WHEN 25-year-old designer Damien Leong feels the urge to go on a shopping spree, he reaches for the mouse and leans back in his armchair.
The fervent online shopper heads to sites like Asos.com to buy mainly limited-edition jeans, spending more than $800 each time.
Increasingly, people like Damien are making online shops a lucrative business.
Figures from a poll by the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), show that 30 per cent of 2,810 of those surveyed - or 843 individuals - shopped online at least once last year.
The figure is up from 18 per cent in 2002.
Fuelled by greater demand, some local entrepreneurs have become online retailers.
Checks with research firms ACNielson, GfK Research Dynamics, IDC and the IDA, turned up no national figures on these online shops, though.
But experts say online outlets are here to stay.
Said Mervyn Badiali, lead consultant of OgilvyOne Singapore: '(The Internet) targets buyers without being intrusive, engages the consumer and engenders their loyalty to the brand. This is different from the interruptive, traditional world of (selling).'
