India witnesses highest increase in online shopping in Asia Pacific

New Delhi: Asia Pacific saw the largest year-over-year incremental cross-border purchases with India, China and South Korea contributing most, a report said on Tuesday.

Pitney Bowes, global technology company, released the 2017 Pitney Bowes Global Ecommerce Study – analysing the global ecommerce landscape from both a retailer and consumer perspective.

The study is based on survey results of 1,200 retailers from eight countries including India and 12,000 consumers from 12 global markets.

Indians are purchasing cross-border with greatest frequency with 1 out of 5 purchasing daily / weekly. India is the only country that has interest in quick delivery for a cost, and are split across free longer delivery and quicker shorter deliveries for a fee, the report said.

The study said that nearly half (47%) of online shoppers globally reported frustration with everything from shipping, to returns, to lost products and miscalculated duties and taxes during the 2016 holiday shopping season. Shoppers in Asia Pacific – particularly India (73%), Hong Kong (69%) China (64%) and South Korea (58%) – reported the most challenges. In the US, 36% of online shoppers experienced problems, up 5% from the previous year.

The report further said that online shoppers in India increasingly prefer online marketplaces over retailer websites. 67 percent of online shoppers turn to marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, Flipkart, Rakuten, Tmall and JD.com to search for products. This trend is most prevalent in Germany, India and China, the report added.

“As consumers become more experienced with online shopping, they’re shifting more of their holiday spend online and expecting better and better service from retailers, said Lila Snyder, President, Global Ecommerce and Presort Services, Pitney Bowes.

“Online shoppers have an entire global marketplace at their fingertips. They expect that there is always a way to get the product they want, shipped where they want, when they want it. This creates both opportunities and challenges for retailers,”  she added.

The study noted that 62 percent of retailers have a cross-border ecommerce business and the vast majority of retailers who don’t offer cross-border, plan to in the next 12 months. If these retailers execute against their stated business plans, 93 percent will offer cross-border shopping by this time next year – that equates to a 50 percent increase in cross-border retailers in just one year, it said.

The survey also found that 41 percent consumers chose e-wallets and 39 percent chose credit cards – the exact inverse of the results from the previous year –when making a purchase outside of their home country. India is the only country equally uses credit cards, E- wallets, and debit cards/ bank transfers, it said.