More Thais To Shop Online, Consumer Survey Reveals

The study on Consumer Liberalisation was conฌducted by media agency Initiative.

According to the survey, 31 per cent of Internet users in the AsiaPacific region bought products from onlineonly stores, about 30 per cent bought from shopping portal sites and 19 per cent bought from retailers that had both off and online shops.

Khanokkhan Prajongsangsri, associate director of Initiative, said online shopping had become part of modern life.

In Thailand, about 48 per cent of the consumers spent at least 6 per cent of their monthly shopping budget on an Internet purchase, while in Vietnam the number is 65 per cent. In South Korea and China, the ratio of consumers spending at least 6 per cent of their monthly shopping budget on a Web purchase stands at 81 and 75 per cent respectively.

According to the study, the main online shoppers are young people, while grocery items rank the highest in online purchases followed by music/DVDs, clothing, travelrelated products and services, computer hardware, books, entertainment services and collectibles. "Friendsourcing has a significant influence over online shoppers' decisions because they likely to share negative experiences online," Khanokkhan said. She added that in the next decade, more people would do their grocery shopping online and by 2015, most of this shopping would be done via smart phones.