Report: M-Commerce Strong in Asia-Pacific; China, India, Taiwan Leading the Way
Mobile shopping is growing fast in the Asia-Pacific region, according to a newly released study by MasterCard. The payments network’s latest Mobile Shopping Survey polled at least 500 consumers ages 18 to 64 in each of 14 Asia-Pacific markets, including China, Australia, India, Indonesia and Thailand, between October and December of 2014. Overall, nearly half of respondents (45.6 percent) reported having made a purchase using their smartphone in the three months preceding the survey. But it’s not just purchases; mobile is being used throughout the entire shopping process, too. More than 44 percent of respondents said they had used a mobile device to compare prices, while 44.2 had conducted research online via mobile before making a final purchase in-store.
Among specific markets, mobile shopping was most common in China, India and Taiwan, with 70.1 percent, 62.9 percent and 62.6 percent, respectively, of consumers in those countries reporting having shopped via mobile device in the previous three months. Taiwan and India also showed the fastest m-commerce growth over the past two years. During that period, the number of smartphone shoppers in Taiwan more than doubled, to 62.6 percent in 2014, from 28.2 percent in the same study in 2012, while India went from 30.3 percent in 2012 to 62.9 percent in 2014. Malaysia also showed significant growth, ringing in at 45.6 percent of respondents in 2014, up from 25.4 percent in 2012.
Alongside the rapid increase in smartphone penetration, the key factor driving the rise of mobile shopping in Asia-Pacific is convenience, which was cited as the most compelling reason to shop via mobile by 49.5 percent of respondents. Other motivating factors include the ability to shop on the go (43.9 percent) and the growing availability of mobile shopping apps (39.5 percent).
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