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Robinsons Singapore is returning as Robinsons Online, a fully digital online department store that will launch on June 24, 2021. Robinsons Online Robinsons Online will offer over 200 brands including those that are "familiar, homegrown and new-to-market". Customers can also expect "exciting collaborations" that will debut on the new platform. According to incoming Managing Director of Robinsons Singapore, Jordan Prainito, Singaporeans will be hired to fill various positions, while two former Robinsons' employees already hired. The new website can be assessed here when it launches on June 24. Physical stores' closure The department store was founded in Singapore 162 years ago in 1858. The company announced in Oct. 2020 that it will be closing its last two outlets in Singapore at The Heeren and Raffles City Shopping Mall. The Business Times reported that the department store operator had been put under a creditors' voluntary winding up. The Heeren outlet closed on Dec. 16, 2020, and its last outlet at Raffles City closed its doors permanently in Jan. 2021.

As title suggests, the way we do our retail shopping is changing. Brick and mortar stores are failing. New malls are sprouting out in neighborhoods and even high profile ones like Jewel or Funan. But go to the established malls and you see the truth behind the retail trend. Footfall in malls are falling and that's because of the shift in the way shoppers' shop. First it was the physical retail store, then e-commerce in the form of websites (blogshops etc), after that Carousell took over and almost everyone I knew sold something online be it brand new or used. Now? The latest trend is Facebook Live Auction. This isn't something which recently started though. Facebook Live Auction has been around for a few years now but only in very recent times did it catch on in Singapore. Prolific sellers like Misshopper Boutique (S Hook Jiejie) whom recently found fame in the unique way she pitched her items to her viewers and also for being 'entertaining'. Subjective. Personally the very first few live auction house I started watching was maybe SG BlackMarket (presumably the first live auction house in SG). They stream every few nights a week for 3 to 4 hours at one time. They hawk electronics items, anime collectibles, action figures (Marvel, DC), Fortune Cat (Maneki Neko), Daruma etc. And the main point is, their items DO NOT COME CHEAP. I kid you not. A $15 item can close off at $50 or even more. They regularly close off their items in the $80 to $150 range, and that's per item. They're not cheap but people bid. Why? I would put it down to their auctioneer Lennon. He's funny and sarcastic and there are viewers who tune in just to watch him and subsequently get hooked on bidding too. After months of watching I never got down to bidding anything though I did try once for a Doraemon plushie. Their videos have since been deleted except for one of Lennon's. Maybe they're no longer in trend? https://www.facebook.com/SGBlackMarketXXX/videos/395633114360593/ So what's trending now? Mainly electronic/household items selling at really "cheap" prices. New auction houses are popping out almost everyday. I bought a few aroma diffuser, humidifier for really bargain prices. $10 Elehot Aroma Diffuser $10 Asakuki Essential Oil Diffuser $15 Aennon Cool Mist Humidifer $17 Riwbox Wireless Bluetooth Headphones Other popular items people regularly bid for: Sound bar especially brands like Taotronics Smart Plugs Mini Projectors Smart Weighing Scale Smart Watch IP Camera Wireless Earbuds Gaming mouse Gaming keyboard Wireless Doorbell Car Jump Starter In Car Camera Some other Auction Houses https://www.facebook.com/Lelong.Auction.Sg/videos/2144115009049043/ https://www.facebook.com/TheLadyboyAuction/videos/324970791741109/ Fresh Seafood Bidding??? https://www.facebook.com/firstmarketonlinebidding/videos/474163999817071/ It's crazy how we do so much research at times to find out about a product we're getting from a retail shop yet willingly part with our money to purchase Auction Houses products from brands we haven't even heard of, no idea the full specs/features of the product, doesn't come with warranty etc. And what's the catch though? A lot of these items are actually returned goods. Some may not come in boxes, some boxes may be damaged, some may be missing a controller inside etc. Hence the cheaper price you may be getting it for. Anyone of you here have bid for anything on Facebook before? What's worth it and what's not?

I realise that we didn't share our favourite shopping loot for our beloved car. Share the aftermarket website that you have shop before! For myself, I have shopped in RHDjapan & Skunk2 https://www.rhdjapan.com/ https://skunk2.com/

