Asia Online Shopping Trends Survey | transcosmos

transcosmos inc. (Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan; President & COO: Masataka Okuda) conducted its proprietary “Online Shopping Trends Survey in 10 Asian Cities 2021” in order to gauge the current trends and changes in consumer online shopping behavior across major Asian cities. In addition to identifying the changes in shopping behavior over the past four years, this year transcosmos also analyzed the Covid-19 induced changes in shopping behavior. Also, for this fourth survey, transcosmos featured consumer perception and usage of live streaming commerce, a new marketing channel to push sales that is gaining popularity. The study found both what pleases and discourages consumers in using the new channel.

▼ Visit transcosmos research department’s official blog for detailed survey results (No translation available).
URL：https://blog.trans-cosmos.co.jp/research/20210315_onlineshopping-survey.html

Key findings

Live streaming commerce – consumer perception and usage

• More than half of respondents said they have shopped using live streaming commerce in Hanoi (62.5%), Bangkok (60.6%), and Mumbai (52.5%). On the contrary, Tokyo remained as low as 5.9%, showing a significant gap with other Asian cities.
• When it comes to how they feel about live streaming commerce, “You can get explanations that are difficult to understand with just images and text” (65.2%), “When shopping, you can immediately look up questions and concerns” (57.3%) and “Demonstrations are given on how to use the products” (50.9%) received high average scores of 10 cities, showing that consumers appreciate the features that only live streaming commerce can offer. For consumers in Shanghai and Mumbai, one of the appeals of live streaming commerce is that they can enjoy connecting and supporting their favorite celebrities and distributors.
• “The timing of the online streams often does not suit me” (41.4%) received the highest average score of 10 cities as a reason for not using live streaming commerce. At the same time, “I want to think carefully when shopping,” and “I hate it because it's like TV shopping” and other reasons related to consumers’ preferred shopping methods also ranked high.

Covid-19 induced changes in purchase behavior

• “I am shopping at physical shops less frequently” (56.5%), “I now spend more time and money on online shopping” (49.8%), and “I eat at home more while preparing my own meals and using online delivery services” (41.7%) scored high in the average of 10 cities. This clearly reflects the shift to shopping online from physical stores as consumers spend more time at home.
• A huge increase in online shopping frequency shown in each city, one of the indexes we measure every year, regardless of the scale of Covid-19 infection and the severity of social restrictions also backs up the trend.
• “Daily necessities / toiletries” increased the most among online shopping categories for all the cities showing an average score of 50.4%, while “Food delivery” scored the highest in Kuala Lumpur, Hanoi, Manila and Bangkok.

< Chart 1. Consumer perception/experience of live commerce > Figures show %

< Chart 2. How consumers feel about live streaming commerce> Top 3 answers, figures show %

	Average of 10 cities	Cities with particularly high score
1. You can get explanations that are difficult to understand with just images and text	65.2%	Mumbai (72.6%), Bangkok (72.2%)
2. When shopping, you can immediately look up questions and concerns	57.3%	Mumbai (67.3%), Manila (66.3%)
3. Demonstrations are given on how to use the products	50.9%	Hanoi (68.0%), Manila (62.7%)

<Chart 3. Reasons for not shopping with live commerce despite knowing the channel> Top 3 answers, figures show %

	Average of 10 cities	Cities with particularly high score
1. The timing of the online streams often does not suit me	41.4%	Jakarta (58.0%), Bangkok (50.0%)
2. I want to think carefully when shopping	30.3%	Manila (39.6%), Hanoi (37.0%)
3. I hate it because it's like TV shopping	23.9%	Shanghai (48.7%), Taipei (40.2%)

<Chart 4. Covid-19 induced changes in shopping behavior> Figures show %

“Given consumers’ increasing reliance on online shopping under the coronavirus crisis, our study clearly shows that live streaming commerce has taken hold as a new sales method, and many consumers are actively shopping with it,” commented Masashi Hagiwara, an analyst in Global Business Headquarters at transcosmos. “Although live streaming commerce is yet to become familiar in Japan, businesses must work on the new channel to build essential expertise for them to operate e-commerce business in Asia.”

transcosmos executes comprehensive initiatives that include e-commerce operations, marketing campaigns and customer support services with a focus on CX across Asia in order to help clients operate e-commerce businesses overseas. transcosmos continues to deliver localized e-commerce support services that fit with the business practices and consumer behavior of each individual country.

“Global E-Commerce Handbook 2020” A practical guide to global e-commerce market (publisher: Impress Corporation) (No translation available)

transcosmos has issued “Global E-Commerce Handbook 2020.” The book covers 30 major countries/regions across Asia Pacific, North America, Latin America, Europe, and Middle East and Africa, showing market overview, trends in consumers and leading businesses, and the latest topics including regulations. Contents include each country’s e-commerce market size, detailed e-commerce market data, cross-border e-commerce market size, trends in e-commerce users, e-commerce market ranking, e-commerce market comparison chart, and more. The book is available on impress books, Amazon, etc.

Impress books (No translation available):

https://book.impress.co.jp/books/1120170120

Amazon POD (No translation available):

https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/4295010766/

Related Services

• Global E-Commerce One-Stop
• Analytics
• Global

* transcosmos is a trademark or registered trademark of transcosmos inc. In Japan and other countries.
* Other company names and product or services names used here are trademarks or registered trademarks of respective companies.

About transcosmos inc.

transcosmos launched its operations in 1966. Since then, we have combined superior “people” with up-to-date “technology” to enhance the competitive strength of our clients by providing them with superior and valuable services. transcosmos currently offers services that support clients’ business processes focusing on both sales expansion and cost optimization through our 169 bases across 30 countries/regions with a focus on Asia, while continuously pursuing Operational Excellence. Furthermore, following the expansion of e-commerce market on the global scale, transcosmos provides a comprehensive One-Stop Global E-Commerce services to deliver our clients’ excellent products and services in 48 countries/regions around the globe. transcosmos aims to be the “Global Digital Transformation Partner” of our clients, supporting the clients’ transformation by leveraging digital technology, responding to the ever-changing business environment.