transcosmos has released its annual
proprietary study, the 'Global Online shopping Trends Survey 2025-8 Cities Worldwide.

In this year’s survey, we replaced New York—one of the
target cities—with Los Angeles. In addition to examining past online shopping
behavior, we also asked respondents about their future intentions to use online
shopping.

Key topics include 'Cross-Border E-Commerce' (including Chinese low-cost shopping sites), 'Social Commerce,' and consumer interest in emerging technologies.

1. In cities such as London, Los Angeles, and Bangkok, more than 60% of consumers have purchased from low-cost Chinese online shopping sites like SHEIN and Temu.

  • Overall, the rate of past purchases from low-cost Chinese
    online shopping sites such as SHEIN and Temu is high, with three cities
    standing out in particular: London (70%), Los Angeles (63%), and Bangkok (60%).
    In contrast, usage is relatively low in Tokyo and Jakarta, where the rate
    remains at around 30%.
  • These services tend to be viewed favorably overall. Across all eight cities, the top positive perception is that “they allow users to purchase items at lower prices than in their own country.” In addition to price, ease of purchase is another factor contributing to their positive impression.

    In addition, in some cities, the perception that “they offer inexpensive alternatives to popular brand-name products” also ranked highly. This indicates that there is a certain segment of users who knowingly purchase items that are not genuine branded products.
  • Meanwhile, in Tokyo and Seoul, concerns about product
    quality were more prevalent compared with other cities. Many respondents
    selected statements such as “the product quality was lower than expected” and
    “items that arrive are sometimes not genuine.”

Figure 1. Awareness of Chinese Value Online Shopping Sites such as SHEIN and Temu (%)

City Distribution
Tokyo
8% 15% 58% 20%
Shanghai
9% 21% 43% 28%
Seoul
20% 29% 46%
Bangkok
28% 32% 38%
Jakarta
11% 19% 49% 21%
Mumbai
25% 23% 33% 19%
London
42% 28% 27%
Los Angeles
35% 28% 30% 7%
Use regularly Have used before Aware but never used Not aware

Figure 2. Top 5 Impressions of Chinese Value Online Shopping Sites Such as SHEIN and Temu (%)

(%) Tokyo Shanghai Seoul Bangkok
1 Cheaper than buying domestically 44 Cheaper than buying domestically 41 Cheaper than buying domestically 55 Cheaper than buying domestically 63
2 Product quality was not as high as expected 39 Can buy at a good price thanks to exchange rates 38 Product quality was not as high as expected 36 Easy to compare quality and price of various products 35
3 Received a non-genuine item 37 Easy to compare quality and price of various products 36 Received a non-genuine item 28 Easy to order with little hassle 31
4 Easier to buy on domestic online shopping sites 24 Can buy affordable look-alike items of popular brands 36 Takes longer than expected for items to arrive 24 Product quality was not as high as expected 30
5 Item received differed from the site description 20 Easy to order with little hassle 34 Easy to order with little hassle 23 Can buy at a good price thanks to exchange rates 29
(%) Jakarta Mumbai London Los Angeles
1 Cheaper than buying domestically 71 Cheaper than buying domestically 61 Cheaper than buying domestically 63 Cheaper than buying domestically 59
2 Easy to compare quality and price 48 Easy to compare quality and price 45 Easy to order with little hassle 38 Easy to order with little hassle 32
3 Affordable look-alike items 37 Easy to order with little hassle 33 Easy to compare quality and price 30 Good price thanks to exchange rates 30
4 Good price thanks to exchange rates 35 Affordable look-alike items 33 Affordable look-alike items 29 Product quality was not as high as expected 30
5 Easy to order with little hassle 27 Good price thanks to exchange rates 29 Product quality was not as high as expected 28 Takes longer than expected for items to arrive 28
Positive impression Negative impression

2. Shopping-related purposes rank among the topreasons for using social media, and in seven of the eight cities—excludingTokyo—the majority of users have experience with social commerce.

  • Across all eight cities, “shopping” ranked among the top reasons for using social media. Among them, Jakarta, Shanghai, and Bangkok showed particularly high rates of social media use for shopping purposes, with each exceeding 80%.
  • Social commerce experience exceeds 50% in seven cities (all except Tokyo), with particularly high adoption rates in Jakarta, Shanghai, Bangkok, and Mumbai.
  • Among social commerce platforms, "TikTok / Douyin" is the most widely used for purchases, with usage rates exceeding 70% in Shanghai, Jakarta, and Bangkok. While platforms such as Instagram and Facebook are also commonly used, YouTube stands out as the most frequently used platform in Tokyo.

