E-BUSINESS IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

The Internet market has been expanding rapidly in the past few years, leading to the emergence of the new field of Internet economics. Interesting research has been building up, especially in the areas of the pricing of Internet traffic and the pricing of goods online, be they information or physical goods. This thesis hopes to make a small contribution to the growing pool of research, especially in the area of pricing of physical goods online, and also hopes to contribute to the studies done on electronic commerce (e-commerce) in Singapore. The thesis starts off by giving an overview of the e-commerce situation in Singapore. Government and statutory board initiatives to promote e-commerce are used to provide the background against which e-commerce is conducted in Singapore. Studies are then mentioned to give an idea of the progress of e-commerce (especially in retailing), has been up till now. A short review of the literature in the area of online pricing is made, and then empirical work done on pricing is presented. This empirical work is done on price comparison of online and bricks-and-mortar retailers, both Singapore-based and foreign, in the CD and book markets. Findings are then discussed, and the empirical study wraps up with some observations made about Singapore-based online retailers. This thesis gives but a small glimpse of the e-commerce situation in Singapore. It is hoped that this is a harbinger of even more comprehensive and exciting studies on the status of e-commerce in Singapore to come.