APEJ consumers more wary of sharing personal data

Almost four in five (78%) of consumers in the APEJ region will not choose to purchase from a brand again if their data had been used without knowledge, according to the latest SAP Hybris Consumer Insight survey

Despite that fact that more than 83% of respondents are willing to share at least some form of personal information with brands, APEJ consumers (67%) expect brands to protect their interest when using their personal data.

Consumers also want transparency in data usage (52%) and want brands to ensure customer privacy in the event of criminal investigations (47%).

Nicholas Kontopoulos, Global Vice President of Fast Growth Markets Marketing at SAP Hybris, said APAC accounts for half of the world’s total 3.6 billion internet users and the fastest growing region, accounting for 70 percent of total growth in global internet users in 2016.

“This rapid growth of the internet, mobile phones, and other digital technologies has created opportunities and challenges for millions of consumers and brands in the region,” he said.

The SAP Hybris survey found that APAC consumers are most comfortable with sharing the email addresses (58%), shopping history and preferences (49%), and mobile numbers (36%) with brands. However, while these allow brands to create personalized customer experience for the consumers, usage of consumer data has to be approached with extra caution.

APAC consumers also have higher expectations. Over 80% of respondents in APAC indicated that they expect brands to respond to their queries within 24 hours, and 56% expect responses within three hours, setting that as the baseline expectations on the speed of response.

Thailand and China are the most demanding markets in the region, with almost 1 in 2 (48%) expecting brands to respond to their queries within the hour. More than half (56%) of consumers from these two countries also indicated that there will not use of brand again if it makes a mistake twice.

“With customer expectations higher than ever due with digitization, the pressure is on for marketers to keep up with tech-savvy, always-on consumers—or risk getting trampled by the competition,” Kontopoulos said.

“In addition to speed and timeliness, relevance and personalisation of content served to consumers have also become key measures of success for brands attempting to connect with customers.”