While there has been an explosion of blog shops by enterprising bloggers and a handful of online shopping directories, there hasn't been a real online shopping mall per se ...until now.
Jipaban, founded by the same people behind Nuffnang.com - Asia's biggest blog advertising network, is the first real online shopping website in Singapore and houses a wide variety of products and brands, such as Bonito Chico. All the stores are managed by different owners - Jipaban merely provides the platform and helps retailers with the marketing.
What's even more interesting is the creators have cleverly integrated "social networking" features into the shopping experience, e.g. a wish list so friends know what to buy for your birthday, the sharing of product ratings and the ability to easily update friends on your shopping activities on Facebook.
On the flip side, anyone can sign-up to be a retailer and rent a virtual store for a nominal fee. What you get in return is participation in the hottest online shopping fad in Singapore, plus all the magic that happens in the background, like a seamless payment system, full-fledged online shop and advanced analytics.
To see the website in action, head on over now to http://www.jipaban.com.sg
