Convenience is driving mobile shopping adoption in Asia Pacific countries

According to recent research, almost of half of respondents across the Asia Pacific region have said that convenience is the most compelling reason to shop on mobile phones.

The survey, conducted by MasterCard’s Mobile Shopping Survey, found that as well as the 49.5 per cent of people who have said that, 43.9 per cent also said that shopping on the move was also a very appealing capability. Four out of ten people said that the increasing number of applications make online shopping easy.

The instant connectivity that the mobile phone affords enables consumers to immediately obtain information to get the best available deal, be it online or offline.

Close to half (44.5 per cent) of the respondents surveyed (or interviewed) have conducted price comparisons between online and offline retailers, with a similar proportion (44.2 per cent) also stating that they have conducted research online prior to making a purchase in-store.

In terms of the biggest growth in mobile shopping, Taiwan and India lead the region with the number of people shopping on smartphones more than doubling over two years – Taiwan went from 28.2 per cent in 2012 to 62.6 per cent in 2014 while India went from 30.3 per cent in 2012 to 62.9 per cent in 2014. Malaysia also recorded significant growth – up from 25.4 per cent in 2012 to 45.6 per cent in 2014.

The most popular mobile shopping purchases amongst Asia Pacific shoppers include clothing and accessories (27.9 per cent), followed by apps (21.2 per cent) and daily deal coupons (19.2 per cent). More than one-third of Chinese (37.4 per cent) and Korean (36.0%) consumers shop for clothing and accessories on their smartphone. Meanwhile, apps top the list of items Thai (33.8 per cent) and Vietnamese (31.8 per cent) shoppers purchased using smartphones.

“Increased Smartphone ownership is having a massive impact on the way people in Asia Pacific shop and spend. But as payment methods become increasingly diverse and information is stored on more and more devices it is crucial that people feel their data is safe and secure,” said Raj Dhamodharan, group head, Emerging Payments, Asia Pacific, MasterCard.

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