SINGAPORE, Dec. 7, 2010 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- With the year-end shopping season upon us, more Asians are choosing to buy online to avoid the crowds, long queues and parking troubles at shopping malls, while benefiting from holiday promotions on a wider variety of items that can be found online. PayPal saw an approximately 160 percent increase in online shopping transaction value from Asian consumers on November 7th, highlighting that the holiday shopping period across the region began in early November. This is also the first year-end holiday season for Asian consumers to be covered by PayPal's expanded Buyer Protection policy.
According to the Asia Digital Marketing Association (ADMA) 2010 Report, the top three reasons for online shopping across the region include the convenience of being able to shop anytime, better deals from price comparisons, and the ability to find and compare a wide range of products. ADMA also reported that 39% of online shoppers across the region indicated that they buy from overseas websites, highlighting the importance of cross-border shopping.
"Stronger Asian currencies, the increasing number of Asian online retailers and growing confidence for cross-border shopping have created a perfect combination for millions of smart, savvy Asian consumers to buy online for greater convenience and better deals this holiday season," said Nimish Dwivedi, Regional Head of Marketing, PayPal Asia Pacific.
To further sweeten the online shopping deals for Asian consumers this holiday season, PayPal and over 80 merchants across the region -- from Australia, mainland China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand -- are offering exclusive promotions and rewards on thousands of products at PayPal Plaza (http://www.paypal-plaza.com).
Special holiday offers at PayPal Plaza include:
Hot holiday items that Asians have already looked for on PayPal Plaza include electronic gadgets and accessories, such as gaming headsets, touchscreen mobile phones, iPad cases; fashion items like ladies' watches, pendants and skincare products; and gifts like books, bottle openers and even bicycle tires.
In addition, Asian consumers who use PayPal to buy items from over 8 million online merchants worldwide are now protected for eligible purchases if they don't receive an item they have purchased, or if they receive an eligible item that is significantly different than described by the online retailer. For more info about PayPal's Buyer Protection policy, please visit https://www.paypal-apac.com/buyerprotection/security-centre.html.
Dwivedi continued, "We're excited to bring even more holiday cheer to Asian consumers through deep discounts and free shipping on thousands of products from around the region as well as peace of mind with our Buyer Protection when they shop with local online retailers to overseas websites."
Celebrating the holiday season, PayPal Plaza now boasts a new festive theme along with Asian merchants grouped into 14 categories and by 6 countries. The site also has useful features to simplify the holiday shopping experience such as a gift finder, personalized wishlists and the Top 50 items list. New fun features include clicking on a "heart" for a gift you like in order to rank it higher in the Top 50 items list and sharing your wishlist with friends and family on multiple social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.
About PayPal
PayPal is the faster, safer way to pay and get paid online. The service allows members to send payments without sharing financial information, with the flexibility to pay using their account balances, credit cards, and bank accounts where available in various markets. PayPal is an eBay company and enables global e-commerce with more than 90 million active accounts in 190 markets and 24 currencies around the world. PayPal's open payment platform, PayPal X, allows developers to build innovative payment applications on multiple platforms and devices. More information about PayPal can be found at https://www.paypal.com.
PayPal is headquartered in San Jose, California and its international headquarters is located in Singapore.
* Subject to participating merchant terms and conditions. The free shipping promotion is provided by the participating merchants and their preferred shipping partner, not by PayPal.
** Terms and conditions from PayPal apply.
Media Contacts:
Dickson Seow
PayPal Asia Pacific
+65-6510-6463
dseow@paypal.com
Jeremy Seow / Jolin Tan
Text 100 Public Relations (for PayPal)
+65-6603-9000
paypalteam@text100.com
