A Worldpay global survey of 20,000 consumers has discovered that buying power in the internet age is concentrated within a group of high-spending, high-frequency “super-shoppers”.

While these shoppers make up just 5 per cent of the population in China, they account for 92 per cent of all money spent buying physical goods online in China each month.

Worldpay’s research into three Asia Pacific markets further reveals that APAC super-shoppers are most likely to shop online via a mobile device, and are demanding when it comes to payment method. The international payments company polled 2000 consumers in each of the 10 countries covered by the Why Do They Pay That Way? Study, including China and Japan.

Key findings include…

• Chinese super-shoppers are more likely than the average Chinese shopper to use a credit or debit card.

• More than 60 per cent of Japan’s online shoppers will switch to another retailer if they cannot use their preferred payment option at checkout.

• Australian super-shoppers were the world’s second-biggest buyers, spending on average more than £200 (US$260) on their latest online transaction.

• The Chinese are the biggest mobile shoppers in the world, with 33 per cent of super-shoppers making their latest online purchase by mobile phone.

“With eCommerce markets developing at lightning speed across the Asia Pacific region, it’s no surprise elite shoppers are taking their spending power online,” says Worldpay GM Asia Pacific Phil Ponford. “The super-shopper trend is driven by a growing middle class, high mobile penetration and advancements in consumer technology.

“APAC super-shoppers are passionate about what they buy and sophisticated in how they shop. They do research to find the most competitive prices, and will turn elsewhere if they discover they can’t use their preferred payment method at checkout.”

Unable to pay

Internationally, 36 per cent of super-shoppers said they had experienced the situation of reaching checkout and being unable to pay with any of the listed options. This was particularly the case in China, where 44 per cent of Super-Shoppers said they could not use their preferred payment method.

When faced with not being able to use their preferred payment option, super-shoppers may buy the same item from another website or abandon their purchase all together. In Japan, 61 per cent of super-shoppers said they would switch to another retailer if unable to use their preferred payment option at checkout. Worldpay estimates that for each lost sale globally, retailers are missing out on as much as £100.

Super-shoppers in APAC overwhelmingly prefer credit cards. While 41 per cent of the general population in China prefers to pay online with Alipay, only 18 per cent of China’s super-shoppers said they were likely to use their nation’s most popular eWallet. Instead, 54 said they preferred to use a credit card.

“Retailers should be looking at super-shoppers as a distinct group that often behaves very differently from other customers,” says Pomford. Retailers who do not support the right range of payment methods could actually lose major revenue without noticing.

He describes super-shoppers as an audience that thinks of online shopping as a daily task, not just an occasional treat.