Singles’ Day sales up in Singapore ahead of GST hike

SINGAPORE shoppers seeking to beat a Goods and Services Tax (GST) hike next year may have boosted the Singles’ Day sales figures of e-commerce platforms, although consumer spending across categories was uneven.

Winston Goh, head of marketing at Shopee Singapore, told The Business Times that the platform saw “record-breaking” results during this year’s 11.11 sale across all countries, with a total global gross merchandise value of US$1 billion recorded within a single day.

Shopee Singapore reported 40 per cent year-on-year growth for travel-related items during this year’s 11.11, he said, as more Singaporeans prepare to travel overseas.

The volume of items sold was roughly eight times that of an average day, he added.

Rewards platform ShopBack saw “healthy growth” in the volume of online sales from Nov 1 to 11, said Fern Nannaphat, general manager at ShopBack Singapore. This came from categories such as travel, health and beauty, and digital services.

Around S$2 million in cashback was distributed to ShopBack Singapore users over the 11.11 sales period for their online purchases. The top cashback earner on the platform received S$8,800 in a single day on Nov 11.

Without revealing sales volumes, a spokesperson from Lazada said the platform saw a sales uplift of 63 times in the first hour of 11.11 across South-east Asia.

Singles’ Day, on Nov 11, began as a 24-hour shopping day in China. It has since become one of Asia’s most important shopping discount days.

According to news reports, China’s two largest e-commerce giants Alibaba Group and JD.com reported growth in sales during this year’s Singles’ Day – though they did not reveal overall revenue numbers.

Their numbers are estimated to have been weaker than upstart players, though.

Data provider Syntum also estimated that gross merchandise value for China’s e-commerce platforms increased only 2 per cent for the 11.11 sales day this year.

This is below expectations, said a DBS report, even though the number of participating users was at a record on some platforms. The data suggests Chinese consumer sentiment has been badly hit by economic turmoil.

In Singapore, however, an upcoming GST hike as well as inflationary pressures could be “motivating consumers to maximise their savings on essential purchases”, said a Lazada spokesperson.

Groceries, household items, personal care products and travel-related products for the year-end school holidays were among the popular sale items.

Based on ShopBack’s observations during this year’s 11.11 and throughout 2023, Nannaphat said rising inflation and interest rates in Singapore “are likely playing a role in curbing consumer spending in certain categories”.

“General decrease in purchasing power will prompt consumers to be more cautious and selective in their spending choices,” she said.

ShopBack has seen a growth in spending in its travel category, though. This suggests that “shoppers in Singapore are not avoiding spending altogether, but instead redirecting their focus towards items they deem more significant – such as experiences gained from travel”, Nannaphat said.

Brian Lee, economist at Maybank Securities, said he expected this year’s 11.11 sales in Singapore to surpass that of 2022. Some consumers might have brought forward purchases of big-ticket items ahead of the 1 per cent GST hike on Jan 1, 2024, he added.

Sales this year could have also been driven by consumers allocating more of their budgets towards retail spending, “as pent-up demand for travel and other experiences cools”.

In addition, sales could have been boosted by the growing popularity and prevalence of livestreaming on platforms such as TikTok, Lee said.

More than 11 million items were sold on Shopee Live – Shopee’s livestream platform – in the first five minutes of 11.11 across the region, said Shopee’s Goh. In Singapore, Shopee Live orders placed on 11.11 were 55 times that of an average day.