The survey shows that 55 per cent of women polled in Asia preferred shopping to simply resting (51 per cent) or spending time with their partner (33 per cent), while women in the rest of the world put spending time with their partner as top priority (40 per cent), and shopping after resting and relaxing (36 per cent versus 38 per cent).
Asian women shoppers, along with those in the rest of the world, are also found to be more loyal to beauty product brands (67 per cent) than fashion brands (40 per cent).
Asian women are also less open to accepting fashion brands (35 per cent) compared to others in the rest of the world (49 per cent).
This contrasted with the result that shows that women in Asia generally put more emphasis on fashion (83 per cent) than skincare (82 per cent), except in Singapore, where women feel that skincare is more important than fashion (88 per cent vs 86 per cent).
A high percentage of respondents worldwide agreed that advertising helps them make decisions on purchases (84 per cent in Asia and 70 per cent worldwide), but fewer of them feel they can trust advertising brands (55 per cent in Asia and 44 per cent in the world).
The survey also shows that women are putting more emphasis on their own life (46 per cent in Asia) than relationships (15 per cent), job (27 per cent) and children (13 per cent). More Singaporean women see themselves as independent than the rest of the world, scoring 51 per cent compared to the Asia average of 35 per cent and the worldwide average of 33 per cent.
The survey was conducted in Elle's February issue by Hachette Filipacchi.
In Asia, the poll was carried out in China, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Japan, South Korea and India. Of those polled, 70 per cent were aged between 20 to 35, the majority educated, and either married or living as a couple.
