Commentary: Every day feels like 11.11 since COVID-19
SINGAPORE: For many shopaholics, this yr of the pandemic has besides been the year of online shopping.
Just remember dorsum to those long excursion breaker days, where the monotony of working from home was cleaved mostly by scrolling websites and apps and adding items to one's shopping cart.
More often than not, clicking "buy" became the logical adjacent stride, whether out of boredom or simply so something new will eventually prove upward at your door.
Equally someone who has always preferred the idyllic joy of browsing in a brick-and-mortar store where I can touch and try the trade before making a decision, I never thought I would go this hooked to online shopping. Merely of course, 2022 made the unimaginable happen.
I am not ashamed to admit my place amongst the legions of people who have contributed to this smash in e-commerce.
READ: Held online among the COVID-19 pandemic, how did the Peachy Singapore Sale fare this year?
READ: Commentary: Has COVID-xix fabricated e-commerce and online shopping the new normal?
My credit bill of fare bills over the past few months and the growing listing of random things I have bought, which includes a case of wine, nevertheless another pair of shoes I do not really demand and a self-drying lather tray, are proof of this.
11.11 IS NO BIG DEAL
But there is one big shopping issue I am not exactly waiting with bated breath for and that is the large kahuna of online sale events - xi.11, which falls on November eleven.
Otherwise known every bit Singles Day, this used to be the auction worth waiting for, with shopaholics breathlessly snapping upwardly e-vouchers and keeping tabs for announcements on the latest promotions.
While many retailers are surely hoping this bonanza will boost their lesser line during this dismal year, it appears they may have forgotten to consider another factor - today'due south online shoppers are now spoilt for choice with the never ending slew of sales events.
From ix.ix to x.10 and fifty-fifty Amazon Prime Day and Black Friday, there are now countless opportunities for bargain hunters to stretch their dollar.
With so many sale days to look out for, it is no wonder the lead-up to Singles Day feels lacklustre.
These days, my inbox is inundated with garish discount e-mailers whether information technology is 11.eleven or not and I usually click delete without fifty-fifty opening them. The price slashes do not actually matter anymore because I know there will always exist i more sale coming up - or i that merely passed.
I am certainly not eagerly awaiting November 11 so I can buy that bandage iron pot I have been eyeing because I already got it on sale almost a month ago.
READ: Commentary: Don't go suckered by the hype of 11.eleven
Eastward-COMMERICE IS THE Time to come
It is not surprising to see this huge push button towards e-commerce. Among a generally gloomy economic outlook, online shopping has been one bright spark for the retail sector.
In April, May and June - the pinnacle lockdown months - online purchases surged to brand up between 17.7 and 24.4 per cent of retail sales in Singapore.
In the latest figures available for Baronial, a month when shops had already reopened, e-commerce sales notwithstanding made upwards an estimated 10.9 per cent of the total S$3.four billion in takings.
Singapore's digital economy earned an additional U.s.$500 million from this boost, according to Accenture. More importantly, experts believe this shift in consumer behaviour is probable to become the norm.
Judging by my own evolving shopping habits, I am not surprised past this prediction. Now, I even accept a box labeled "contact-free delivery" at my doorstep so that I do not have to rush to the door each fourth dimension a package arrives.
And if I may say then, I have become an adept in snagging great online deals.
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READ: The hereafter of retail afterwards COVID-19
Besides keeping a close watch on probably a dozen different items on my wishlist to snap up when prices drib, I likewise follow various e-commerce sites and brands on social media to stay in the know for flash sales, which happen more frequently than you might imagine.
Simply ONLINE SHOPPING Tin BE VERY WASTEFUL
Even so, the consequences of half a year of mindless online shopping are starting to weigh on me. I cringe each fourth dimension I unwrap an elaborately packaged delivery and look at the pile of plastic and cardboard waste.
Where possible, I render styrofoam or cardboard boxes to the seller and recycle packaging material but in that location is still a shocking amount that ends up getting tossed away.
Shopping sprees are less fun when you lot realise how y'all are inadvertently contributing to climatic change.
It is also hard to resist the siren call of coming together a minimum spend just to savour free aircraft or to score an boosted disbelieve. Unfortunately, this ways I sometimes end up impulse-ownership things I practice not even demand in the start identify.
READ: Commentary: The 11.11 sale is great except for the plastic waste information technology generates
This rampant consumerism results in even more clutter which leads to more than mental stress when I wait at all these stuff I inappreciably use taking upwardly precious space at domicile.
MAKING BETTER CHOICES
So even though temptations grow at my fingertips, I am resolving to go a more conscious shopper.
I have started past clearing out my wardrobe to give new life to things I no longer want.
I have invested time in reselling unused items, rehoming them or donating them to the needy.
LISTEN: Repairing and recycling to reduce e-waste: A piping dream in Singapore?
I am also shopping more deliberately. Instead of scooping up a handbasket of clothes at a fast fashion shop which will probably end upward getting thrown out within a flavour, I find myself making considered decisions to invest in unique pieces created by local brands such as Ong Shunmugan and Olive Ankara, which I volition treasure for years to come.
It is and then rewarding to cultivate relationships with independent designers and brands every bit y'all go the satisfaction of knowing your purchase has gone direct towards supporting their livelihoods.
This may fifty-fifty be key in keeping our retail scene going during these hard times. Merely look at how 162-year-quondam department shop Robinsons recently folded due to declining business.
READ: Commentary: We mourn the loss of Robinsons because it was a central piece of our childhood
Its demise was loudly lamented on social media but honestly, how many of these mourners had fifty-fifty bothered to footstep into the shop recently – if not to snag a sale detail?
Shopping in a smaller store can as well exist much more than pleasant when y'all get personalised attending and sometimes even score private appointments, smashing for those however concerned about social distancing.
Of class, this does not hateful I am giving upward on online shopping altogether. E-commerce has been a boon for its convenience and accessibility.
I am pleased I can now get groceries and pet supplies delivered to me without having to brave crowded supermarkets and stores.
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And I certainly will not pass up the run a risk to buy necessities such equally household items and appliances during a good online sale. I know I accept my center on a digital weighing scale which I sorely need to measure how my pandemic binge eating has affected my waistline.
But when information technology comes to shopping as a leisurely pastime to treat myself, I'll stick to browsing in a real shop in the mankind.
More than adding a new possession to my overflowing home, it is the experience of seeing, touching and picking out something special that makes all the deviation.
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Karen Tee is a freelance travel and lifestyle author.
Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/commentary-every-day-feels-1111-covid-19-295206
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