China is the biggest online spender in APAC: PayPal report

According to the report, the US is the top online shopping destination for APAC consumers, followed by China, the UK and Japan

 

PayPal, in collaboration with global research company Ipsos, has released its second annual global report detailing online consumer trends in the Asia Pacific region.
Overall, consumers in Australia, China, India, Japan, Singapore and South Korea spent an estimated total of US$594 billion on online shopping in 2015, the report said. It also said that by 2017, India is expected to experience the fastest growth in e-commerce spending, at 53 per cent, followed by China (28 per cent) and Singapore (16 per cent).
It also saw a sharp increase in APAC participation in cross border e-commerce transactions. Singapore has the most online shoppers per capita, with 69 per cent of online shoppers making purchases domestically and overseas.

Unsurprisingly, China, with its increasingly affluent population, is also seeing a strong growth in cross-border transactions, with an increase of 9 per cent from 2014 to 2015. It also came in second in overall online spending in APAC.
The US emerged as the top online shopping destinations for APAC, with 68 per cent of respondents saying that they prefer to buy from leading e-commerce giant Amazon. However, China, the home ground of e-commerce giants Alibaba and Taobao, is also a popular choice, followed by the UK and Japan.

Fashion is hottest category

According to the report, 53 per cent of cross-border shoppers in APAC in 2015 purchased fashion items such as clothing, accessories and footwear.
Consumers are also increasingly using e-commerce sites to fulfill basic needs, with groceries emerging as one of the top growth categories for online shopping in APAC.

In Singapore, online shopping in the groceries industry is expected to grow by 21 per cent in 2016. Children’s supplies and household goods will follow closely with expected growth rates of 17 per cent and 16 per cent respectively in Singapore.