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.
There are growing concerns for the health of Rokia Traore, a Malian singer who has been on hunger strike at the Fleury-Merogis Prison near Paris since she was arrested on March 10 on allegations of kidnapping her daughter in a child custody dispute. “I am very worried,” said Kenneth Feliho, her lawyer. “She is only drinking. She has not been eating for over a week and her immune system is weak.” Among those calling for the musician’ release are African stars including Salif Keita, Youssou N’Dour and Angelique Kidjo. Damon Albarn, who performed with her in the group Africa Express, wrote: “We demand,
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TARGETED: Although hackers are known to be seeking to capitalize on concern over COVID-19, a cybersecurity expert said he had never seen anything to this extent before Elite hackers tried to break into the WHO earlier this month, sources said, part of what a senior agency official said was a more than two-fold increase in cyberattacks. The identity of the hackers was unclear and the effort was unsuccessful, WHO Chief Information Security Officer Flavio Aggio said. However, he warned that hacking attempts against the agency and its partners have soared as they battle to contain COVID-19, which has killed more than 15,000 worldwide. The attempted break-in at the WHO was first flagged to Reuters by Alexander Urbelis, a cybersecurity expert and attorney with the New York-based Blackstone Law Group,
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