- 18 janvier 2022

The four unexpected behavioural trends in Asia-Pacific

Roberta Cavalcante
Roberta Cavalcante
Senior Corporate Marketing Manager
Comscore

In this blog post, we consider four unexpected trends that have emerged in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. The data covers Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Vietnam.

Trend 1: Time to read

The number of unique visitors on book retail sites and apps in many APAC countries, while down in April 2021 compared with April 2020, was significantly higher compared with Jan 2020 – pre-pandemic days. Global players in the book retail space such as Scribd.com and Google Play Books are still prominent. Restrictions of course have not fully been lifted in many countries, as the spectre of Omicron delays the process. Whether the weight of online book retail will remain high once the restrictions are fully lifted remains to be seen.

Table 1

Books, retail category - Total Unique Visitors Index

Jan 2020 = base 100

Jan-2020

Apr-2020

Apr-2021

Australia

100

167

151

China

100

95

69

Hong Kong

100

129

130

India

100

102

87

Indonesia

100

97

53

Japan

100

114

97

Malaysia

100

113

102

Singapore

100

193

154

Taiwan

100

122

76

Vietnam

100

107

103

Source: Comscore MMX Multi-Platform Jan 2020 – April 2021, Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Vietnam.

Trend 2: Mindfulness

In line with the return of interest in reading books, the search about Religion/Spirituality, aligned with the country’s dominant faith, still is a subject of attention: even if the number of unique visitors dropped in April 2021, it remains higher compared with pre-pandemic days (Jan 2020).

Table 2

Religion/Spirituality category - Total Unique Visitors Index

UV INDEX: Jan 2020 = base 100

Jan-2020

Apr-2020

Apr-2021

Australia

100

139

103

China

100

92

N/A

Hong Kong

100

128

118

India

100

127

84

Indonesia

100

105

114

Japan

100

60

61

Malaysia

100

120

99

Singapore

100

104

93

Taiwan

100

96

95

Vietnam

100

104

50

Source: Comscore MMX Multi-Platform Jan 2020 – April 2021, Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Vietnam

Trend 3: Consumers strive to achieve a healthy mind in a healthy body

Health and fitness are still a big trend, people’s interest and visits on fitness and diet-related sites or apps increased significantly in April 2021 compared to April 2020. It seems that people kept their weekly exercise routines during the pandemic as a routine activity for life – beyond Covid. Given the scale of the increase, it seems likely that the trend will continue into the near future.

Table 3

Fitness/Diet - Total Unique Visitors Index

UV INDEX: Jan 2020 = base100

Jan-2020

Apr-2020

Apr-2021

Australia

100

92

97

China

100

158

277

Hong Kong

100

97

119

India

100

104

107

Indonesia

100

111

117

Japan

100

101

115

Malaysia

100

80

92

Singapore

100

120

112

Taiwan

100

100

105

Vietnam

100

147

62

Source: Comscore MMX Multi-Platform Jan 2020 – April 2021, Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Vietnam

Trend 4: The impasse: home sweet home vs. it’s time to “go out”

In 2020 consumers elsewhere in the world and also in the Asia-Pacific region improved their home or at least showed interest on home improvement and decoration topics. While not as strong as in 2020, the trend shows signs of persistence: as the table below shows, in most countries the number of unique visitors was still higher in April 2021 then in April 2020.

Table 4

Home/Architecture - Total Unique Visitors Index

UV INDEX: Jan 2020 = base 100

Jan-2020

Apr-2020

Apr-2021

Australia

100

134

134

China

100

90

49

Hong Kong

100

106

120

India

100

127

102

Indonesia

100

127

122

Japan

100

134

142

Malaysia

100

238

123

Singapore

100

97

120

Taiwan

100

106

87

Vietnam

100

106

122

Source: Comscore MMX Multi-Platform Jan 2020 – April 2021, Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Vietnam