With the holiday season around the corner, affluent Asians can be depended on to spend in boom and bust alike, according to a new market research.
The study done in 11 markets from Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, and Australia – all of which are source countries for new Canadians bodes well for the local industry.
“Without the Asian consumers, this place will not be full,” said J.K. Lim, a retail assistant at a store in Vancouver’s Oakridge Mall.
“They buy the expensive stuff, even when the economy is not so strong,’ said Lim, mirroring the findings of the  2010 Synovate PAX survey conducted by market research firm Synovate.
The asian buying power is growing leaps and bounds in Canada, said a retail analyst, adding that small businesses can capitalize on the ash rich new Canadians with special attractions.
“It is evident in the malls, whether it’s Oakridge or Metrotown,” he said.
Steve Garton, executive director of media at Synovate, said the company has been studying Asia’s elites over the past 14 years, examining their habits and attitudes, their values and the sheer power of their spending.
“Last year was a tough year in terms of the economy, yet still people spent on goods of desire. This year, we have a much healthier economy and elite consumers are maintaining their spending,” he said.
According to Garton, affluent people seek out new products and take to high ticket items early. “They are the backbone spenders in many such product categories across the region,” he said.
The survey also revealed that “across the board, elite Asians like to shop and they don’t mind paying more for something special, but this is especially true for the younger elites (age 25 to 34),” said Synovate.
These steady consumption patterns will most likely hold for some years, according to Garton.
“But it’s not all frivolity for the younger set. A hefty 76.8% of them say they are ‘ready to put in extra effort in order to meet my career goals’, versus an overall 72.7% who agreed,” Garton added.
“Elite Asians are spending. They are early adopters and lead the charge in many product and service categories. Intelligence exists on segments within the elite. All this is great news for marketers, but only if they can reach the right people with their messages.
“That’s where the PAX survey shows the power of regional media – cable and satellite TV, print and the Internet. Indeed a combination of these media is probably the most effective way to tap into the sophisticated, internationally-minded affluent Asian,” Garton said.
The survey also showed that affluent elites who own or intend to buy high-end products spend more time browsing the Internet, watching TV, and reading print compared to the same period last year.
“Affluent people who consume regional media are buying more high-end items than those who do not. Brands can reach a poised-to-spend, sophisticated audience through regional media channels,” Garton said.
Younger Asians, or those between the ages of 25 and 34, showed the most inclination to spend on big-ticket items, even during economic downtimes.
According to the survey, 43 percent of respondents in this age group “enjoy the fun of shopping,” vis-a-vis the 36-percent average across all ages.
More than half, or 52 percent, said they would treat themselves to something special, even if this were expensive, compared with the overall average of 46.5 percent.
The survey also revealed that most of the young elite—a whopping 76.8 percent—said they were “ready to put in extra effort in order to meet career goals,” versus an overall 72.7 percent who said the same. This extra effort often led to an even higher capacity to spend.
Here are some of the survey’s findings;
# High-tech gadgets proved particularly popular among Asians, as HDTV ownership levels rose from 19.5% to 28% in 2009, figures reaching 48% and 51.8% for laptop/notebook computers. According to Synovate’s analysis, the last 12 months could be called the “year of the smartphone”, given uptake surged 5.4%, hitting 15.8%.
• In Taiwan, penetration of devices like the iPhone and BlackBerry leapt 12.2%, to 27.7%, while Singapore delivered an 8.4% increase, posting 23.1% overall. Totals also doubled in Hong Kong to 22.4%, and Garton suggested this boom partly reflects a “desire to have function-packed, elegant items.”

• Singapore is a leading Asian outlet for tech, with seven in ten local respondents having purchased a laptop or notebook, two-thirds possessing a digital still camera and 40.3% watching an HDTV set.

• Elsewhere, Hong Kong is a prime luxury market more broadly, with 50.7% of participants owning at least one item fitting this description, up from 47.5% in 2009. A further 81.1% of this group in Hong Kong believe companies should focus on corporate social responsibility, measured against 75.7% last year.