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From today's Sunday Times.
Fashionistas are getting their fix of branded totes online as more websites offer products at discounts
Lovers of luxe totes are skipping Orchard Road and getting their fix with a click online. And they are bagging bargains, too. Entrepreneurs here are hitting the big boys of luxury - Prada, Chanel and Hermes - with a double whammy by selling bags from the latest season on their websites at discounted prices. You can save more than $1,000 on one bag alone.
LifeStyle found at least six online sites selling products from past and current seasons and also brands previously unavailable here. Some sites are by-invite only, while others function as a regular online store with no sign-up necessary.
Haute Avenue launched a website last month selling Balenciaga and Bottega Veneta bags and Kate Spade wristlets - clutches with a wrist strap - at discounts ranging from 4 to 35 per cent. Before going online, Haute Avenue's husband-and-wife team Lyon and Florence Low held about 20 warehouse sales a year here, drawing queues of shoppers wanting originals at a steal.
Mrs Low, who used to run a boutique publising house with her husband, went online to cater to their clients, ranging from students to professionals.
"Customers told us that they didn't want to spend time on the weekends queuing. So it's about casting the net wider to accommodate their needs," says the 38-year-old mother of two. She says the response three weeks after the site's launch has been encouraging.
The Bottega Veneta Intrecciato Knot Bag, which costs $2,990 in stores and was offered at $1,890 on her site, was sold out on the first day of the site's launch. Other discounts include $100 off a Balenciaga Giant City bag, which she sells for $2,490. How is Haute Avenue able to sell the same authentic bags cheaper than the usual retailers?
Mrs Low says that she went straight to the brand owners and convinced them that her company's business model - luxury-on-a-discount - would work.
"Luck was definitely a huge factor. They took a risk with us, we showed them this is a new way to sell handbags," she adds.
However, a similar site, Kepris, offers discounts due to "exchange rate differences and off-season prices", says co-owner Serene Neo. Unlike Haute Avenue, it sources suppliers internationally rather than going to the brand itself or spree shopping.
Because of bulk-buying, excess stock from retailers and currency fluctuations, Kepris can get discounts from 10 per cent for current season's designs to 70 per cent for the previous season's. Site owners say their items come with authenticity cards or have serial numbers inside the bag.
Singapore Management University's associate professor of marketing practice Seshan Ramaswami says online stores' low overheads cut out the middleman. All the sites LifeStyle spoke to operate out of small offices and keep stock in warehouses.
Kepris' Ms Neo, 32, who started her site last year, says it had fewer than 100 members in the first month, but membership is now in the five-figure range. "We have grown as a result of our increased base, but we also see customers being more confident of shopping online," she says.
Not all luxury bag sites rely on discounts for their appeal. The selling point for some is giving people first dibs on bags by international designers not found here. Doorstep Luxury was set up last July by Briton Miranda Lindsay-Fynn and Singaporean Au Da Yu, who are MBA schoolmates from London Business School. They carry about 40 accessory labels that were previously unavailable here, including brands such as Kara Ross and Manoush.
It has a showroom in Telok Ayer where people can make appointments to view bags. These start at $300 for clutches and go up to $14,450 for a Borsa "Pink Alligator" Set, which comes with a shoulder bag, a coin purse, a document holder and a credit card case, made by Ragazze Ornamentali, a company founded by two former designers at Louis Vuitton.
Enjoy reading ..
Fashionistas are getting their fix of branded totes online as more websites offer products at discounts
Lovers of luxe totes are skipping Orchard Road and getting their fix with a click online. And they are bagging bargains, too. Entrepreneurs here are hitting the big boys of luxury - Prada, Chanel and Hermes - with a double whammy by selling bags from the latest season on their websites at discounted prices. You can save more than $1,000 on one bag alone.
LifeStyle found at least six online sites selling products from past and current seasons and also brands previously unavailable here. Some sites are by-invite only, while others function as a regular online store with no sign-up necessary.
Haute Avenue launched a website last month selling Balenciaga and Bottega Veneta bags and Kate Spade wristlets - clutches with a wrist strap - at discounts ranging from 4 to 35 per cent. Before going online, Haute Avenue's husband-and-wife team Lyon and Florence Low held about 20 warehouse sales a year here, drawing queues of shoppers wanting originals at a steal.
Mrs Low, who used to run a boutique publising house with her husband, went online to cater to their clients, ranging from students to professionals.
"Customers told us that they didn't want to spend time on the weekends queuing. So it's about casting the net wider to accommodate their needs," says the 38-year-old mother of two. She says the response three weeks after the site's launch has been encouraging.
The Bottega Veneta Intrecciato Knot Bag, which costs $2,990 in stores and was offered at $1,890 on her site, was sold out on the first day of the site's launch. Other discounts include $100 off a Balenciaga Giant City bag, which she sells for $2,490. How is Haute Avenue able to sell the same authentic bags cheaper than the usual retailers?
Mrs Low says that she went straight to the brand owners and convinced them that her company's business model - luxury-on-a-discount - would work.
"Luck was definitely a huge factor. They took a risk with us, we showed them this is a new way to sell handbags," she adds.
However, a similar site, Kepris, offers discounts due to "exchange rate differences and off-season prices", says co-owner Serene Neo. Unlike Haute Avenue, it sources suppliers internationally rather than going to the brand itself or spree shopping.
Because of bulk-buying, excess stock from retailers and currency fluctuations, Kepris can get discounts from 10 per cent for current season's designs to 70 per cent for the previous season's. Site owners say their items come with authenticity cards or have serial numbers inside the bag.
Singapore Management University's associate professor of marketing practice Seshan Ramaswami says online stores' low overheads cut out the middleman. All the sites LifeStyle spoke to operate out of small offices and keep stock in warehouses.
Kepris' Ms Neo, 32, who started her site last year, says it had fewer than 100 members in the first month, but membership is now in the five-figure range. "We have grown as a result of our increased base, but we also see customers being more confident of shopping online," she says.
Not all luxury bag sites rely on discounts for their appeal. The selling point for some is giving people first dibs on bags by international designers not found here. Doorstep Luxury was set up last July by Briton Miranda Lindsay-Fynn and Singaporean Au Da Yu, who are MBA schoolmates from London Business School. They carry about 40 accessory labels that were previously unavailable here, including brands such as Kara Ross and Manoush.
It has a showroom in Telok Ayer where people can make appointments to view bags. These start at $300 for clutches and go up to $14,450 for a Borsa "Pink Alligator" Set, which comes with a shoulder bag, a coin purse, a document holder and a credit card case, made by Ragazze Ornamentali, a company founded by two former designers at Louis Vuitton.
Enjoy reading ..
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