15 Popular Online Businesses in Singapore and How They Make Money Online

Making money online can be a flexible way to create an additional revenue stream to supplement your existing income.

But, how do you actually get started?

What are the ways that you can make money online?

If you’ve asked yourself these questions before, here’s some good news for you: it’s actually much easier than you think.

In this post, I will you show you how 15 websites in Singapore are already making money online.

I will pull back the curtains and show you the common ways these websites make money online. 

Knowing how existing businesses make money online can help you gain some inspiration to help you get started with your own online business in Singapore.

Ready?

Let’s get started:

Disclaimer: These are my own analysis and may not reflect exactly or every part of how these websites make money. If you are the owner of any of these sites and wish not to be mentioned, just send me a message here. All traffic information is obtained using Similarweb.com and are accurate at the point of publishing.

Lazada Singapore

Website URL: http://www.lazada.sg/

Monthly traffic estimate: 5.86m

What about: Lazada Singapore is one of the largest online marketplaces in Singapore that connects sellers with buyers. 

How this website makes money: Like any online marketplace, Lazada makes money by charging commissions on sales made on the platform as well as for ads on the platform.

Qoo10.sg

Website URL: http://www.qoo10.sg

Monthly traffic estimate: 10.27m

What about: Like Lazada, Qoo10 is an online marketplace that connects buyers with sellers, with an emphasis on Korean products.

How this website makes money: Like any online marketplace, Qoo10 makes money by charging commissions on sales made on the platform as well as for ads on the platform.

Hardwarezone.sg

Website URL: http://www.hardwarezone.com.sg/

Monthly traffic estimate: 6.34m

What about: Hardwarezone is Singapore’s most popular online tech magazine and host of Singapore’s most popular tech forum. 

How this website makes money: Like any online publisher, Hardwarezone makes money using programmatic advertising and branded content.

Jobstreet.com.sg

Website URL: http://www.jobstreet.com.sg/

Monthly traffic estimate: 4.15m

What about: Jobstreet is an online job portal for employers to post job vacancies and for jobseekers to find jobs.

How this website makes money: Jobstreet makes money mainly by charging a listing fee to employers who want to use its platform to find candidates for their vacancies.

Gumtree.sg

Website URL: http://www.gumtree.sg/

Monthly traffic estimate: 1.23m

What about: Gumtree is one of the most popular free online classifieds in Singapore. 

How this website makes money: Gumtree makes money using programmatic advertising like Google AdSense as well as the sales of enhanced listings such as ‘Bump Ups’, ‘Urgent Ads’, ‘Top Ads’ and so on.

SethLui.com

Website URL: http://www.sethlui.com/

Monthly traffic estimate: 1.66m

What about: SethLui.com is one of Singapore’s most popular food blogs. If you have ever wanted to look for places to eat and chill in Singapore, you likely would have stumbled upon SethLui.com.

How this website makes money: SethLui.com makes money using:

• programmatic advertising using networks like Google AdSense 
• brand sponsored posts
• affiliate marketing
• e-book sales of like Food & Restaurant Marketing System: Create a Profitable Restaurant
• F&B consultation
  

TheSmartLocal.com

Website URL: http://www.thesmartlocal.com

Monthly traffic estimate: 2.31m

What about: Thesmartlocal is the go-to-site for Singaporeans who want to learn more about traveling within Singapore as well as outside of Singapore like Japan, Korea, Malaysia and more. The brand is popular not only on its website but also on Facebook and YouTube.

How this website makes money: Like any online publisher, Thesmartlocal  makes money using programmatic advertising and branded content.

DollarsandSense.sg

Website URL: http://www.dollarsandsense.sg

Monthly traffic estimate: 455k

What about: A resource site for Singaporeans who want to better manage their finances and investments.

How this website makes money: Like any online publisher, Dollarsandsense makes money using programmatic advertising and branded content. Other than that, they also make money using affiliate marketing for financial products.

EatBook.sg

Website URL: http://www.eatbook.sg/

Monthly traffic estimate: 676k

What about: Eatbook is one of the most popular food review site in Singapore.

How this website makes money: Like any online publisher, Eatbook makes money using programmatic advertising and branded content. 

Ladyironchef.com

Website URL: http://www.ladyironchef.com/

Monthly traffic estimate: 616k

What about: Ladyironchef is one of the most popular food review site in Singapore.

How this website makes money: Like any online publisher, Ladyironchef makes money using programmatic advertising and branded content. 

Danielfooddiary.com

Website URL: http://www.danielfooddiary.com/

Monthly traffic estimate: 688k

What about: Danielfooddiary is one of the most popular food review site in Singapore.

How this website makes money: Like any online publisher, Danielfooddiary makes money using programmatic advertising and branded content. 

MoneySmart.sg

Website URL: http://www.moneysmart.sg/

Monthly traffic estimate: 1.28m

What about: Moneysmart is a comparison site for financial products like loans, insurance, credit cards and so on.

How this website makes money: Moneysmart mainly makes money using affiliate marketing, receiving a commission each time they help make a sale or send a lead to their partner companies.

Shopback.sg

Website URL: http://www.shopback.sg/

Monthly traffic estimate: 711k

What about: Shopback is a cashback site. When people make a purchase through Shopback, they get a percentage of the money back.

How this website makes money: Shopback makes money using affiliate marketing, dividing the commissions it receives from successful sales between themselves and the customers who use their site.

Redmart.com

Website URL: http://www.redmart.com/

Monthly traffic estimate: 1.54m

What about: Redmart is a grocery supply website. Singaporeans can order grocery and get it delivered to their home using Redmart.

How this website makes money: Like any normal e-commerce website, Redmart makes money by profiting the difference between cost and selling price.

Carousell.com

Website URL: http://www.carousell.com/

Monthly traffic estimate: 15.13m

What about: Carousell is Singapore’s most popular peer-to-peer selling platform. People who want to sell something can list them on Carousell for free and people who are interested in buying from them can make contact with them. 

How this website makes money: Carousell makes money mainly from programmatic advertising like Google AdSense at the moment.

Conclusion

There you have it: 15 popular websites in Singapore and how they make money online. 

As you would notice, one of the most popular ways of making money online is using programmatic advertising like Google AdSense. However, to make a good income from Google AdSense, you would need to have a high amount of traffic.

Coming in as a close second is affiliate marketing, where the website gets a commission each time they help make a sale for the merchants they work with.

E-commerce is also a popular way to make money online, though, this space has gotten a lot more competitive over the years.

Though I have shown you how 15 websites in Singapore make money, these are not the only methods possible. What may work for other businesses may not always work for you. The best way to know what will work for yourself is to test them out.

Which business model would you likely try to make money online? Let me know in the comments below:

Have I missed any popular online businesses in Singapore? Comment below for me to include them!