Getting world closer

Now due to online shopping service launched by Citi in Singapore, customers have a good chance to make purchases on US shopping Web sites.

Earlier it was problematical for an overseas customer to find a proper US e-commerce web site by means of which he/she could easily ship goods outside the country, as most of such sites didn't accept foreign credit cards.

But now a new Citi-Globeshopper service allows users to bypass this limitation via a US-Singapore shipping option and free concierge service, which task is to buy goods on behalf of the clients on sites where payment for purchases by means of foreign credit cards is inadmissible.

By Citi's estimate the service provides its Singapore card customers with access to almost all of the 300,000+ shopping sites in US.

Signing up for choosing this service online and receiving an AD and US shipping address, customers get special delivery address on the site before goods are transmitted to Singapore through the Globeshopper service. Plus the services of the cross-border e-commerce outfit Borderlinx and shipping firm DHL will facilitate the delivering.

Radha Suvarna, director, portfolio management and cross sell, Citi Singapore, shared  the plans of  the company that it is going to capture and enlarge already growing segment by  making it easy for their customers to shop and ship from US as they would from a local merchant.

Citi cites a survey from Nielsen showing eight out of ten Singaporeans shop online. The bank says a favourable currency rate has seen growing popularity of US Web sites selling apparel, gadgets, books and cosmetics.

Though a new online shopping service was activated just a few weeks ago their site has already got more than 2500 sign-ups, 1200 of which has already made orders and shipments.