Online search habits and trends – a peek into what Asia-Pacific consumers are passionate about at t

Asia-Pacific consumers are passionate about at the moment

Consumers in the region love searching for product information and reviews before making purchases, with many of them hoping to land a bargain along the way. Some are even making it a hobby, from updating themselves with new technology to discovering medical facts and finding strangers to shop with them online for 'grouponing' purposes. Overall, consumers' search habits offer insights into the latest trends and habits. Let's now gain a better understanding of Asia-Pacific consumers by looking at what they are searching for and how they are searching for them.

Key trends

Social networking sites the new search engines?

Who are the techies? Compelled to surf the net; Searching for consumers like me; India to get it all?

Commercial opportunities

Electronics retailers keen to increase their level of influence among local consumers can leverage search data to track product types that are top-of-mind among consumers when developing website content. This helps forecasting product demand leading up to peak

shopping periods like mid-year sales and Christmas;

Given that search engines are vital navigation channels to retail websites, retailers should ensure their content is easily found through search engine optimisation. In addition, word-of-mouth and peer recommendations are key to product research. Retailers should

actively foster online fan groups and brand advocates as social networking sites, review websites and blogs become increasingly important in purchasing habits.

Background

Through the words that are being put into their online searches, consumers are revealing their latest and greatest passions and obsessions. While it is common knowledge that Google is the preferred choice of search engine, social networking sites are also fast gaining in popularity with more consumers running their searches for people or via social networking sites such as Facebook. James Roy, senior analyst at China Market Research Group (CMR), points out that one advantage which social networking sites have over search engines as an information source is that they offer

information which is interest the user i.e. personalised to some degree. In China, he noted that internet users, particularly those under 20, are discovering online content through their connections on social websites. Singaporean consumers for example, have revealed their passion for travelling and shopping with searches for budget airlines and new malls such as Ion and Tampines1 coming up top in Google. The nation's most popular type of dining method was also determined this way with buffet restaurants taking the first two positions when it comes to restaurant searches. In Australia, the popularity of Michael Jackson and the reality-based cooking competition show “Masterchef” are undisputed, with both keywords being the most searched for on Google. For Malaysian consumers, 2009 seemed to be the year to forge closer ties with one another and look up out-of-touch friends and family as evidenced by the presence of social networking sites in the top and fastest-rising searches for Malaysia, according to Google Zeitgeist 2009.

It is no surprise that Malaysians have the most number of friends on sites like Facebook and spend more hours per week than any country in the region on such sites, as revealed by a survey conducted in the later half of this year on 50,000 people across 46 countries by global research firm TNS. Malaysians have the most number of friends on social networking websites like Facebook. They also spend the most hours per week on such sites. According to the TNS survey, a Malaysian has an average of 233 friends in their social network, followed by 231 in Brazil and 217 in Norway. Japanese users had the least number of friends, averaging 29.

2009 was a year for Malaysians to forge closer ties with one another and look up out-of-touch friends and family as evidenced by the presence of Facebook, Friendster, MySpace, Twitter and Tagged in the top and

fastest-rising searches for Malaysia according to Google Zeitgeist 2009.

Internet users in the Asia-Pacific region and Australasia: 2006-2010 Million

Source: Euromonitor International from International Telecommunications Union/World Bank/trade sourcesNote: Data for 2010 is forecast

Social networking sites the new search engines?

According to web metrics firm Experian Hitwise, social networking sites are grabbing more visitors than traditional search engines. Analyst John Merakovsky from Experian Hitwise says: “Social networking visits have consistently exceeded search engine usage in Asia, particularly in and Singapore since late 2007.” Based on recent statistics pulled from these two countries for the week ending October the 23rd 2010, social networks in had 16.69% of user visits compared with 7.58% for search engines. In Singapore, the numbers were 15.57% for social networks to 10.15% for search engines.

Who are the techies?

Within the region, Singaporean internet users have shown the greatest interest in mobile phones, topping the list of electronics search terms by product type at 49.6% in the 24 weeks ending June the 26th. In the same period, computers and hardware products stood out as another area of interest for Singaporeans, ranking second with 40.7% share of search traffic. The results of a study by Experian Hitwise released in July this year found that local interest around these specific consumer electronics product categories in the first half of 2010 was closely linked to the occurrence of annual events including the Great Singapore Sale and major IT tradeshows such as IT Show and PC Show, which offered consumers deals and discounts on various hardware products. Apple's success in product marketing is further cemented by the fact that “iPhone 4G” was the most popular mobile term searched by Singaporeans, with search traffic spiking 270% in the week ending June the 12th leading up to its global launch. Experian Hitwise also identified Singapore HardwareZone Community as one of top five referring websites to electronics shopping web sites, highlighting the importance of review and technical websites to Singaporeans in their online purchasing habits.

Real market size of digital cameras and mobile phones in Singapore: 2006-2010 US$ (million)

Source: Euromonitor International from trade sources/national statisticsNote: Data for 2010 is

forecast. Historical and forecast data based on constant prices and fixed 2009 exchange rates. Market sizes based on retail value RSP.

