[Beauty Nuri] “Chinese consumers pay more attention to details than price”
Beauty Nuri reporter Yang Hye-in
It appears that the factors that consumers consider important during online shopping differ from country to country, necessitating the development of appropriate strategies.
UPS Korea Vice President Jinhwan Jin made this announcement during a presentation on the ‘Pulse of the Online Shopper’ targeting the Asia Pacific region at the ‘Shopify Meetup Seoul’ held at MARU180 in Yeoksam-dong on the 30th.
This study identified visibility, incentives, and personalized customer service as important factors influencing consumer and corporate purchasing behavior and decisions.
Visibility includes product details, prices, fees, shipping costs, delivery times, free shipping terms, international sourcing (global purchasing), and a clear return policy that are easy for customers to see.
The analysis also shows that various incentives, loyalty programs, and reliable customer service are used to attract customers to purchase.
Research shows that Asia-Pacific consumers consider a variety of factors, including price, product details, shipping costs, and promotional offers, before making a purchase decision. Across the Asia-Pacific market, an average of 48% use search engines to research items they are interested in purchasing.
“Price is the most important factor in most markets, but research shows that Chinese consumers look at product details more than price,” said Vice President Jin Jeong-hwan. “China, in particular, relies more heavily on alternative platforms such as price comparison sites and customer review websites than other countries.”
He continued, “Korea appears to be the most price-sensitive market, with a high rate of looking at discount offers as well as prices,” and “Korea’s price comparison website usage rate of 64% is the highest in the world, which supports the argument that the Korean market is greatly influenced by prices.”
Consumers driven by price are less picky about the online shopping process, whereas those driven by convenience are more likely to abandon online purchases if they experience inconvenience during the shopping process.
The most common reason online consumers return a product is 'not as described', followed by poor quality, defects or damage.
The most common reasons for customer dissatisfaction with the return experience included delayed refunds and delays in receiving product exchanges or replacement products.
“One mistake can create a loyal customer or send them running away to find another retailer,” said former Vice President Jeon. “It has been shown that 70% of Korean consumers completely stop buying from a seller due to poor customer service, which is the highest rate in the world.”
Meanwhile, the event also introduced Shopify, an e-commerce platform with over 800,000 shopping malls worldwide.
Through Shopify, you can not only operate an overseas shopping mall, but also sell through marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay, and Shopee, as well as social sales channels such as Facebook and Instagram.
Lee Jae-ik, CEO of 300cbt, said, “Shopify allows companies to easily implement the functions they need without developers,” and added, “In the cosmetics industry, Soko Glam and Tony Moly’s US website are representative examples of companies that utilize Shopify.”