Consumers in Asia Pacific are embracing new mobile technologies with one in five (19.5%) now using digital wallets, according to MasterCard.
This represents a two-fold increase from just two years ago where adoption stood at 9.7%, a new mobile shopping survey by the company indicates.
The study took place between October and December 2015 and involved 8,500 people aged 18-64 across 14 markets in the Asia Pacific.
And while mobile banking apps (31.8%) are still the most widely used among other new mobile technologies such as in-app shopping and mobile NFC payments, digital wallets have seen the fastest uptake over the last two years.
Emerging markets were found to be leading the way with smartphone users in China (45.0%), India (36.7%) and Singapore (23.3%) as the region’s biggest adopters of digital wallets. Overall, the study says that half in the Asia Pacific have made a purchase from their smartphone in the span of a three-month period last year.
Below are some additional statistics provided by MasterCard:
- Close to half of respondents (48.5%) across the region have made a purchase using their smartphone in the past three months, led by those in India (76.4%), China (76.1%), South Korea (62.0%) and Thailand (61.1%).
- India tops the region in growth rates, with the number of people shopping on smartphones rising by 29.3% from two years ago. This is followed by Vietnam (17.7%) and Singapore (17.1%).
- Australians (23.7%) and New Zealanders (16.2%) are the least likely to shop online via their mobile phones.
- Close to half of consumers in China (46.4%), India (42.5%) and Korea (42.1%) shop for clothing and accessories on their smartphone.
Clothing and accessories are the most popular mobile shopping purchases here at 35%, while personal care and beauty products (20.9%) and movie tickets (20.4%) coming closely behind.
It should hence be no surprise that more than half of the respondents across Asia-Pacific (53.9%) cited convenience as the key driver for shopping on their smartphone, according to the study.
According to the study, other motivating factors include the ability to shop on the go (42.9%), and the growing availability of apps that make it easy to shop online (41.4%).