SINGAPOREAN women spend up to US$150,000 (S$204,000) on shoes in the span of their lifetimes, while their Malaysian counterparts fork up to US$33,000 (RM130,000), a recent survey showed.
The survey, commissioned by Chic Outlet Shopping (a collection of nine shopping villages across Europe), polled 1,000 women in Singapore and Malaysia on their shoe shopping habits.
The disparity in spending on shoes incidentally mirrors the GDP per capita gap between the two countries. Singaporean women may spend up to 4.5 times more on shoes compared to their Malaysian counterparts. But Singapore’s GDP per capita is also roughly five times larger than Malaysia’s. This may suggest that the shoe spending intensity in both countries is about the same.
The survey also showed that Singaporean women set US$88,000 (S$120,000) to purchase designer shoes during their lifetimes. For Malaysian women, that figure is about US$22,000 (RM85,000).
“From timeless silhouettes to innovative new designs, shoes have always been a symbol of style and elegance, resonating with fashion-forward women across the world and are a great indicator of how people are feeling both emotionally and financially,” said international style expert Tamu McPherson.
McPherson was quoted saying this in both the Straits Times and the Malay Mail Online yesterday.
Women in both countries evidently invest a great deal of time and care in searching for an ideal pair of shoes. Over three-fourths (76 percent) of Singaporean women dedicate an average of two weeks per year to hunt for shoes. More than four-in-five (81 percent) of their Malaysian counterparts say the same.
However, it’s safe to say that many of those shoes go unworn. An overwhelming majority of the women surveyed admit to having shoes they wore less than five times – 89 percent and 87 percent in Singapore and Malaysia respectively.
And the importance of having the ‘right’ pair of shoes shouldn’t be underestimated. 27 percent of Singaporean women and a quarter of Malaysian women admit to basing their initial perception of someone on their shoes.
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