Comscore looks at eCommerce in the Asia Pacific Region
Alex Gevers reports on the latest Comscore weekly findings on the eCommerce online footprint in Asia Pacific, on 17 August 2020. He writes in a top-line observation, “India stands out in terms of the number of eCommerce sites or apps that reach more than 1% of the country’s digital population.”
As far as Table 1 of the Comscore insights about the reach of eCommerce as of June 2020, the total digital population’s reach is highest in India at 92.6%. Taiwan is second at 77% and Malaysia third at 70.1%. China is fourth at 65.3%.
All ten countries in Comscore’s Asia Pacific listing fell or lost reach in June 2020 compared to May 2020, except India and China, which gained 0.3% each. However, India and China were among the seven out of ten countries that lost reach in June 2020 compared to June 2019. The only countries to gain in the June YOY comparison were Australia (6.6%), Hong Kong (7.2%), and Malaysia (3.7%).
As noted above, in Table 2, which looks at consumer adoption of eCommerce sites for additional reading, India ranked highest at 66 sites that reach more than 1% of the digital population. As far as reaching eCommerce sites that reach more than 10% of the digital community, Taiwan ranked first at six such sites, and India tied for second with Indonesia and Japan at four eCommerce sites that reached more than 10%.
The eCommerce site(s) that gained the most reach between June 2019 and June 2020, worldwide were Amazon sites. The only market in Asia Pacific, where Amazon ranked number one in annual gain, was Australia. In all the other nine countries listed, other eCommerce gained the most reach in the past year. In India, the eCommerce that increased its reach most in the past year was Clubfactory.com
Source: Comscore MMX Multi-Platform, Total Audience, June 2020.
2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India
Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and
multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.
The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry.
While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately
their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book
printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.
The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.
Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.
Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.
Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.
