Digital Consumer in Asia 2020 Report
Rakuten Insight are happy to team up again with retail innovation and technology company Tofugear to present the 2020 Edition of the report on online shopping and the Asian Consumer.
Mcommerce continues to thrive in Asia with consumers preferring to shop online using their mobile, rather than desktops or laptops. However, perhaps this is not so surprising as a fifth of consumers spend eight hours or more per day on their phones.
The opportunity for retail brands in APAC is still significant, but as this report highlights, just having a mobile presence is not enough. Consumers are increasingly expecting retail apps that have fully integrated incentives and loyalty programmes for that enhanced shopping experience.
Rakuten Insight, as Tofugear’s research partner in this report, provided 6,000 respondents across 12 Asian markets from our industry-leading research panels to try to answer some of the burning questions that retailers and brands may have.
This report helps understand the shopping behaviours and preferences of consumers across Asia in great detail. It shows how retailers must take concerns about sustainability extremely seriously. Despite some differences in the level of support for sustainable consumption across Asia, almost two-thirds of all consumers stated that they consider the sustainability credentials of a retailer or brand when making a purchasing decision.
The report also details that shopping formats that support the circular economy, such as second-hand shops, are becoming more popular, particularly among younger consumers. Given that Rakuten Insight is part of the Rakuten group, we have know this to be the case for many years in Japan, where branded items often retain much of their value when being resold.
It must be said, we are living in very challenging times with much uncertainty about the future. Hong Kong was rocked by many months of protests that severely impacted many industries, especially retail. As if that was not enough, fresh on the heels of the protests we now have the global coronavirus epidemic.
When we partnered with Tofugear on the 2018 edition of this report, we identified a clear case for a brick-and-mortar retail experience as part of an omnichannel strategy. With the experience of the last nine months, is the future for bricks and mortar now less certain? What we can say for certain is that it has never been more critical for retailers and brands to know what their customers are thinking. Reading this report is a good place to start.
Find out more and download the report from our partners at Tofugear