Catalogue shopping - a new form of buying and selling in Singapore

• Main Authors: Keh, Desiree Teng Koon, Low, See Peng, Ng, Pei Fern
• Other Authors: Lim Boon Chye
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: DRNTU::Business::Marketing
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/63952
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Catalogue shopping and other forms of in-home shopping are likely to be trends in the late 1990s in Singapore. As the country progresses, Singaporeans become more affluent and the pace of life becomes taster. Time has to be allocated not only to work, but to family and leisure activities as well. Catalogue shopping allows consumers to save time on trips to retail stores. Hence, it might be one of the new ways to shop for busy Singapore consumers in the future. No study has yet been conducted locally to understand the catalogue sales business in Singapore and very little study has been done to examine the purchasing behaviour of catalogue shoppers. Most of the research on the topic is conducted in the United States. Therefore, this study was carried out to determine the feasibility of catalogue shopping in Singapore and the factors that influence catalogue purchases. It also aims to explore the types of products suitable to be sold through catalogues, as well as to assess the future of the catalogue sales business. In the study on the local catalogue sales business, it was found that the mail order houses vary widely in company size. Most of them rely heavily on the credit card companies and banks for the mailing lists, though in recent years, some mail order houses have made attempts to reduce the reliance. Some of the factors that could affect the mail order houses' performance include competition from retailers, the country's economy, technology, postage costs, consumers' awareness and familiarity towards catalogue shopping, the Green Movement, availability and sourcing of new products. Due to the different strategies employed, the mail order houses were found to differ greatly in their estimation of the market potential and expectations of their business growth. The survey also showed that catalogue shoppers had certain distinct demographic characteristics. Catalogue shoppers tend to be males in the higher income group, that is, earning above $2,000 a month. The greatest motivating factor for people to shop through catalogues was convenience. The inability to inspect products' were found to be the most important risk associated with catalogue purchases. Watches were found to be the most popular item for purchases made through catalogues in Singapore. On the whole, the mail order houses and consumers are rather positive of the industry's performance in the future. Both felt that the outlook for the mail order industry for the coming year is favourable.