Online shoppers remain cautious as holiday season approaches

Respondents in Australia (US$907) and Singapore (US$840) have the deepest pockets, while budgets are smaller in Japan (US$282) and Korea (US$262) where Christmas is not as widely celebrated.

The study surveyed over 4,000 online shoppers from Australia, mainland China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand on their intended purchasing attitudes and behaviour from November-December. Respondents were adults aged 18-55 years old who have purchased something online in the past six months and intend to purchase items online in preparation for the 2011 year-end holiday season. Fieldwork was conducted by The Nielsen Company on behalf of Visa from October 21 to 30 2011.

Online shoppers from Australia, China and Indonesia said they would be spending between US$50 to US$79 more, mostly to cope with the rising cost of products. The exception was China where respondents said it was because they wanted to buy more expensive items.

On the other hand, shoppers from Malaysia and Singapore have decided to tighten their belts and will be spending about nine per cent less this year — mostly to save for other priorities like vacations and education, said Paul Jung, head of the eCommerce division for Visa across Asia-Pacific, Central Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Although consumers are divided on the economic outlook for 2012, bargain hunting was a priority with most of them with 50 per cent of those spending more onlione saying it was because they wanted to take advantage of the discounts and bargains offered by online merchants.

While the majority said they’d shop from home (91 per cent), more than three in 10 said they’d shop at work while a few prefer to multi-task and shop while watching the television (14 per cent).

Clothing was the most popular intended online purchase at 34 per cent, followed by holiday accommodations (30 per cent), airline tickets (29 per cent) and bags (19 per cent).

Who are they spending on? Their significant others, mums and themselves for the most part. Two in 10 respondents said they would be spending on their spouses, 15 per cent named their mothers – with Thais and Koreans the most devoted to their moms. A quarter of Australians and Singaporeans said they would be spending the most on themselves.

On average this most costly gift will be around US$400 and will likely be clothing, a watch, a holiday or an electronic device.

For the less lucky, they may find themselves with a ‘re-gifted’ present. Over half of the survey respondents said they would re-gift a Christmas present they disliked, a third said they would keep the unwanted gift while seven per cent would sell the item.