Originally published December 18, 2014 , updated on September 18, 2024
It’s common knowledge that Asia Pacific, often referred to as APAC is growing fast. China overtook USA as the biggest economy, just a few weeks back. Although there is more to it, the population of China and India put together equates to more than third of the world’s population. This with the increasing buying power implies more consumer goods. There is no better example of consumer behaviour than mobile phones in the twenty-first century. The mobile phone penetration is growing and so is the data consumption, in APAC mobile data grew by 12x between 2013 and 2019.
It’s clear from the above graph that Asia Pacific is and will remain the biggest market for mobile subscription in the world. Bigger than the rest put together. Hence any startup looking to target mobile should look at APAC. This applies to software, apps and also products which can be sold online.
Today Most customers in China (74%) and India (62%) compare prices via smartphones compared to 43% globally. 37% of Asia-Pacific respondents likely to purchase goods and services through mobile devices. Both statistics show how much are customers reliant on mobile to make purchases even within stores.
Tomorrow By 2016, 40% of worldwide B2C online sales i.e. $856bn will come from Asia-Pacific.