China leads the ecommerce market in APAC, Rakuten report finds

Most of the shopping online in APAC, takes place on mobile, averaging 21% usage across the region driven primarily by China (32%) and India (29%).

Meanwhile, high shipping costs hold consumers back from online shopping in most APAC countries - particularly Japan (62%), New Zealand (50%), Malaysia (57%) and Singapore (57%).

The travel sector leads the way as the majority of people in Australia, Singapore, New Zealand and Hong Kong spend on it. While the ecommerce purchase in South Korea, China and Japan is primarily on groceries and Malaysians spend the most on beauty and Indians on electronics.

However, in China, family and friend recommendations scored the highest (68%) and search was, in fact, the least popular method of discovery. Meanwhile, Malaysia was found to be the number one country in APAC to engage in influencer marketing (21%) and social media (65%) for discovery.

Consumers after getting connected with a brand, engaged with them via Facebook in Australia (28.5%), Singapore (33%), Malaysia (61%) and India (56%) whereas email reigned in Japan (26%) and New Zealand (35%). Local apps such as WeChat, Weibo and Kakao Talk were found to be the most popular way of interacting with brands in China, Hong Kong and Korea.