Online customers in Asia prefer Asian-made gadgets

Samsung is one of the most popular mobile phone brands among customers of online financing services in the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and India. Mobile devices made in China like Xiaomi, Vivo, OPPO are taking second and third places by the popularity in these four countries. At the same time, Apple is leading in Vietnam only. These are the findings of the study conducted by the international financial holding Robocash Group.

The company studied preferences of almost 1.8 mln customers using its services providing online lending in the Philippines, Vietnam and India and Shariah-compliant funding in Indonesia. According to the findings, 26.3% of customers in Indonesia use Xiaomi smartphones bringing the brand in the first place, while Samsung and OPPO follow with 21.1% and 19.3%, respectively. As for India and the Philippines, Samsung is the most popular mobile phone brand in these countries taking 26.4% and 22.7%, respectively. Moreover, second place in India belongs to Vivo with 17.5%, and OPPO is third (16.1%). It stands in contrast with the findings in the Philippines, where OPPO (20.6%) is in advance of Vivo (11.0%). As for Vietnam, Apple is the most popular mobile phone brand (34.1%) that is followed by Samsung (27.1%) and OPPO (17.0%).

In overall, the Asian markets have demonstrated a strong predominance of smartphones as a tool to search and obtain online financing. This correlation has been formed by high penetration of the mobile internet and the intention of online customers to consume “here and now” without any geographical or other hurdles. It is applicable both in case of unexpected expenses and occasional purchases.

One more specific found by analysts reflects the thoughtfulness of customers. Thus, smartphone users tend to scrutinize the information about the product. Furthermore, desktop users also give place to the latter by an average number of pages viewed and session time.

This fact may correlate with an age factor. The analysts of the company mentioned that the youth under 35 years are the main potential customers of digital financial services. They are more active consumers demonstrating high technical and financial literacy. Smartphones or tablets serve as the foremost tool to solve any issues in their routine life. This state of things will surely increase the significance of mobile devices as a driver for the alternative lending market in the Asia Pacific region.