Are you interested in learning more about the online shopping preferences of people across APAC? In the last few years, especially influenced by the covid-19 pandemic, the e-commerce industry has experienced a large increase in the region. In a study made by Google and Reprise they found 3 main factors that are influencing the purchase decisions of consumers in Asia Pacific.
Online Ads have a stronger influence than we think.
According to this study, online ads are more effective than personal recommendations for discovering new products because the advertisements raise brand awareness and brand recall. They are especially effective across product categories such as health, beauty, consumer electronics, and home appliances since these products are more aspirational.
Recommendations from friends, families are the second way to discover new products, while finding them in a marketplace is the third.
If we look at the graphic below, we can see that 54% of people found new items through advertisements across the website, and so, we can assure that awareness campaigns play an important role in pushing consumers in their decision-making process.
How people discover new products
Once they start researching a product they have just discovered, they turn to search engines, online marketplaces, and official websites to seek detailed information.
Reviews on your official website are taken seriously
Positive product reviews and high ratings act as strong purchase triggers for consumers. However, contrary to what many people think, marketplace reviews are not necessarily perceived as more objective than reviews on the brand website. They are both equally important since they give potential shoppers the assurance they are looking for.
For brands, building their own review section on their websites can consolidate these comments in one place that would otherwise be scattered across marketplaces. Also, a strong review community helps build trust, giving shoppers the confidence to click the “buy” button.
What causes people to click “buy”
The disadvantages of online shopping are still quite present in consumers' minds.
Although shoppers can see the benefits of online shopping (especially after the pandemic) such as the time saving and better pricing, they also see two big disadvantages to the process: long delivery times (55%) and shipping fees (57%).
Consumers believe that finding good deals online is great but the shipping fees often make purchases feel expensive while long shipping times can make the experience inconvenient. That is why brands need to work on smoothing the friction points in the online shopping journey.
There are nuances on how consumers value cost and shipping time on their decision-making process and it is heavily affected by the product category. For instance, shoppers have a higher threshold for shipping fees on necessities such as food deliveries and pet food as well as health and beauty products. On the other side, they have a lower threshold for products that aid everyday convenience, such as electronic and kitchen appliances.
The trade-off between time and money in online shopping
Source: Think With Google.
