Online Potential in Asia Pacific
Being in the online industry since 1999, I have seen tremendous changes to the online industry in Asia Pacific. Growth has been phenomenal, especially in the last 5 years. Consumers are now embracing Internet into their lifestyle – be it shopping, networking, keeping connected to friends, etc. Not only has the internet infrastructure (e.g. online payment methods) matured in many parts of Asia, business are also seeing the Internet as a main driver for growth. More consumers are also interacting with merchants via feedback channels (such as forum, user reviews site, social groups, etc).
Some interesting statistics from “ASIA PACIFIC Digital Marketing Yearbook 2009″(source:www.asiadma.com). For those interested in more detailed stats, please register at www.asiadma.com and download a copy of the yearbook.
- Majority of the world’s Internet users live in Asia, which is now home to 41% of the world’s online population, as at the beginning of 2009 (Source: Comscore).
APAC Internet Population
- Social networking is huge in Asia Pacific with more than 450 million consumers in Asia Pacific participating in social media – a growth rate of 29%.
- Online shopping throughout Asia is a “growing trend”, with 44% of users having shopped online for the past three years; Regional shoppers bought an average of 3.1 purchases online, spending on average $612.40 on their purchases over the 3 months period.
- Online shopping seems to be a pleasurable experience for Asia’s consumers, with 71% finding it convenient; 66% finding it easy; and 62% of users finding
it simpler than catalogue or telephone shopping (Source:Mastercard Worldwide Insights). - Price and security matter to online shoppers across Asia. A sizeable 87% of shoppers cite secure payment facilities as an important factor affecting their online purchasing decisions, with 87% also citing price and 85% noting convenient payment methods (Source:Mastercard Worldwide Insights).
