Asia-Pacific consumers are the world’s most prolific online shoppers and many rely on Internet reviews when making purchases, research firm Nielsen said yesterday. \nThe firm said 35 percent of consumers in the region used more than 11 percent of their monthly spending to make online purchases, compared with a global average of 27 percent of consumers. \nSouth Koreans were the heaviest online buyers in Asia, with 59 percent directing more than 11 percent of their monthly spending to online purchases, followed by 41 percent in China, Nielsen said in a report. \nA further 31 percent of Asian consumers use between 6 percent and 10 percent of their monthly shopping spend to buy items online. \n“Consumers in the Asia-Pacific region are the world’s most prolific online shoppers,” Nielsen said. \nMore Asia-Pacific consumers also intend to buy online in the next six months than those from other regions, with South Koreans and Chinese the most likely to make such purchases. \nAmong the purchases consumers in the region are likely to make in the next six months are books, clothing, accessories and shoes, airline tickets, electronic equipment and hotel reservations. \n“We are seeing a strong trend in markets like [South] Korea, where a significant population of online shoppers buy essentials such as groceries, cosmetics and nutrition supplies over the Internet,” said Pete Gale, a managing director at Nielsen’s Retailer Services. \nAsia-Pacific consumers were also the most likely to share dissatisfaction at a product on the Internet compared with consumers elsewhere. \n“The increasing accessibility of the Internet and the incredible popularity of social media and online discussion forums mean today’s brands have nowhere to hide,” said Megan Clarken, Asia-Pacific managing director at Nielsen’s online division.
Cambodian fishers on the Mekong River got a shock when they inadvertently hooked an endangered giant freshwater stingray 4m long and weighing 180kg, scientists said yesterday. The female leviathan, one of Southeast Asia’s largest and rarest species of fish, was caught by accident last week in Stung Treng Province when it swallowed a smaller fish that had taken a baited hook. An international team of experts on the US-funded Wonders of the Mekong project worked with the fishers to unhook the ray before weighing and measuring it, and returning it unharmed to the river. The Mekong is a crucial habitat for a vast
A glimpse of a possible Picasso in the home of Imelda Marcos filmed during a visit by her son after his presidential election win has set off a flurry of speculation in the Philippines, where the family that once plundered billions is set to return to power. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr, the son and namesake of the late dictator, won a landslide victory in Monday’s presidential election, an outcome that has appalled those who survived his father’s regime. Images released by the family showed Marcos Jr visiting the home of his mother, who had displayed Picasso’s Femme Couche VI (Reclining Woman VI),
HATE CRIME: Officials were investigating a detailed ‘manifesto’ posted online before the livestreamed shooting, in which the suspect outlined his reasoning and plans A heavily armed 18-year-old white man on Saturday shot 10 people dead at a Buffalo, New York, grocery store in a “racially motivated” attack that he livestreamed on camera, authorities said. The gunman, who was wearing body armor and a helmet, was arrested after the massacre, Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia told a news conference. Gramaglia put the toll at 10 dead and three wounded. Eleven of the victims were African Americans. The gunman shot four people in the parking lot of the Tops supermarket, three of them fatally, then went inside and continued firing, Gramaglia said. Among those killed inside the store was
DEBATE OVER RESPONSIBILITY: The Isreali military said that its soldiers did not kill Shireen Abu Aqleh, but the network called it ‘a blatant murder’ by Israeli forces Veteran al-Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh was killed yesterday as she covered a raid on Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. Al-Jazeera said its journalist had been shot dead “deliberately” and “in cold blood” by Israeli troops. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said it was likely that Palestinian gunfire had killed the reporter. Abu Aqleh, 51, a Palestinian Christian, was a prominent figure in the channel’s Arabic news service. The Israeli army confirmed that it had conducted an operation in Jenin refugee camp early yesterday, but denied it had deliberately targeted a reporter. “The [army] of course does not aim at journalists,” an
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