It’s a relatively brief roundup of Asia-Pacific digital marketing stats this month, but containing plenty of fascinating insight into smartphone usage in the region, from China to India to Southeast Asia.
Let’s start in the rarefied air of the luxury market in China.
(And remember to swing by the Internet Statistics Database if you want more stats)
Ninety five percent of Chinese luxury sales happen offline, but…
Jing Daily reports on Tencent execs speaking at Advertising Week in New York about a new report conducted with Boston Consulting Group on the digital behaviours of Chinese luxury consumers.
The report predicts China’s personal luxury goods market will grow by 6% every year until 2024, reaching $187 billion in value. By this time, Chinese luxury consumers will account for 40% of the global buyers (in numbers), and 70% (in dollars) of the growth.
Findings from the survey of 2,620 Chinese consumers include:
- In 2017, 95% of luxury purchases happened offline.
- “Research online, purchase offline” is the main path for Chinese luxury shoppers (58% of respondents).
- More than half of respondents start their luxury purchase journey by researching on mobile.
- Twelve percent of shoppers read about luxury brands on KOLs’ Weibo and WeChat accounts – 12% of those do so on brand’s social media platforms.
- Eleven percent of consumers receive luxury information from brand’s official websites, apps and mini-programs.
- The social commerce shopping currently accounts for 11% of online luxury sales volume in China.
Buying habits of Southeast Asian centennials revealed
Econsultancy’s report Here Comes the Centennial: Southeast Asia’s Next Generation of Shoppers, in collaboration with Dentsu Aegis, reveals the results of a survey of over 3,000 Southeast Asians born between 1995 and 2002.
The mobile dominates as device of choice for browsing online (93%), buying online (86%), and using personally (94%).
Nearly two in three (61%) own a laptop, personally, and more than one in four own a desktop computer (26%).
Centennials are likely to have their first encounter with the products they will purchase online – 86% agree that “I usually see products that I want to buy online first”.
Sixty six percent of centennials browse products online before purchasing in-store, and 47% vice versa.
Further findings include:
- 82% state that they “prefer to buy products ethical / sustainable brands” while 70% express a preference for local brands.
- 74% shop at a website with brand names (e.g. Amazon, Lazada, Tmall) but Centennials also want to buy through social media / chat apps (46%).
- 56% preferred cash on delivery, while 48% paid via credit / debit card.
Seventy percent of all web traffic goes through mobile phones in India
This figure was given by Shabana Badami, head of search solutions for Google India, at the Mobile Marketing Association Forum India held in Mumbai, and reported by Warc.
Warc adds that “the average speed index score for websites in India is about 55% – significantly lower than the global standard of 80% – and marketers need to prioritise a seamless mobile web experience to retain India’s savvy consumers.”
Indian smartphone users to double by 2022
EY has forecast the number of smartphone users in India will more than double to by 2022, hitting 650 million, with monthly data usage set to rise by 500% to 18GB per month.
The report reveals that the average smartphone user in India spends four hours on their mobile every day.
EY predicts that by 2022, India’s digital economy will be valued at $1 trillion.
Half of Chinese consumers prefer to purchase physical goods using their smartphone
Fifty percent of Chinese respondents in a Forrester study say they prefer to use smartphones (presumably WePay or similar) to purchase physical goods. Mobile was also the most popular way to pay bills.
The report, The Metropolitan Chinese Consumer Tech Stack, is based on a survey of 110,460 online adults in 20 countries to see how people embrace technology and why they use it.
Unsurprisingly, metropolitan Chinese online consumers are found to be more advanced at interacting with brands via technology.
Indian shipments of connected home devices up 107%
IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Smart Home Device Tracker reveals Indian shipments of connected home devices, such as connected thermostats, smart TVs and security products, are up 107% year-on-year, to 1.4 million in Q2 2018.
The video entertainment category, including streaming sticks, grew 81% YoY. Xiaomi tripled its shipments in Q2 2018 and became the leading brand in this category. Amazon’s Firestick accounted for eight out of 10 streaming devices sold in the country.