With online shopping becoming mainstream, 67 per cent of Asia Pacific consumers cite quality of products and services as their top concern when it comes to making purchases online, according to Visa’s 2015 Regional eCommerce Monitor Survey. In contrast, 57 per cent of Asia Pacific respondents in the Survey report payment security as their primary concern.
From groceries to concert tickets and bill payments, the survey also found that online shoppers are buying from a range of different categories of products and services. Some 36 per cent of Asia Pacific respondents say they made purchases from between five and nine categories a year and 16 per cent report buying from 10 or more categories a year.
“eCommerce is increasingly the ‘new normal’ in Asia Pacific , as consumers in the region take to online shopping because of the variety of goods and services available, competitive pricing and because improvements in customer service and delivery options make the whole process much easier,” Visa’s Regional Director for eCommerce, Conor Lynch said.
“As familiarity with eCommerce grows in the region, we are seeing payment security concerns diminish, especially as payment security innovations and protections continue to evolve to meet consumer needs. In a sense, the more people shop online, the more comfortable they are, leading to more online shopping.”
Where people most concerned about quality?
According to the survey, consumers from markets that have higher rates of eCommerce engagement are more concerned about product and service quality than they are about security when making online purchases.
Almost twice as many consumers from Japan (1.7 times) are more concerned over quality than security, followed by New Zealand (1.4 times) and South Korea (1.4 times). These are the countries where online shopping is at its most developed in Asia-Pacific.
By contrast, respondents from Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia reported relatively equal concern for both quality and security.
Lynch said, “Visa is committed to delivering eCommerce and digital payment solutions to consumers that provide convenience without compromising on security.”
“Tokenisation, for example, is an enhanced security feature for digital payments that helps protect against the theft of card details during online transactions. Visa solutions like tokenisation are being adopted by merchants across the region and are a major step toward enhanced payment security for Asia Pacific consumers.”
Tokenisation replaces cardholder information, such as account numbers and expiration dates, with a unique series of numbers (a “token”) that can be used for payment without exposing a cardholder’s more sensitive account information.
Tokenisation hides consumers’ confidential account information during digital transactions, making digital payments more secure for everyone, everywhere.
