Online shopping and popularity in Asia.

According to a Feb 2008 A.C. Nielsen survey, 84% of respondents in the Asia Pacific region had transacted online. This is an impressive number no doubt and confirms the fact that online shopping is now a mainstream activity and no longer a fad which created talking points for some online retailers. Content and information has been a common driving point for ecommerce in Asia and the same report has thrown up some interesting information.

Books happen to the most popular category of products bought online and account for 41% of all online purchases and are very popular in developing Asian countries like China, Brazil, Vietnam and Egypt. The next most popular category of Clothes/Accessories/Shoes accounts for 37% of online shopping by Asians. Travel is yet another category which is popular and a combined total of more than 50% Asians having booked some form of travel online.

Incidentally, one country which stood out in the survey when it came to the frequency of online shopping (79%) and the highest number of respondents to the 'have you shopped online?' question (a whopping 99%) has been none other than Asian tiger, Korea which boasts of one of the best internet connectivity in the world. These numbers are not perchance….Asia has got many emerging economies and countries like India, Korea and China are growing as knowledge-driven economies which include a highly-tech savvy population with good disposable incomes. Rapid advancement in security as well as the initiative of banks to issue credit cards to people in good jobs is some more reasons for the growth in online shopping in Asia. Asians are also make one of the most faithful online customers as more than 66% customers return to the same site to shop online! That should be enough to make online retailers to include Asia as one of their most important marketplaces!