LIVE FROM CES ASIA, SHANGHAI: More than half of Chinese consumers prefer to use their smartphones to shop online, with the average online monthly spend of $119 only slightly below the level in the US, according to a survey by trade group Consumer Technology Association (CTA).

Nine in ten of those surveyed said they use their smartphones to shop online, and shoppers are increasingly using apps instead of websites, with 65 per cent of respondents saying they prefer apps because they are faster, offer more special promotions and enable use of mobile payment platforms.

A minority (15 per cent) said they prefer visiting websites, while nearly 20 per cent indicated they prefer both channels.

The majority (61 per cent) of Chinese consumers prefer to shop online, compared with 11 per cent in store. Almost all Chinese consumers (90 per cent) said they’ve purchased a product from China’s leading retailer Tmall in the last 12 months.

“In the span of just a decade, China has developed and deployed a world-class online services sector – and Chinese consumers have fully embraced it,” said Steve Koenig, senior director of market research at CTA (pictured).

Social creatures
CTA’s research also revealed social media is an integral part of Chinese consumers’ lives, with 86 per cent of those surveyed checking their WeChat accounts multiple times a day, Koenig said. The company added WeChat is China’s leading social networking site, with 95 per cent of the population having an account on the platform.

Analytics company App Annie in May said WeChat Pay, the network’s mobile payments platform, was a key driver of a 230 per cent surge in finance app downloads through 2016 alongside Ant Financial’s Alipay service.

The survey found Chinese users generally maintain a strong delineation between personal and professional social media usage. A quarter of respondents use social media for both, with 72 per cent using it exclusively for personal reasons and 2 per cent only for business applications, which is much lower than in western countries, Koenig said.

Not surprisingly, 66 per cent of those surveyed use smartphones when sharing on social media. Tablets, laptops and desktops each accounted for about 10 per cent.

Koenig said Chinese consumers are open to creative marketing approaches, which gives companies the opportunity to experiment and innovate with their online campaigns.

The preference for mobile also applied to video consumption, with 67 per cent opting to use their smartphones to view short clips and 52 per cent using their handsets to watch the news.

However, 19 per cent would choose to watch movies, and 16 per cent TV shows on smartphones – higher than the number choosing tablets and TVs, but lower than those selecting laptop and desktop PCs.

CTA surveyed more than 3,000 adults in Chinese tier 1 to 5 cities who say they buy new technology and own a smartphone.