Online shopping poised for a strong surge in Southeast Asia
KUALA LUMPUR - Southeast Asian consumers are relatively new to the online marketplace, with nearly three-fifths of respondents in Malaysia reporting they shopped online only within the last three years.
“Based on patterns we’ve seen in other countries, there is a good amount of room for growth,” said PwC senior executive director Scott Constance.
Online shopping in Malaysia is poised for significant growth, given its rising popularity and relatively new adoption rate among local customers.
According to PwC’s “Total Retail Survey 2016” report, higher proportions of Thai and Singaporean consumers are new to online buying than the global average.
“More than 80 per cent of China respondents have been buying online for more than three years,” it said.
The report, which surveyed 500 consumers per country, revealed that about half of Malaysian respondents buy online at least monthly and only 7 per cent have never shopped online.
Southeast Asian shoppers lead the world in mobile and social adoption.
Nearly three-quarters of Malaysian respondents use social media to access promotional offerings while shopping.
Consumers in Southeast Asia demonstrate a strong desire to use social media in forming associations with their preferred brands.
Although a sizeable percentage of consumers in Southeast Asia report buying on a daily, weekly or monthly basis, it was still smaller than the global figure.
About 60 per cent of global consumers reported buying online monthly or more frequently.
Singapore matches this proportion, followed closely by Thailand at 58 per cent and Malaysia at 48 per cent.
Southeast Asian consumers are among the world’s fastest and strongest adopters of mobile and social media usage in support of their online and in-store purchasing activities.
“Whatever the mobile or social media purchase usage, whether it is using a mobile phone to check product reviews or prices, or accessing coupons, or making purchases outright, it’s likely that consumers in Southeast Asia are doing it more frequently than just about anyone else in the world.
Two-thirds of consumers surveyed in Malaysia and Singapore, and nearly three-quarters in Thailand, report using their phones directly to make purchases.
Rates of mobile phone purchasing usage in all three Southeast Asian countries surveyed exceed the global average of 54 per cent.
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