RECESSIONISTAS will be delighted to know that they can now bargain hunt in the comfort of their own homes.

Many online shops have taken to heart the current economic climate and begun focusing on cut-priced shopping - entrepreneurial Singaporeans are similarly jumping on the bandwagon.

A good example is the roughly one-month old Reebonz (reebonz.com).

The Singapore website allows its members (by invitation only) to purchase premier brand products at huge discounts of 30 to 80 per cent off original retail prices on past seasons' merchandise which the site gets directly from brand owners or distributors.

'We came up with the idea of Reebonz because we saw the convergence of several trends: Online shopping was increasing and there was also a new group of consumers in the form of aspiring luxury owners,' reveals Reebonz's business explorer Benjamin Han.

'These are shoppers who would like to own luxury brands but may not be able to do so at full retail price.'

Through brand specific sales events that last from two to three days, in the month of March alone, Reebonz has offered five different luxury brands on sale to their members including alldressedup, Etro, La Perla, Givenchy and Skagen.

Mr Han adds that while the site has been focusing on premier women's brands, they would eventually like to expand into other categories like menswear.

Reebonz's partners are similarly happy to work with them because the site is not seen as retail competition.

Explains Mr Han: 'We are not out to cannibalise existing retail channels. Rather, we see Reebonz as a complementary sales channel for brands. We want to reach out to a whole new segment of consumers.

'We believe, in time, that these consumers will purchase from the brick and mortar stores at full price. In addition, we feel that we are building awareness for brands and this will help increase their retail store sales.'

Interestingly, Mr Han says that there was an initial worry that the idea of an 'exclusive sales event' would not sit well with consumers, although it turned out to be unfounded.

'The idea of exclusivity and limited period of sales only acts to reinforce the whole point of purchasing luxury products,' he adds, pointing out that customer rapport is of paramount importance to the site.

'Besides offering luxury products at a cheaper price, we also take into consideration our consumers' feedback in terms of the brands and products they hope to see during our sales to suit what they want and not what we think they want.'

This article was first published in The Business Times.