, manage orders, etc…
5 Popular Types of E-Commerce Platforms in Singapore
In Singapore, below are the 5 most popular E-Commerce Platforms that you can choose to sell online
- Open Source
- Website Builders with E-Commerce feature
- Saas
- Marketplaces (Commission-based)
- Marketplaces (Free)
1. Open Source E-Commerce Platform
This is an E-Commerce Platform that is open source and allows you to download, set up, and customize it on your own. It must be set up on a server that you own.
Examples include:
Pros:
- Free to use with no monthly subscription fees
- Offers many themes to design
Cons:
- Need technical knowledge to set up and maintain
- No premium support; will need to reach out 3rd party developers to build and manage more complex websites
- Require paid 3rd party plugins to add custom features
2. Website Builders with E-Commerce Feature
With this E-Commerce Platform, you can easily and quickly design your website with little to no coding required. It is also commonly known as ‘drag and drop’ builders due to how easy it is for you to build your website.
Examples include:
Pros:
- Affordable monthly subscription fees that include hosting, technical support
- Offers a variety of ready templates for design
- Lesser website maintenance
Cons:
- Limited features for customization
- Require paid 3rd party plugins to add custom features
- Less SEO friendly compared to open source E-Commerce platforms
- Not designed for businesses with a huge inventory of products
3. Saas E-commerce Platform
This is another popular E-Commerce Platform that is used by many businesses in Singapore.
Saas stands for Software as a Service. If you decide to use Saas for your online business, the good news is you do not have to install any software on your website as it is a cloud-based system.
Examples include:
Pros:
- Affordable monthly subscription fees that include hosting, technical support
- Offers a variety of ready templates for design
- Lesser website maintenance
Cons:
- Limited features for customization
- Require paid 3rd party plugins to add custom features
- Charge transaction fee for accepting payments
- Less SEO friendly compared to open source E-Commerce platform
4. Marketplaces (Commission-based)
On this E-Commerce platform, you sell your goods but you will be charged a commission for each sale. Instead of building an entire website, you create a “shop front” on this E-Commerce platform.
In Singapore, this is the most popular type of E-Commerce platform.
Examples:
Pros:
- Free Registration to list products
- Easy set-up of the storefront
- Some technical support
Cons:
- Limited technical and design of the storefront
- Focus is on customers and not sellers
- Not easy to sell to customers outside of Singapore
- Difficult to build your brand
- Competitor products are also shown on your product pages usually as similar products
5. Marketplaces (Free)
This is an E-Commerce platform if you want to start selling immediately that is free. You can list your products or services at no charge and almost anyone can open an account to begin selling. You can even list used items.
Examples:
Pros:
- 100% free. No monthly subscriptions, No fees to set up.
- No transaction fees for cash or fund transfer payment mode
Cons:
- Poor customer experience
- No way to track orders or stock
- Unable to target customers due to no control of who can see your posts
- Very high competition since anyone can list their products or services for free
- Bad quality control as your products may be listed together with low-quality or even fake goods
How to choose the best E-Commerce Platform for your business in Singapore
It can be hard for you to decide which E-Commerce platform is the best for your business. There may be many factors that can influence your decision. To help you make an informed decision, you may want to ask yourself these questions. As well as, compare the pros and cons of the different E-Commerce platforms.
- What products or services you are selling?
- Is your product a physical item or a digital one such as E-book?
- How much is the price range for your products or services?
- Where do you think your target customers shop online?
- Do you need to provide a lot of customer support?
- How much effort are you willing to put into figuring out how to use the platform to its fullest?
- How much technical support do you need?
- Do you have a developer to help you to set up and maintain your online store?
- What E-Commerce Marketing Strategies do you plan to use to drive traffic and sales?
- How many functions do you need for your E-Commerce store? Do you need a checkout function or just an online catalog to list your products?
- Is the ability to expand your business important to you?
If you are feeling overwhelmed and not sure how and where to start, we are here to help.
Our team at TechTIQ has helped many businesses in Singapore to develop their E-Commerce websites based on their business needs and goals. We understand that every business is unique and we incorporate it into our design.
Talk to us today to get started on building a powerful E-Commerce store for your business.
