Thailand tops online shoppers in Asia-Pacific

BANGKOK, April 1 (TNA) - A recent survey by US-based Master Card showed that China and Thailand were top online shoppers via mobile phones, compared with other economies in Asia and the Pacific. The Master Card's latest survey for online shopping found that more than 50 per cent of Chinese and Thai shoppers, or 59.4 per cent and 51.2 per cent respectively, had opted to shop online through their mobile devices. Pierre Berret, Head of Master Card's Counseling Team for Asia and the Pacific, said that the survey represents consumers' tendency and behaviours toward online shopping through 25 markets in the region from November-December 2013, during which 7,010 respondents from 14 markets were inquired about their online shopping behaviours. Two-thirds of the Asian-Pacific respondents revealed that they usually shopped online, with 100 per cent of the Chinese respondents indicating that they had shopped online, at least once, over the past three months, followed by 97 per cent of those in South Korea and 90 per cent of those in Australia. As for Thai online shoppers, 59.8 per cent cited convenience in shopping online as their main reason, followed by attractively-increasing online shopping applications at 51 per cent. Surprisingly, 61.4 per cent of Thai respondents acknowledged that they more adored online shopping than store shopping, while 40.1 per cent of them adored online shopping through their tablet devices. (TNA)