Despite rise of online stores, shopping habits of Filipinos remain traditional says Reader’s Digest Trusted Brand 2013 Survey

• Only 7% of Filipino shoppers trust online comments regarding brands or products
• Less than 10% of Filipino respondents actively shared their brand experiences online
• Only 13% of Asian respondents have significantly changed shopping habits due to online options
• Travel Services top the categories of products Filipinos buy online
• A total of 91 brands in the Philippines won the Readers Digest Trusted Brand 2013 Awards

PHILIPPINES, May 23, 2013- Filipinos might be among the most active netizens on social media, but when it comes to shopping it seems tradition remains a hard habit to break.

According to the latest Readers Digest Trusted Brand Survey 2013 (RDTB Survey), only 17% of the Filipino respondents have significantly changed their shopping habits despite the rising number of online stores in the last two years.

The RDTB survey, carried out for the 15th consecutive year, reached out to 7,000 respondents across seven markets across Asia including India, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan  and the Philippines.

Among the Asian countries, Filipinos are the most likely to share both their positive (8%) and negative (7%) brand experiences on social media accounts (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, forums).

In comparison, only 5% of all the Asian respondents will often share their brand experiences online – only 4% of respondents will share positive experiences and only 3% will expose negative ones.

Surprisingly, however, despite the Filipinos keen participation in online discussions, the survey revealed that only 7% of respondents are very likely to trust comments regarding brands or products that they observe on social media platforms.

Although online shopping has not had much influence on shoppers’ habits in the Philippines, the impact of online shopping on Asian shoppers is even less. According to the RDTB survey, only 13% of Asian respondents have seen significant changes in their shopping habits owing to online options.

Products and Services with Online Shopping Appeal

Out of all the consumer product and services categories (all broadly classified under five main sectors – Travel Services, Clothing and Other Apparel, Books and Media, Entertainment Services, Vouchers and Online Coupons surveyed), online travel services appear to be the most popular with the respondents in the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia, while those surveyed in Taiwan, Hong Kong, India and Thailand ranked clothing and apparel purchases as their top online shopping option.

Among Filipino respondents, Travel Services accounted for 33% of the total purchases online followed by consumer electronics at 20% and vouchers and online coupons at 17%. Clothing and other apparels and books and media online both account for 15%.

RDTB Award Winners and Their Online Business Strategies

The RDTB survey covered 42 product and services categories. 68% of all respondents in the survey agreed that the results of this survey will help them in their purchasing decisions.

The Reader’s Digest Trusted Brand 2013 winners come from diverse industries such as food and beverage, personal products, finance, motoring related, consumer electronics, health and personal care, household products, retail, education, transport, travel and telecommunications. They were chosen based on the six attributes of trustworthiness and credibility, quality, value, understanding of customer needs, innovation, and corporate social responsibility.

Out of the 91 winners 45 are local brands including household names such as Jollibee,PLDT, Magnolia Chicken, Monterey, DMCI Homes, BPI, Century Tuna, Argentina, Camella Homes, St. Lukes Medical Center, Condura, Banco De Oro and SM.

The Reader’s Digest survey has revealed other findings including the following:

1. Few Filipino respondents trust online comments regarding brands and products. Only 7% of the respondents in the Philippines compared to the Asian average of 8% will very likely trust comments regarding brands or products which they observe on social media platforms. Taiwan scored 1 per cent in this respect – the lowest.

2. But the Philippines ranked first among the seven countries who would share both their positive and negative brand experiences on social media.

The winners received their Reader’s Digest Trusted Brand 2013 awards on May 23, 2013 at the Edsa Shangri-La Hotel.

Now on its 15th consecutive year, The Reader’s Digest Trusted Brands survey, is one of the most representative and transparent consumer surveys in Asia with trusted brand results brought about solely by consumers’ unsolicited brand recall and attribute scoring.

In the survey, 7,000 respondents were interviewed in Asia with 1,000 of them from the Philippines. Conducted by Ipsos, the world’s third largest market research company, the survey provides valuable insight into the decision making processes of consumers while at the same time seeks to give due recognition to outstanding market performers.

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