Retail in Asia

In Trends

32pc internet users in 6 Asian markets shop on overseas sites, says survey

A love for the latest clothes and beauty products is driving internet users in six emerging ecommerce markets in Asia-Pacific to seek their fashion fixes on overseas shopping websites, according to the 2010 Visa eCommerce Consumer Monitor. 

Of the 3,156 people surveyed from Mainland China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan and Thailand in the third quarter of last year, one in three (32 percent) said they had shopped on overseas websites in the past 12 months. Clothes and shoes (25 percent) were the most popular items purchased followed by cosmetics and perfumes (18 percent), airline tickets (18 percent) and books (14 percent).

Sixty-nine percent of those who had shopped on an overseas site before said they had done so because the products and services they wanted were not available locally while 34 percent said it was because they felt these sites offered a wider selection of goods. Thirty-one percent felt the goods they wanted to purchase were more cheaply priced on overseas sites, while 25 percent said that these sites offered better discounts.

According to the survey, US-based websites commanded the largest share of cross-border business across all markets with the exception of Mainland China where consumers preferred Hong Kong shopping sites. Ninety percent of respondents who had shopped overseas in the past twelve months said they had made a purchase from a US-based website at least once.

Forty-three percent of respondents who had only shopped on local websites said they would not purchase from an overseas site because they didn’t want to incur additional shipping charges.

Paul Jung, head of ecommerce for international markets at Visa, believes more people would consider buying from overseas websites except for the fact that many of these retailers do not ship overseas. "Visa cardholders can get around this by signing up with our online shopping service partners Borderlinx and OneNow.com that enable cardholders to purchase from thousands of US and UK-based retail stores," said Jung.