Asian consumers have high expectations for omnichannel shopping experiences

  • Singaporeans are the most price-conscious shoppers during the holiday season
  • Price, special offers and product quality are the main influencing factors

 

Asian consumers have high expectations for omnichannel shopping experiences

 

WIRECARD on Nov 20 today presented the findings of its International Holiday Shopping Report 2018 which reveals the key trends on consumers’ shopping habits and preferences during the year-end holiday season and beyond.

The global study saw nearly 1,000 in Asia surveyed across markets such as Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. Other countries which were studied included Brazil, Germany, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US).

The results show a clear preference for digital shopping channels in combination with physical ones in order to benefit from fast availabilities online, compare prices and have a real experience in-store.

On average, 90% of Asian consumers were likely to combine different channels (mobile, app, in-store or desktop) to shop for their items, with the main reason for doing so was to compare prices.

“As consumers look to get the best deals out of this holiday season, they demand for a frictionless shopping experience that allows them to alternate between different shopping channels,” said Jeffry Ho, regional managing director, Asia Pacific, Wirecard.

“As consumers in the region continue to evolve digitally, merchants and some small businesses are struggling with evolving their customer experience to meet the consumers’ demands. A true omnichannel payments/management system can help deliver that. As e-commerce growth continues to grow rapidly in the Asia Pacific region, businesses need to ensure that they are delivering the right experiences that cater to their customers’ needs, or risk losing them.”

 

Asian consumers have high expectations for omnichannel shopping experiences

 

Key highlights:

1.     Black Friday is the single most significant shopping event internationally, but Singles Day hold most interest in Southeast Asia

  • 39% of respondents say they planned to shop on Black Friday
  • Shopping on Singles Day is a more popular activity in Hong Kong (13%), Malaysia (23%) and Singapore (20%), as compared to the rest of the world (7%)

2.     Fashion and beauty items rule the day during the year-end shopping season

  • Asia Pacific consumers are the most fashion-conscious where majority of them – Hong Kong (62%), Malaysia (71%) and Singapore (67%) – choose to spend their money on clothes and accessories; followed by beauty products
  • Hong Kong shoppers showed the highest willingness to spend – 19% would spend more than US$500 compared to global consumers (13%)

3.     Consumers in Asia Pacific are some of the most ‘integrated’ shoppers – most likely to use a variety of channels in purchase.

  • Over two thirds of consumers (68%) expect to make their purchases either via a desktop, mobile app or mobile site. However, established markets like Hong Kong (21%) and Singapore (20%) see a significant population who prefer to go to physical retail outlets to make purchases
  • Eighty-two percent of consumers are either likely or very likely to combine various channels during the purchasing process, with Malaysia proving particularly fond of cross-channel shopping (96%)
  • The top reason for using a variety of channels was to compare prices with over half of consumers (51%) – highest in Malaysia (62%), followed by Singapore (53%)
  • In all countries, the most important factor influencing a consumer’s decision to shop via an e-commerce site is price (54%), followed by quality of products (37%) and special offers or discounts (29%)

4.     Asians are the most technology advanced shoppers in the world – with a strong desire to see new technology in their shopping experience

  • Majority of the consumers in the Asia Pacific – Hong Kong (52%), Malaysia (67%) and Singapore (51%) – are looking to new mobile payment technology to improve their buying experience
  • Given the technology savviness of the region, electronics was the second most type of products that consumers in Asia Pacific typically purchase

 

Asian consumers have high expectations for omnichannel shopping experiences

 

Additional highlights

  • Shopping in-store is still somewhat popular amongst Hong Kong (21%) and Singapore (20%) shoppers compared to most of the other markets except Brazil (20%) and the USA (22%)
  • Malaysians (44%) showed the strongest desire to pay with their local currency
  • Singaporeans are the most price conscious in the world, where price was the most important thing when shopping online (63%), and when buying in-store (67%)
  • Boxing Day was the most likely day Hong Kong shoppers would spend the most on (33%)

The Wirecard International Holiday Shopping Report 2018 is based on the results of an independent, anonymous survey conducted by Wirecard from October and November 2018.

Total sample size was 3,193 consumers over the age of 18 in Brazil, Germany, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States.

 

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