At last: Full-fledged e-commerce comes to LiveJournal

LiveJournal has been a popular platform for Singaporean blogshop owners to sell their stuff, due to its strong community features. But it does not come with a full-fledged e-commerce solution. That is now a thing of the past.

It has launched LJ Checkout, a combined product catalogue, shopping cart, and online payment system.

The blogging platform is partnering with Malaysia-based MOLPay to provide the payment gateway.

MOLPay will work with merchants to allow them to collect payment via physical locales like NETS and AXS kiosks, and online channels like credit and debit card payments, MOLPoints, and PayPal.

LiveJournal has also signed an exclusive deal with Singapore-based PayWhere, a provider of social commerce system TackThis!. The online software will power LJ Checkout, providing users their own shopping cart. It will also enable merchants to sell via social networks like Facebook.

Consumers will also enjoy a better online shopping experience, with the ability to view product from all angles and zoom in on details.

Bloggers will be able to pick from four packages best suited for them. They will also get a 10 percent discount on these packages that will enable them to run their online stores across multiple social and blogging platforms. Users will also be given a 30-day trial to allow them to test the system to see if it suits them.

E-commerce is a lucrative market in Singapore. According to LiveJournal’s press release, it will quadruple to over S$4B (US$3.2B) by 2014. Transactions on LiveJournal’s 50,000 blogshops in Singapore reached S$100M (US$80M) in 2011, which represented eight percent of the country’s total online transactions.

Competition in the local fashion e-commerce space is also heating up. More blogshops are always being launched, stretching the consumer dollar thin. Big players like Rocket Internet, a German startup, has also launched their own fashion offering in Singapore and Malaysia.

The introduction of LJ Checkout, if well-implemented, should give small blogshops the push they need to stay competitive.

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