Plaza Singapura’s new Nomadx also combines eating and shopping with gaming for an interactive experience. Taobao fans can now take their shopping sprees offline at the new retail concept Nomadx at Plaza Singapura. Spanning 11,000 square feet across two levels of the mall, Nomadx houses Singapore’s first physical Taobao store, as well as 17 other brands offering fashion, beauty, consumer electronics, food and drinks. Taobao is only one of the online stores that has a physical outlet for the first time. The other brands include clothing rental service Style Theory; fragrance design and mixology label Oo La Lab; Digital Fashion Week’s multi-label boutique; and F&B brands Teapasar and By Peapods. But while Nomadx is bringing digital shopping into the physical realm, it’s also enhancing the shopping experience through digital technology. For instance, at the Mamonde skincare counter, you can place any product on a reader and have its information displayed on a screen. Over at Style Theory, you can scan QR codes to receive sizing and styling recommendations. Fashionistas can also shop for new-to-market Nomadx exclusives from fashion brands, such as Karl Lagerfeld’s Pins collection of bags and accessories rolled out in partnership with Robinsons. If you are more used to spending time in the virtual world than offline, you can choose to take part in a “game”. When you sign up through one of the store’s tablets, you’ll be assigned to a “tribe” based on the shopper’s profile you relate to best. You’ll then be able to receive products and deal recommendations based on your tribe profile, as well as see what other shoppers in your tribe bought. To complete your shopping experience, Nomadx also houses F&B outlets Bizen Wagyu Steakhouse By Aston Soon, Coco & Frank, and Waa Cow! Express.

Obviously any profit-oriented enterprise seeks to maximize its bottom line; for those whose bread and butter occur in the immediate online marketplace, the revenue size achieved is directly correlated to both volume and weight of transactions performed, factors which in turn are contingent on purchasing traffic. The more customers the merrier then, you say? Largely so, minus a very small group of folks you are better off avoiding at all costs. These shoppers from hell will cause you an indescribable amount of mental anguish, stress and frustration courtesy of themselves kicking up a shitstorm over nothing, or throwing a hissy fit just because its.......Monday. Cue: crazy, ridiculous requests, threats to rain fire on your certified "unaccommodating" (by them of course) ass. Why end up being severely constipated in the mood department as a consequence of having to endure such unnecessary bollocks? So yes indeed, prevention is way better than cure, its better to be safe than sorry...........yada yada yada. Here is a laundry list compiled to assist you, the merchant, in learning how to sniff out them minions of Satan and banish them to the deepest reaches of your blacklist. Pay real good attention, because it could contribute significantly towards averting a potentially nasty disaster; who knows it might even save your life. Spotting a possibly abusive or problematic online customer: 1. He/she can't be bothered to properly process aka read the information put out for his/her benefit, which means disclaimers and whatnot supplied are simply ignored through and through. When shit hits the fan, he/she will return in a flash and scorch the very ground you exist on. That means unwarranted complaints, barking in your face till you issue a full refund or offer a replacement. 2. He/she is a member of club anal-retentive. Makes inquiries about every single damn thing, perhaps even ask why the sky is blue. Get ready to be skewered big time if he/she uncovers the slightest, tiniest disparity in product quality.

Last week I decided to sell all of my camera gear as I just couldn’t find the time to use it regularly. Here I had almost $3,500/- worth of camera and lenses that was just sitting in its dry cabinet. So I wrote a nice little description about the gear and posted to ebay, HWZ and gumtree. A couple of days later, I get a reply for the ad posted on gumtree. Buyer communicates via email asking for best price so that she can gift the camera to her brother in Malaysia. So I make her an offer, we negotiate and settle on a price. Now I buy a lot of new stuff online. But when I buy or sell second hand stuff, I prefer to deal with people here in SG as its easier to meet and you know who/what you’re dealing with. Now the girl says she’s on assignment outside of the country and that she will pay via paypal collect. Hmmm…. I have to raise a paypal invoice and money will be credited to my paypal account. Hmmm… I’m not happy about this but still, I only have to spend a couple of minutes creating a paypal invoice so what the heck! I did it and emailed her the invoice. Busy over the weekend so I read her reply only this morning. In it, she says that she has completed the payment and that I should send the tracking number so paypal can complete the transfer. [me: wait… what? I have to send my stuff and then paypal will transfer? uh uh] She also says she sent the funds to paypal account (prabhjot something@gmail) and that paypal’s service message might be in my inbox or spam folder [me: hmmm… who the fck is prabjot whatever? And why the fck should paypal messages be in my spam folder?] I check the spam folder and lo and behold, there’s a message with the email alias “[email protected]” [me: wtf? I pay for stuff using paypal and I’ve always got the messages in my inbox. Now its in spam. Doesn’t smell right] And then I notice the actual email ID used in sending the message. “[email protected]” [me: haha. Now why the fck would paypal use accountant.com domain to send messages] Lol, they even have a small "how do you know this is not a fake email" disclaimer :D So I google the email ID pp_service and sure enough, plenty of hits about people being conned out of their stuff by peeps in MY. The MO and address is the same; 1) reply to personal ads (mostly camera’s) on ebay/gumtree (seems gumtree being abused more) 2) try some token negotiation to instil confidence 3) get seller to send paypal invoice and promise to pay to paypal account for both the item and the shipping cost 4) send a bogus email claiming funds will be credited once paypal verifies evidence of shipment 5) disappear So guys beware when peddling/buying stuff online. Just for laugh, I sent this reply to "Kim" this morning;