Global consumers are still planning on doing their holiday shopping this year – regardless of a widespread drop in personal income caused by the coronavirus pandemic – with Chinese shoppers in particular planning on high levels of spending.

More than 20 per cent of Chinese shoppers surveyed said they would increase their spending for family members, while 35 per cent will spend more than 40 per cent of their monthly household income during this shopping season, compared to just 7 per cent internationally.

The insights from Rakuten Advertising research reveal that 87 per cent of consumers intend to make purchases for Christmas, Lunar New Year or other major holidays, even considering more than 40 per cent of respondents citing a pandemic-related drop in income.

Higher numbers of consumers are turning to e-commerce when making purchases, with Asian buyers leading the trend. Around 79 per cent of consumers in China and 76 per cent of those in Korea report an increase in online shopping since the advent of Covid-19, against a global average of 64 per cent.

Among peak season shoppers worldwide, 73 per cent intend to make the majority of their purchases online, with most respondents not expecting to decrease their spend this year. Within China, Taobao has now overtaken WeChat as the platform of choice for online shoppers – while Facebook and YouTube are the dominating social media platforms for holiday shopping in most markets worldwide, with Facebook and WhatsApp leading in Hong Kong and Singapore.

“With consumers spending more time in front of small screens, brands have the opportunity to utilise mobile in-app tracking and further drive mobile sales this peak shopping season,” said Rakuten Advertising senior VP for Apac Stuart McLennan. “Additionally, brands can gain further insights into their consumers’ shopping behaviour as in-app tracking enables advertisers to accurately track conversions.”