India and China have witnessed the strongest increase in online shopping over the last six months thanks to the growing middle classes and increasing Internet penetration in the two countries.
According to a Visa eCommerce Consumer Monitor survey, online shopping continues to be popular among Internet users in Asia Pacific, and in terms of quarter-on-quarter growth, India and China have registered the strongest increase in online shopping over the last six months.
"With the rise of the middle classes in China and India and the increase in Internet penetration, it is not surprising that more people from these two emerging markets are going online and exploring the benefits from all that eCommerce offers," Visa Asia Pacific eCommerce regional head Mohamad Hafidz said.
In the Asia Pacific region, close to nine in ten (89 per cent) people surveyed said that they had shopped online in the past 12 months. South Korea reported the most number of online shoppers (97 per cent), followed by China and Japan (94 per cent).
In case of Australia, as many as 89 per cent of respondents said they shopped online. The survey further said that the most popular items to buy online in the past 12 months were clothes/shoes (55 per cent), books (50 per cent) and music downloads (49 per cent).
