MasterCard released its survey for 2012 on the online shopping behaviors in Asia Pacific which involved 7011 respondents from 14 countries. According to the survey, China holds top position for the propensity to shop with an index value of 102. Next on the ladder is New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, and South Korea. Indonesia is the leader of online shopping through smartphones.
On the survey which was conducted from November to December 2012, The Philippines sits last in online shopping, preceded by Malaysia and Vietnam. Indonesia is fourth last but with two more points compared to the same survey in 2011.
Although Indonesia has yet to equal other countries in Asia Pacific, as a mobile first country Indonesia leads the percentage on the use of smartphones for online transactions. 54.5% of surveyed Indonesians say they commonly use smartphones when buying things online. China and Thailand rank immediately below Indonesia in this category.
An anomaly in MasterCard’s findings is that items with fashion and lifestyle goods are less attractive among Indonesian buyers (only 18%). This is something that’s unexpected because fashion items, especially for women, remain the largest market to drive online shopping activities.
From the all the technologies on the mobile world right now, mobile banking apps become the most known application among consumers while mobile NFC remains alien.
“The MasterCard survey reflects the changing behaviors of shoppers in the region, with more consumers opting to purchase goods online and increasingly using their smartphones to do it. With the exception of a few markets, online shoppers are becoming more confident about using their phones to shop and I’d expect that trend to continue as more sophisticated technologies come onto the market and more products are offered online,” said Porush Singh, senior vice president, Core Products, Global Products & Solutions, Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa, MasterCard.
