Long Queues at the Cash Register Are Costing Singaporean Retailers Over US$1.6 Billion a Year

89% of Singaporean shoppers have left a
store in the past year because queues were too long, costing local retailers
US$1.63 billion in lost revenue

SINGAPORE –�Media OutReach – 2 November, 2018 – Adyen,
the payments platform of choice for many of the world’s leading companies,
today, announced that while 53% of Singaporeans love
the experience and entertainment value shopping provides, merchants are not
meeting the needs of the new generation of shoppers leading to missed expectations
and revenue losses of US$1.63 billion dollars.[1]

 

“Retail has shifted from
transactional relationships to experience-driven ones.  We’ve found that creating a frictionless and
convenient customer journey across offline and online sales channels is key to
delighting the Singaporean shopper and ensuring businesses convert shoppers
into customers.  Consumer preferences
also differ when they interact with different retail categories, making
tailored and personalised checkouts an important strategy for businesses. In
Asia-Pacific, we’ve built strong momentum, partnering some of the leading
brands in the region like Grab, RedMart, ofo and Cotton On. We look forward to
partnering with more innovative businesses to create convenient, contextual and
controllable retail experiences for shoppers. This helps to maximise the
brand’s revenue and strengthen customer loyalty,” said Warren HAYASHI,
President, Adyen, Asia-Pacific.

 

The
Rise of the Singaporean Spendsetter

Singaporean spendsetters, a rising
category of shoppers who embrace technology, are setting the trends for how
people want to spend and shop.  55% of Singaporean
shoppers fall into the ‘spendsetter’ category. They are strong users of
technology and have the highest demands for digital shopping experiences. This
reflects in their payment method preferences. While cash and credit cards are
still the preferred mode of payment for everyday transactions, contactless
payments are rising quick in popularity and tied with debit cards as the third
choice, making them an essential addition to a retailer’s checkout process.

 

Spendsetters are also a
leading indicator of where broader customer demand in retail is migrating. Encouragingly
for brick and mortar retailers, the Singaporean spendsetter still prefers to
shop in a physical store. However, a major gripe with the in-store experience
is queues. “In the retail space, 89% of Singaporeans have left a store in the
past six months because the queue was too long,” said Warren.  “More alarmingly, 34% did not attempt to
purchase the item again while 27% purchased a similar item from a different
retailer, resulting in US$1.63 billion in total losses for merchants.”

 

Primed
for experiential retail

The spendsetter’s
appetite for digital shopping experiences, coupled with a love for the experience and entertainment value
shopping provides (53%), makes Singapore a prime market for new retail
experiences. Singaporean consumers also registered the highest affinity for
brands among the APAC markets surveyed (Australia, Hong Kong, and Singapore),
with 34% stating that they are willing to pay a premium for a brand experience.
This, along with strong connected device ownership like smartphones, offers an
opportunity for retailers to drive new channels of engagement and explore more
digital solutions in-stores like augmented reality apps for more information,
digital mirrors in dressing rooms and connected store associates.

 

Codeswitching
Seamlessly Between Offline and Online

For spendsetters, context and
control are critical, and shopping with a smartphone is a given.  To
encourage brand loyalty and delight spendsetters, synergies and consistency
between online and offline sales channels must be in place.
 For example, within the fast fashion segment,
31% of consumers say that the ability to purchase their items online and pick
them up in store would increase their loyalty to a retailer. In the luxury
segment, 33% of Singaporean consumers also say that the ability to have a
returned item picked up at home would increase their loyalty to a luxury
retailer.  Meeting these preferences –
whether it is pay in-store, ship to home or buy online/in-app/over the phone, pick
up in-store – can be crucial for local brands looking to win customers.  Singapore’s digitally-empowered spendsetters
expect to be able to purchase what they want, when they want, at the time and
place of their choosing.  Putting unified
commerce strategies like the above in place allow retailers to tailor shopping
experiences around individual preferences.

 

The research (Global Unified Commerce Forecast) was
conducted and written by 451 Research and commissioned by Adyen. We’ve also included an infographic to illustrate the
alignment between consumers’ expectations and merchants’ readiness to adopt
solutions in Singapore.

 

About Adyen

Adyen
(AMS: ADYEN) is the payments platform of choice for many of the world’s leading
companies, providing a modern end-to-end infrastructure connecting directly to
Visa, Mastercard, and consumers’ globally preferred payment methods. Adyen
delivers frictionless payments across online, mobile, and in-store channels.
With offices across the world, Adyen serves customers including Facebook, Uber,
Spotify, Cathay Pacific, Grab, Klook, Lorna Jane, Freelancer.com, Kogan.com and
Showpo.