Hong Kong and China consumers spent more per online transaction than the global average order value in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to a new online shopping trend report.
Coremetrics, the US-based provider of online marketing and business optimisation solutions, yesterday released the Coremetrics Benchmark Report on online shopping trends in Hong Kong and China.
US$200 per order
"Both Hong Kong and China buyers spent more on average than the global average order value. We even saw a slight increase in the average order value for Hong Kong buyers," said Tony Tsang, general manager of Coremetrics, Greater China.
The key findings of the report are:
• Hong Kong buyers' average order value for the fourth quarter of 2008 was US$198.66, 144 per cent higher than the global average order value.
• Order per 100 online sessions for China customers decreased slightly during the fourth quarter of 2008, while average order value dropped by 30 per cent to US$152.34 since its March to August 2008 report.
• Average Web session length for Hong Kong and China buyers shortened briefly by 11 per cent and 16 per cent respectively compared with the March to August 2008 report.
China hit harder than Hong Kong
Tsang said: "This suggests the 'tsunami' impact on consumer spending has not yet been reflected in the fourth quarter of 2008. However, the picture was rather different for China online shoppers. We saw a slight drop in orders per session, plus quite a significant drop in the average order value between October and December 2008 after the financial tsunami hit, indicating the impact on consumer spending was more significant in China."
Tsang said Hong Kong and China shoppers spent more time than the global average on a retail Web session in the fourth quarter of 2008, but there was a drop compared with the numbers from the previous Coremetrics Benchmark report from March to August 2008.
This information further confirms that Hong Kong and China shoppers are focused buyers, but may not necessarily do a lot of "shopping around" during a retail Web session.
Page view per session for Hong Kong buyers were in line with the global average, even increased slightly when compared to the preceding report from March to August 2008.
This suggests that Hong Kong buyers were more efficient in utilising their time in the way that they used less time to go through the same number of pages or steps on the site. As for China visitors, there was a further drop in page views per session.
More online shopping
On a global basis, the online retail sector in general continued to give mixed signals in December 2008, showing both strengths and weaknesses, over the holiday retail shopping season.
The online retail sector did well in December 2008 with the percentage of completed purchases up by 23 per cent compared to November 2008 but down by 2.4 per cent compared to December 2007. However, the average number of items per order and average order value fell by 19 per cent and 11 per cent respectively, compared to November 2008.
This means that while more online shopping transactions were completed in December last year than in November, the average amount of money spent was down.
Successful retail categories
The retail categories that were most successful at converting online visitors into actual buyers were apparel, department stores, home, jewelry and sports apparel. Compared to November:
• Both the apparel sector and department stores saw a 33 per cent jump in the number of online sessions in which people completed an order.
• Home goods retailers saw a 46 per cent rise in the number of online sessions in which people completed an order.
• Jewellery stores reported a 32 per cent increase in the number of online sessions in which people completed an order.
• Sports apparel and gear reported by far the biggest jump, with a 66 per
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