Magazines Archives - 2012 January

Asian online shoppers keeping to 2010 budgets, says Visa study
Story 8 - E-Commerce

ONLINE shoppers in eight key markets in the region are sticking to their 2010 holiday budgets, a new report revealed. Conducted by The Nielsen Company, the 2011 Visa Online Holiday Shopping Study, commissioned by global payments provider Visa, identified that half the respondents said they were keeping to their 2010 year-end shopping budgets, with 31% of shoppers spending more than last year.

Of the eight markets surveyed in the region — namely China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand — shoppers in Australia, China and Indonesia said that they would spend between US$50 and US$79 online over the holiday season, while shoppers in Singapore and Malaysia disclosed that would spend about 9% less than last year.

“Shoppers are more cautious this year with their spending. Even if they said they were spending more, they were doing so mainly to keep up with the rising cost of products. The exception was China, where respondents said … they wanted to buy more expensive items,” stated Paul Jung, Visa’s head of eCommerce for the Asia-Pacific, Central Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The report also showed that a majority of shoppers (42%), who cut back on their year-end shopping budgets, cited “other priorities/saving for overseas vacations/ education” as reasons for their prudence.

“The desire to save for other priorities such as holidays and education was another key consideration for consumers who wanted to tighten their belts. Respondents appeared to be divided on the impact of the global economic environment,” Jung continued.

Additionally, about 50% of those who intended to spend more this year said that they plan to take advantage of discounts and bargains offered by online merchants, the report continued.

“Consumers can still stretch their dollar and enjoy cost savings by looking for the best bargains online. There are plenty of good deals to be found on the Web, especially after Black Friday when retailers in the US and the UK traditionally slash prices. Many sites offer specialist shipping or online shopping concierge services to Asian consumers, making it easier to purchase from these overseas sites,” Jung observed.

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