India has highest mobile shopping adoption in APAC

The Mastercard Mobile Shopping Survey was widely reported in September. The survey was carried out across fourteen markets in Asia Pacific, with a total of 8,738 respondents.

Key findings were as follows:

  • Consumers in India were the region’s top mobile shoppers for the second consecutive year. Nearly 76% made at least one purchase through their mobile phones in the three months preceding the survey.
  • China’s mobile shoppers remain a close second at 71.4%, followed by Thailand at 65%.
  • Figures are much lower for more advanced markets like Japan (31%), Australia (26%) and New Zealand (26%).
  • Highest year-on-year growth in mobile shopping amongst consumers was seen in the Philippines (53.5%) and Malaysia (55.6%), increases of 12.6% and 10.1% respectively.
  • Preferences for in-store shopping continues its steady decline across Asia Pacific, dropping to 45.9% from 48.6% two years ago.

43% of Chinese consumers use QR codes for payment 

This was another nugget from the Mastercard Mobile Shopping Survey. Whilst more than 10% of consumers use QR code payments, that rises to 42.6% in China, where payment through AliPay and WeChat Pay are so popular.

Digital wallet adoption also varies widely in Asia Pacific, with an average across the region of 22% using one. Shoppers in India (45.5%) and China (38.2%) are shown to be the region’s most avid digital wallet users. Malaysia recorded the largest growth in usage with a 14.8% increase from 11% the previous year.

70% of young Chinese consumers are willing to buy through social media

China has a population of 250m people part of Generation Z (post-1995). And, according to a recent study of 1,000 consumers in the country by Accenture, 70% of Generation Z are happy to buy products directly through social media. The global average for this segment is a much lower 44%.

For Generation Y in China (post-1990), 58% are happy to buy through social, and for Generation X (post-1980) the figure 60%.

Perhaps surprisingly, when it comes to ecommerce UX, Gen Z are less demanding of next-day delivery (22%) than their older compatriots (34% and 41% for Gen Y and Gen X respectively).

More from South China Morning Post.

chinese consumers

Indian growth fuelled by ecommerce

India will become the fifth largest consumer market in the world by 2030, according to a forecast by Deloitte and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

The country’s growth is being fuelled by retail, FMCG and ecommerce.

Hong Kong citizens far less digitally savvy than they think

A new Google whitepaper, Think 2020: Smarter Digital City, shows Hong Kong’s residents to be far less digitally savvy than they think.

Eighty one per cent of citizens described themselves as digitally savvy but when it came to actual behaviour such as using online banking or collaboration apps for work, only 42% were adjudged to be so. Only a third of Hong Kong mobile users surveyed had used P2P mobile payments.

From a business viewpoint, more than 20% of companies interviewed were not engaged in any digital transformation projects. This is perhaps not too shocking, given the term can sometimes be hard to pin down.

hong kong smart city stats

Hong Kong consumers more likely to research products on mobile than desktop

More from that Google whitepaper, with smartphones trumping desktops and laptops when it comes to product research. Seventy two per cent of those surveyed use a smartphone to find information prior to shopping, whereas only 60% do the same on their desktop or laptop. 

hong knong smart city stats

Automotive media spend in Australia sees biggest sector growth

TV and programmatic spend is on the rise in automotive making it the quickest growing sector for media spend in Australia, according to Jane Schulze, Managing Director at SMI.

Social media spend, however, remains flat. More via Warc.

Majority in APAC have between two and five shopping apps on their device

Six in ten smartphone users across Asia Pacific have between two and five retail and shopping apps installed, according to a Criteo survey of more than 3,000 consumers across Australia, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.

The survey found more than 90% of smartphone users are making a purchase through one of these apps at least monthly. 41 Per cent do so between two and five times per month.