Luxury Shopping in Singapore

Online, June 3, 2013 (Newswire.com) - Home to premier fashion events such as the Audi Fashion Festival, and chosen as the prime location for Karl Lagerfeld's Chanel Cruise Collection 2014, Singapore is indeed a rising fashion hub to be reckoned with. One of the highlights of this 'Lion City' is its heavy investment in establishing itself as the ideal destination for shopping.

Where to shop in Singapore?

Tourists who travel to Singapore need not worry over where to shop in Singapore, since the choices are aplenty. Any local would point them to Orchard Road as a must-see. Even Hindustan Times[PR1] has coined Orchard Road as one of the world's top ten shopping streets. This is possibly because Orchard Road is a 2.2 kilometre-long street which houses over twenty shopping malls. The brands range from commercial to high-end. Some of the malls housing luxury brands include Paragon, Wisma Atria, Mandarin Gallery, and most notably, ION.

ION was established in 2009, and spans across 8 storeys, making it the largest shopping mall along the street. Famous brands such as Dior, Cartier, Dolce & Gabbana (amongst others) have established their signature duplex flagship stores in the mall. Prada has its largest flagship store (within Southeast Asia) in ION, spanning across 1200 sq meters, over two floors.

Aside from Orchard Road, another popular Singaporean shopping destination is the The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands (MBS) that is located within the integrated resort itself. It is noted as the first large-scale luxury shopping destination in Singapore. Established in 2011, the Shoppes is divided into three levels: Canal, Galleria and Bay. Shoppers can find several luxury brands such as Bottega Veneta and Yves Saint Laurent.

Luxury brands in Singapore

In recent years, there has been a steep rise in luxury flagships in Singapore.
In 2009, Chanel opened its first Southeast Asian boutique, Chanel Boutique, in Singapore at Takashimaya.

In September 2011, Louis Vuitton opened its first Louis Vuitton Island Maison in Southeast Asia at Marina Bay Sands. Housed in the Crystal Pavillion, this 'island' is accessible via an outdoor bridge, by a boat or through the Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands mall itself.

Also in 2011, the All-American retail brand Abercrombie & Fitch made its way to Singaporean shores, opening its first flagship store in Southeast Asia at Knightsbridge.

Most recently, in 2012, American luxury brand Coach opened its biggest flagship store in Asia-Pacific at Wisma Atria.

The fact that many of these luxury flagships in Singapore are the first in the Southeast Asian region does show that the city is an attractive destination both for shoppers and brands.

Online-shopping in Singapore

Following the trend of international shopping sites such as ASOS (UK), Singaporean sites such as Zalora have come into being. Furthermore, looking solely at online luxury shopping in Singapore, several local sites have appeared in recent years as well such as Clout Shoppe, Olivia Mia and Brandsfever.

Created in 2010, Brandsfever, for instance, is a private members-only shopping club that conducts all-exclusive sales on attractive luxury items from Jimmy Choo shoes to Versace timepieces.

Similarly, Clout Shoppe, founded in 2011, is a member of the Singapore Post Group of Companies and conducts insider sales on luxury goods.

Olivia Mia, sister-site of Brandsfever created in 2012, is also a members-only shopping club focused solely on discounts on high-end lady's handbags such as Yves Saint Laurent, targeted at the more affluent.
The advent of luxury shopping sites in Singapore seems to be a knee-jerk response to the rising demand for luxury goods amongst Singaporeans.
Even deal sites that are usually focused on providing discounts for beauty and wellness or travel packages have begun giving discounts on luxury items. One of the prime examples of this would be VoucherWow, one of the top five deal sites, that has begun to sell goods such as Longchamp and Coach.
Thus, especially with regards to luxury shopping in Singapore, the city has indeed evolved into a reputed fashion and retail hub both offline and online.