Compelled to surf the net

When asked how he would spend a day without the internet, a young Chinese man known as \"lost-web” from Shenzhen, a southern city in the prosperous Guangdong region, responded that he would feel \"blind\". His theory was tested on the morning of January the 12th 2010 when baidu, a major Chinese search engine website, went offline briefly for a few hours due to an alleged cyber attack, sparking panic among \"baiduholics\" like \"lost-web\who placed thousands of calls to the search engine support line. Many youths said they could not help but keep searching the internet for information on everything, from business and daily entertainment, to pop star gossip and even the breed of cat one might see on the streets. Hudong.com, a Chinese online encyclopaedia, has an entry called \"internet searching dependence\behaviour: no need to memorise, no need to think and no need to draft documents, as everything is available and accessible on the net. However, convenience is not always a good thing.

One typical concern raised was the over-confidence of netizens about their medical knowledge acquired from online sources, which could lead to misdiagnosis. “I was surprised when patients came in keenly aware about what was happening to them, and also knew several medical terms, even on subjects not specifically known to the public. Then I discovered that people had already \"baidued\" it before seeking medical treatment, wrote Dr. Liu Chong in the Tianjin Bohai Morning newspaper. In addition, teachers in China are often annoyed by students using search engines to find answers. \"Using a search engine excessively does not help to exploit a child's potential\said Zhao, a primary school mathematics teacher in Beijing. She found that students often made mistakes while copying a wrong answer found online and that at least a few of the students made identical mistakes.

Searching for fellow consumers like me

Primary school teacher Liu Xiaoyan in Beijing recently found an easier way to satisfy her passion for online shopping coupled with her obsession with using discount coupons – she goes \"grouponing”. Instead of

searching the internet for websites offering discounts for her favourite cosmetics, Liu now browses \"grouponing navigators\" - websites that bundle almost all the other sites with similar deals together. \"The grouponing

navigators bring me a sense of window-shopping. They usually lead me to what I want at the lowest price for the day,\" said Liu. Group-shopping refers to like-minded individuals buying together in bulk on

deal-of-the-day sites to secure huge discounts. The practice first appeared in Chicago two years ago, but is now popular in China. China's first group-shopping website went online in January this year, and by August, there were 1,215 sites, according to the Xinhua News Agency. To ensure online shoppers like Liu are not missing out on offers due to the vast number of sites, grouponing sites carry links to all major

group-shopping websites, allowing users to launch real-time searches for the group deals and have forums where group-shoppers can post their stories. \"One simple search and I can find all the best deals,\" enthused a very contented Liu.

India to get it all?

India could be on the verge of a wireless internet breakthrough. According to a report by Hitwise, internet searches for 'wireless broadband' in India have doubled over the three months leading up to November ahead of 3G mobile services being rolled out. During this period, searches for “wireless internet services providers in India” have also increased by 42.2%. Nokia mobile phones are the most searched for handsets on the internet in the country, followed by Samsung and Micromax. The massively popular iPhone, however, only came in sixth on the list. “The iPhone is the most searched for mobile phone in many overseas markets, including the USA and the UK, but it has yet to catch on in the same way in India. Traditional mobile phone manufacturers such as Nokia and Samsung

currently dominate the market in India, but this is likely to change as the rollout of high speed 3G wireless services gather pace in India,” commented Navin Chandani, managing director of Marketing Services, Experian India.

Google may launch an online music service in India in December, a move aimed at combating online music piracy, reports suggests. According to the search engine giant, Google sees music-based searches forming a substantial percentage of Google searches coming through India, and is thinking of catering to this yet-untapped online music market in India. When someone searches for a song or an artist, this survey will display the top results with a pop-up music player to stream the music for free. In addition, Google launched its new search feature Google Instant, which provides predictive results as one is typing, in India in October, making it the first country in the region to have this feature.

Outlook

Although the preference of using social networking sites to perform web searches is increasing, some industry analysts think that the two portal styles will compliment rather than outdo each other. Claus Mortensen, principal of emerging technology research practice group at market intelligence firm IDC Asia-Pacific, expects that the near future will see a merging of social information from social networks and topical search done on search engines. Steve Hodgkinson, research director at Ovum, has the same predictions. “Both types of searching are just two different ways of using data to make the search results as specific and relevant as possible to the information sought and to the specific circumstances and characteristics of the user. At the end of the day, consumers will use either one, or both, to deliver the best results.”

Keywords Asia Pacific, Australasia, World | Segmentation by Income/Economic Group, Segmentation by Lifestyle Group, Consumer Expenditure on Clothing and Footwear, Consumer Expenditure on Household Goods and Services, Consumer Expenditure on Communications, Consumer Expenditure on Leisure and Recreation, Consumer Expenditure on Miscellaneous Goods and Services, Possession of Broadband Internet Enabled Computer, Possession of Internet Enabled Computer, Possession of Mobile Telephone, Annual Disposable Income, Internet Users, Internet Subscribers, Internet Shopping, Personal Computers (PCs) in Use, Telephones, Advertising, Hobbies, Fashion, Population: National Estimates at January 1st | Consumer trends and lifestyles, Technology, communications and media