Is Singapore ready for APAC’s trillion-dollar unified commerce opportunity?

Covering several key points, including how retailers can capitalize on the trillion-dollar opportunity with a unified commerce strategy, the Adyen 2019 APAC Retail Report aims to help retailers win in the next chapter of retail. Take a look at the Singapore highlights below or download the full report right away.

In Singapore alone, the unified commerce opportunity is worth over US$20 billion. Creating positive shopping experiences amounts to nearly US$5 billion in sales lift annually; Addressing negative shopping experiences amounts to US$15 billion in abandoned sales annually. These form the basis for the US$20 billion opportunity in Singapore.

Are retailers ready to capitalize on the opportunity in Singapore – and in Asia Pacific? Check out the highlights on the Singapore market from our report and find out for yourself.

Digital transformation has been one of the most talked about business strategies for the last few years in APAC. It may be broadly understood as using new, fast-changing tech to modernize the workplace. In retail, this requires rethinking the role of technology, processes and people and how each of these components can evolve to better serve customers.

Digital transformation in the region remains in early stages especially compared with the US where almost 2 in 5 retailers have a formal strategy. In Singapore, 1 in 3 retailers are executing against a formal strategy.

While it lags the US, this indicates that retailers in Singapore are an advantageous position to deliver next-generation shopping experiences for their customers potentially faster than their geographic neighbors thanks to a concerted, business-wide commitment to embracing and harnessing new technologies and processes.

In the past year, a whopping 89% of shoppers in Singapore have left a store without buying anything when the item they want is out of stock.

This reflects shoppers’ desire for instant gratification; this is even more so for digitally savvy Singaporean shoppers, who expect cross-channel solutions from retailers. For example, they may go online to buy when there are no stocks at the store.

In fact, over half of the shoppers in Singapore say having cross-channel options would influence their decision to shop with a specific retailer. By leveraging cross-channel technologies that extend the in-store shopping experience to fulfil consumer demand for instant gratification, retailers will be able to improve satisfaction and build loyalty, while ultimately recapturing lost opportunity.Get our 2019 APAC Retail Report for full insights on a cross-channel retail strategy.

We also see that APAC consumers show a strong desire for fast and efficient commerce experiences and are not afraid to abandon a purchase when confronted with friction at any point of the shopping journey.

In particular, Singaporean consumers reported the highest levels of satisfaction when their in-store experience has short or nonexistent lines at 96%. It’s often said that Singaporeans love queues – but perhaps it’s time retailers considered queue-busting tech such as mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) and self-checkouts kiosks instead of possibly mistaking inefficiency for popularity.

While long lines are creating frustration at in-store checkouts, lengthy payment forms are causing cart abandonment online. In APAC, 2 out of 3 shoppers reported having abandoned an online shopping cart at least once in the past six months due to difficulties in completing a purchase, resulting in US$104 billion in annual sales that are abandoned.

Several options are recommended to better improve the checkout experience, and are well covered in our APAC Retail Report. It’s also important for retailers not to view it as a case of online vs the store – but rather, how the store is and should continue to be a strategic asset for retailers.