Figure 3. Share of Respondents with Social Commerc

Experience (%)

City Share
Los Angeles
52%
48%
London
59%
41%
Mumbai
75%
25%
Jakarta
82%
18%
Bangkok
79%
21%
Seoul
55%
45%
Shanghai
81%
19%
Tokyo
16%
84%
Have social commerce experience No social commerce experience

Figure4.　PrimarySocial Commerce Platform Used (%)

Platform Tokyo Shanghai Seoul Bangkok Jakarta Mumbai London Los Angeles
Facebook 44 20 25 69 40 60 59 43
Instagram 61 13 73 37 55 85 64 61
YouTube 63 23 59 38 20 70 42 52
X 46 6 14 18 14 20 29 19
TikTok 26 92 22 78 80 11 63 54
Snapchat 7 6 4 7 3 27 22 22
Messenger apps
(LINE, WhatsApp, WeChat, Kakao)		 20 40 17 24 25 34 20 14

3. Immersive and AI-powered shopping experiencesare attracting increasing attention, with particularly strong interest in newtechnologies observed in Shanghai and Mumbai.

  • Overall, interest in new technologies that enhance the
    shopping experience is high, with Shanghai and Mumbai showing particularly
    strong response levels across the board. In contrast, in Tokyo and Los Angeles,
    there is a notable segment of users who are reluctant to try new technologies,
    and interest is especially low in Tokyo, where more than half of respondents
    expressed little desire to adopt such innovations.
  • Technologies that attract high levels of interest include
    immersive experiences that allow users to virtually try on or place products,
    AI-driven features such as image recognition and personalized recommendations,
    and window shopping in virtual environments.
  • In some cities, there is a growing demand for more
    interactive shopping experiences, such as live commerce and voice-based
    conversational commerce. Interest in live commerce is particularly high in
    Jakarta and Shanghai, while conversational commerce draws strong interest in
    Mumbai, with each exceeding a 50% response rate.

Figure 5. Top 3 New Technologies Consumers Want to Try to improve Their Shopping Experience(%)

Emerging Commerce Technology Interest (%)

(%) Tokyo Shanghai Seoul Bangkok
1 None of the above — not interested in trying any new tech 53 Immersive shopping experience enabling virtual try-on & product placement 59 Immersive shopping experience enabling virtual try-on & product placement 40 Immersive shopping experience enabling virtual try-on & product placement 45
2 Immersive shopping experience enabling virtual try-on & product placement 24 AI-powered shopping experience (image recognition, product recommendations, etc.) 54 AI-powered shopping experience (image recognition, product recommendations, etc.) 40 Virtual-space window shopping experience 43
3 AI-powered shopping experience (image recognition, product recommendations, etc.) 15 Live commerce service enabling real-time product Q&A while watching video 50 Virtual-space window shopping experience 36 Voice recognition-based conversational shopping experience 40

(%) Jakarta Mumbai London Los Angeles
1 Live commerce service enabling real-time product Q&A while watching video 56 Voice recognition-based conversational shopping experience 52 Voice recognition-based conversational shopping experience 35 Immersive shopping experience enabling virtual try-on & product placement 35
2 Virtual-space window shopping experience 43 AI-powered shopping experience (image recognition, product recommendations, etc.) 47 Immersive shopping experience enabling virtual try-on & product placement 35 None of the above — not interested in trying any new tech 32
3 AI-powered shopping experience (image recognition, product recommendations, etc.) 40 Virtual-space window shopping experience 47 Virtual-space window shopping experience 33 AI-powered shopping experience (image recognition, product recommendations, etc.) 33
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Masayuki Hagiwara, Analyst at transcosmos Global Business Division, commented: “The growing global support for low-cost Chinese online shopping platforms is driven not only by their affordability, but also by factors such as the ease and speed of comparing and purchasing products. Additionally, a value orientation that prioritizes cost-performance over brand loyalty has become increasingly widespread.

Moreover, social media has evolved from merely a source of information into a place where purchases are made. In particular, in emerging Asian markets, platforms such as TikTok and Instagram function almost like search engines and serve as key entry points into e-commerce.

Furthermore, interest in future shopping experiences enabled by immersive and conversational technologies is growing, indicating that consumer purchasing behavior is steadily transitioning into its next phase.

The findings of this survey reveal that global consumers are seeking increasingly diverse shopping experiences, placing value not only on low prices but also on a combination of immediacy, convenience, and experiential quality.”

About the “Online Shopping Usage Trends in Eight Global Cities” Survey

Research Method: Online survey conducted using a global panel, with
questionnaires administered in local languages.

Cities Surveyed: Tokyo (Japan), Seoul
(South Korea), Shanghai (China), Mumbai (India), Bangkok (Thailand), Jakarta
(Indonesia), Los Angeles (USA), London (UK)

Survey Respondents:
Male and female respondents aged 15–49
who have made online purchases within the pastyear.

Number of Collected Samples: 320 × 8 cities = 2,560 samples
Survey Period: February 17–25, 2025
Survey Contractor: Cross Marketing Inc.