Chinese are the most likely of Asians to shop online according to a survey by MasterCard.

And 70.1 per cent of Chinese online shoppers use their smartphones to buy.

The survey was conducted across 25 markets worldwide between October and December 2014. In the Asia/ Pacific region 7010 respondents from 14 markets were interviewed about their online shopping habits.

Accepting the interviewees were all connected online with laptops or smartphones, the survey results thus reflect the behaviour of connected consumers – rather than percentages of the population as a whole.

Which is how China topped the rankings of Asian online shopping, with a stunning 98.6 per cent reporting they had purchased at least one item online within the preceding 90 days.

In second place was Korea, with 96.8 per cent. Taiwan (94.6 per cent), India (94 per cent) and Singapore (91.5 per cent) followed.

Hong Kong managed just ninth with 84 per cent. Despite its developed economy, New Zealand proved the biggest upset – 13th place of the 14 markets, with just 75.8 per cent, just 0.4 per cent ahead of the Philippines. Australia was sixth with 88.4 per cent.

The Asia edition of the report focused on Hong Kong, where 79.8 per cent said they planned to shop online within the next six months and 38.2 per cent saying they use their phones to shop.

By age, the most likely to shop online are aged between 25-34 at 91.8 per cent and the average number of items purchased – six – was the highest of any age group.

In its commentary, MasterCard said there are no significant differences in online shopping behavior by gender.

The most common categories shopped online are clothing and accessories (46.2 per cent) travel (40.8 per cent), airlines (38.8 per cent) and home appliances or electronic products (37.6 per cent).

The survey also revealed that secure payment facility and reputation of the website (77.6 per cent) are both the top considerations for Hong Kong respondents when shopping online. This is followed by low/no extra payment charge (75.4 per cent) and convenient payment methods (74.2 per cent).

Overall in the 14 Asian markets, online shopping continues to grow steadily (from an average of 81 per cent in 2011 to 86.7 per cent in 2014). Security of payment facility (84.8 per cent), price (84.5 per cent) and convenient payment methods (84.1 per cent) are key considerations when making online purchases.

Percentage of respondents who have made at least one online purchase in the past three months in Asia/Pacific: