JAKARTA, Indonesia, July 18, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Priceza Indonesia, as one of the pioneers in shopping search engine and price comparison platform in Indonesia, revealed interesting facts about the 5 most popular shopping categories in six Southeast Asian countries during the first 6 months of 2018.
The shift to online shopping has swept Southeast Asia in recent years. According to Bloomberg, internet shopping in Thailand increased by 100 percent in 2017.
Pioneering companies in the e-commerce industry have grown in this region, some of which have successfully won the title of "unicorn" - which means its valuations are already exceeding 1 billion USD, as achieved by Tokopedia and BukaLapak from Indonesia.
In response to these developments, Priceza released interesting information on the most searched product categories over the last 6 months (January - June 2018), by consumers from six Southeast Asian countries, namely Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam.
The most popular shopping category
The category of clothing and fashion is the most popular in Southeast Asia. This category topped the list in Indonesia (24.11%), Vietnam (22.65%), and Thailand (12.12%). This category is also consistently ranked in the top three listings in other countries such as Malaysia (10.95%), Philippines (15.28%) and Singapore (17.81%).
For the record, a fairly closely related product is the cosmetics category, also included in the top 5 ranks in three countries: Vietnam (11.82%), Philippines (5.53 %%), and Indonesia (5.04%).
Although not as dominant as the previous category, motor vehicles emerged at the top position in the Philippines (24.28 %%) and Malaysia (16.64%). Motor vehicles are also included as the top three in Indonesia (11.89%) and Thailand (11.27%) - but do not appear in the top 5 in Singapore and Vietnam.
According to Bayu Irawan, Co-Founder & Country Head of Priceza Indonesia, "It is reasonable for Singapore, which has been supported by good public transportation, but a little surprising for Vietnam because the country does not yet have a good public transport facility, and the population of the vehicle is actually quite large."
Another significant category is electronic product, which is on the number one search list in Singapore (18.71%). This category is also in the top 5 in other countries, except Malaysia.
In addition, computers can actually be considered as common category candidates. However, the percentage in only 3 countries, namely Singapore (13.94%), Philippines (5.76%), and Vietnam (4.37%) are not significant. Also with home furnishings (furniture), which rank in Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore.
Unique findings in each country
In addition to the most popular category in Southeast Asia, the data from Priceza shows there is a unique results in each country.
Indonesia and Thailand are the two countries in Southeast Asia whose search results involve categories of telephones and communication devices. The need for mobile phones is relatively high in these two countries. Surely this is a note to the related industries, ranging from mobile phone manufacturers, telecommunication service providers, to application developers.
Especially for Indonesia, the composition of top search number 1 (clothing and fashion) and 2 (telephone and communication devices) amounted to 47%. This can be interpreted, that about 1 in 2 Indonesian consumers who shop online, will most likely end up with mobile or fashion products.
Another uniqueness exists in Malaysia and Singapore that both show the sports category in the top 5 list. Other countries in Southeast Asia do not seem to put health as a top priority.The issue of health is becoming more visible to Malaysia, as it puts food category search in second place with a percentage of 12.46%.
Another interesting findings can be seen from the search results in Vietnam. The country shows the mother & child category, ranked at number 4 on the top 5 list.
Developments for the next 6 months
In general, the most popular categories in Southeast Asia are clothing & fashion, motor vehicles, electronics, and cosmetics. In addition, each country has its own uniqueness related to favorite product category preference.
So will the search results remain like this or will it change in the future? Answering this question, Bayu said, "it is rather difficult, because there are many factors involved there. But it seems the answer is "not the same and changeable". The reason behind this is because even at Priceza, the inter-quarter comparison can found different results".
In conclusion, it is not impossible with the growing populations of online shoppers in Southeast Asia, the list can shift based on the favorite product preference in each countries.
About Priceza
Priceza is a shopping search engine and price comparison platform established in 2010 (in Thailand). Priceza Indonesia was established in 2013 with a total of nearly 5 million users per month.
In addition to Thailand and Indonesia, Priceza also operates in 4 (four) other Southeast Asian countries, namely Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and Vietnam. Priceza helps millions of online shoppers access information to make smart shopping decisions, and connect thousands of online stores with their buyers.
Website: www.priceza.co.id
Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20180718/2189979-1
