Agustina Wayansari , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Thu, 03/06/2008 1:21 AM
Airline tickets, books, clothing and accessories, and cosmetics were the most frequently purchased items online in Indonesia and other Asia-Pacific countries last year, a recent survey found.
In Indonesia, airline tickets topped the list, with 40 percent of respondents reporting having purchased tickets online.
This was followed by books (37 percent) and clothing and accessories, including shoes (21 percent), the executive director for client solutions at Nielsen Indonesia, Catherine Eddy, said Wednesday.
"We found the ranking in Indonesia different with the Asia Pacific in general, where purchasing books topped the list with 46 percent, chased by clothing and accessories with 38 percent and cosmetics and nutritional supplies with 27 percent," Eddy said.
Eddy said the survey, performed by Nielsen Global Online Survey from October to November last year, involved 7,500 consumers with regular internet access in the Asia Pacific, including 511 internet users in Indonesia.
According to Eddy, a global survey interviewed a total of 26,312 respondents around the world.
"Regionally, purchasing airline tickets only reached 24 percent. It's also surprising that computer software is among the sought after items here, with 20 percent, while we know that most people go to Ratu Plaza (where people can buy pirated software)," she said.
She added that overall in the Asia Pacific, airline tickets were only fifth on the list of online purchases, with 24 percent.
While only 4 percent of respondents in Indonesia purchased cosmetics online, people in other Asia-Pacific regions, including Hong Kong, frequently purchased cosmetics online, Eddy said.
She said Indonesia also differed from the region in general in terms of payment preference, with bank and money transfers the most common methods here, as compared to credit cards in other countries.
"It's totally understood. Many sellers remain concerned with security issues here and often reject credit cards from Indonesia," said Eddy, adding that payment systems such as Pay Pal were also not yet common here.
Eddy said the survey found that Indonesian shoppers tended to use search engines such as Google to find information before purchasing items online.
"It's because online shopping is still new here and most probably they (shoppers) had never been to the sites before," she said, adding that general Internet surfing, personal recommendations and reviews also played a significant role in helping shoppers make online choices.
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