Asia mCommerce shopping soars

Three beautiful young women friends at home using a smart phone and laughing

Asia Pacific consumers are increasingly likely to make their online purchases and bill payments through mobile devices (mobile phone or tablet), rather than via desktops, according to Visa’s 2015 Regional eCommerce Monitor Survey.

The survey, which polled 11,760 respondents from 13 markets in Asia Pacific, found respondents reported an average 22 per cent increase from 2014 in Asia mCommerce shopping.

Respondents from Indonesia (36 per cent), Mainland China (34 per cent) and Taiwan (28 per cent) reported the greatest growth in mCommerce during the year.

The rising popularity of mCommerce among Asia Pacific consumers is narrowing the gap with traditional eCommerce channels such as laptops or desktop computers across the region. In Thailand, consumers are as likely to purchase using their mobile devices as through desktops, while the mCommerce-eCommerce gap in markets such as Mainland China (eight per cent), Korea (nine per cent) and Indonesia (nine per cent) is decreasing.

Visa’s regional director for eCommerce, Conor Lynch said the results show that making purchases on the go through mobile devices is becoming the norm in Asia Pacific.

“As consumers get more comfortable using their smart devices to research, browse and purchase, mCommerce should soon overtake traditional eCommerce habits, strengthening this channel of engagement between consumers and retailers.”

The survey also found travel, bill payments and movies were the top spending categories for eCommerce in general across Asia.

For mCommerce, the top three categories are also fashion, bills and movies at 27 per cent each.

“Across Asia Pacific, we are seeing that ticket-size, as well as the nature of the purchase, impacts how consumers purchase goods and services online. Consumers in this part of the world, are already comfortable purchasing smaller ticket-sized, everyday items by clicking the purchase button on an app or checkout button on a mobile device,” Lynch said.

Another continuing trend revealed by the survey is the tendency for consumers to engage in cross-border online shopping. In particular, consumers from Singapore (77 per cent), Australia and Hong Kong (75 per cent) and New Zealand (74 per cent), are the most likely to make online purchases from retailers abroad, well above the regional average of 55 per cent. On the other hand, consumers from Japan (81 per cent), Taiwan (61 per cent) and Vietnam (57 per cent) are more likely to shop at domestic online stores.

When shopping online with an overseas retailer, price (68 per cent), access to products (60 per cent), paying and delivery processes (40 per cent) and reputation of products (29 per cent) are key motivations for Asia Pacific consumers.

The Visa eCommerce Monitor Survey 2015 was conducted by ORC International Singapore with 11,760 consumers, aged 15 to 55 years and across 13 countries and markets – Australia, Mainland China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam in May and June 2015.

Source: insideretail.asia