More Asia-Pacific shoppers turn to online shopping: Visa survey

SINGAPORE, Oct.29 -- More Asia-Pacific shoppers have taken to shopping online, according to results released on Thursday by the Visa e-Commerce Consumer Monitor.

When asked how much they had spent shopping online in the past 12 months, respondents in the March 2009 Monitor reported an average spend of 3,743 U.S. dollars, an increase over the past three Monitor periods.

The Visa e-Commerce Consumer Monitor tracks quarterly online spending trends of internet consumers in six key countries and regions in Asia-Pacific.

In addition, more internet users (87 percent) made online purchases in the March 2009 quarter than in the preceding quarter (72 percent).

South Korea, Japan, Australia and China are the top online spenders with respondents from South Korea (96 percent) being the most likely to have bought products and services from the internet in the past 12 months, followed by Japan (94 percent), Australia and China (89 percent respectively).

From January to March 2009, 2,380 online interviews were conducted on behalf of Visa with internet users, namely those who access the internet at least once a week.

These respondents were aged 18 to 49 years from six countries and territories including China, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Australia and India.