Asia's affluent show no let-up in spending: PAX

The annual survey of Asia's affluent consumers showed that across the region people were continuing to spend and had even increased outlay on consumer goods and services during the downturn. 

When the economy showed signs of decline in 2008, 74 per cent of PAX respondents across Asia-Pacific said they were willing to pay extra for quality products, compared with 68 per cent in 2007. Trust in products seen in advertisements increased 11 per cent. Additionally, 41 per cent of respondents regionally considered buying new brands, compared to 36 per cent in 2007. Steve Garton (pictured), Synovate's executive director of media, claimed that people were currently looking for “quality reassurance” and as a result were particularly “vulnerable” to advertising.

Garton suggested that to invest more wisely during the recession, marketers should reconsider their focus and shift their budget to target these consumers.

Compared to last year's second quarter, there was a general increase in the purchase of high-end consumer products, such as LCD or plasma television (up four per cent), laptops or computer notebooks (up eight per cent), digital cameras (up five per cent) designer clothes and luxury accessories (up four per cent). The survey found that elite consumers who use the internet regularly tend to own more such products across the region.

“It is obvious that affluent consumers do not want to give up their quality of life. The highest increase of designer clothes and leather goods ownership can be seen in Singapore, from 4.8 per cent ownership last year to 11.3 per cent this year,” said Clare Lui, research director of Synovate Hong Kong.
 
The survey also measured the media consumption habits of the affluent segment. The PAX audience spend over nine hours per day on media, excluding email. Thirty-seven per cent of 'print' reading is now conducted online, and seven per cent of respondents claimed to watch TV via mobile devices.

Seventy per cent of the PAX audience are social network users. Facebook is by far the biggest network, with 2.4 million PAX users per month. It is followed by Windows Live Spaces (1.7 million) and hi5 (one million).

The role of the mobile phone is increasing/ The survey also found that 27 per cent of online time is now spent on smartphones or mobile phones.

In a set of data specifically covering Hong Kong, the survey found that 28 per cent of the SAR's PAX audience own luxury jewellery worth US$1000 and or more, making it the top regional city in terms of jewellery ownership.

The Synovate survey covers eleven cities in Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan and Australia. It focuses on C-suite executives, business decision-makers and affluent adults (around 20 per cent of the adult population across Asia-Pacific). Australia and Japan hold the highest number of affluent consumers, while India and Jakarta have the fewest.