SEA Asia Online Shopping Trends Heavily Influenced by Mobile

E-commerce shopping behaviors are heavily influenced by desktop and mobile applications. Online shopping behaviors in the last 5 years have shifted from desktop usage to mobile, particularly in the Southeast Asia (SEA). In SEA, led by Indonesia, mobile shopping volume accounts for almost twice that of desktop, a massive jump in 2021/2022 if compared to the period between 2016 and 2017.

According to the latest iPrice report, SEA has witnessed a strong growth in e-commerce. As per the “State of Online Shoppers 2021/22”, mobile online shopping habits have changed, largely due to the ease of product search, better offers, and ease of payments at checkout. In fact, according to iPrice, 5% of the mobile users completed their online transactions compared to only 3% of the desktop users.

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The depth of Internet penetration, accompanied by the rise of mobile-optimized websites and greater marketing focus on mobile-only users are seen as powerful factors leading to this shift in online behavior towards mobile shopping.

Here are the key findings that every e-commerce marketing team should know.

• Exclusive e-wallet partnerships are available for ‘mobile-only’ users. Exclusive marketing campaigns run for mobile-only users to drive more engagement and generate more sales through use of mobile wallets for e-commerce platforms
• Very small percentage of desktop users prefer to use the platform, which is largely attributed to lack of proper mobile UI UX or poorly developed mobile optimized e-commerce sites
• In countries like Vietnam, users prefer to browse through mobile apps, but end up purchasing the products from a desktop
• Countries like Indonesia generates more traffic from mobile-only destinations as citizens understand the importance of hyper-connected online shopping communities
• Online shoppers largely use mobile sites for their purchases while commuting as part of ‘casual browsing’ and then switch to desktops for more serious research at work. Tablet shopping is more prevalent during the evening hours

As mobile commerce and marketing strategies continue to evolve, brands have a great chance to close the bridge between desktop and mobile purchases through innovative applications such as use of AI, Machine Learning, wearables and experiential marketing tools like AR VR and mixed reality.

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