2010-12-07 15:27 
SINGAPORE, Dec. 7, 2010
/PRNewswire-Asia/ -- With the year-end shopping season upon us,
more Asians are choosing to buy online to avoid the crowds, long
queues and parking troubles at shopping malls, while benefiting
from holiday promotions on a wider variety of items that can be
found online. PayPal saw an approximately 160 percent increase in
online shopping transaction value from Asian consumers on November
7th, highlighting that the holiday shopping period across the
region began in early November. This is also the first year-end
holiday season for Asian consumers to be covered by PayPal's
expanded Buyer Protection policy.
According to the Asia Digital
Marketing Association (ADMA) 2010 Report, the top three reasons for
online shopping across the region include the convenience of being
able to shop anytime, better deals from price comparisons, and the
ability to find and compare a wide range of products. ADMA also
reported that 39% of online shoppers across the region indicated
that they buy from overseas websites, highlighting the importance
of cross-border shopping.
"Stronger Asian currencies, the
increasing number of Asian online retailers and growing confidence
for cross-border shopping have created a perfect combination for
millions of smart, savvy Asian consumers to buy online for greater
convenience and better deals this holiday season," said Nimish
Dwivedi, Regional Head of Marketing, PayPal Asia Pacific.
To further sweeten the online
shopping deals for Asian consumers this holiday season, PayPal and
over 80 merchants across the region -- from Australia, mainland
China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and
Thailand -- are offering exclusive promotions and rewards on
thousands of products at PayPal Plaza (http://www.paypal-plaza.com).
Special holiday offers at PayPal
Plaza include:
Hot holiday items that Asians have
already looked for on PayPal Plaza include electronic gadgets and
accessories, such as gaming headsets, touchscreen mobile phones,
iPad cases; fashion items like ladies' watches, pendants and
skincare products; and gifts like books, bottle openers and even
bicycle tires.
In addition, Asian consumers who use
PayPal to buy items from over 8 million online merchants worldwide
are now protected for eligible purchases if they don't receive an
item they have purchased, or if they receive an eligible item that
is significantly different than described by the online retailer.
For more info about PayPal's Buyer Protection policy, please
visit https://www.paypal-apac.com/buyerprotection/security-centre.html.
Dwivedi continued, "We're excited to
bring even more holiday cheer to Asian consumers through deep
discounts and free shipping on thousands of products from around
the region as well as peace of mind with our Buyer Protection when
they shop with local online retailers to overseas websites."
Celebrating the holiday season,
PayPal Plaza now boasts a new festive theme along with Asian
merchants grouped into 14 categories and by 6 countries. The site
also has useful features to simplify the holiday shopping
experience such as a gift finder, personalized wishlists and the
Top 50 items list. New fun features include clicking on a
"heart" for a gift you like in order to rank it higher in the Top
50 items list and sharing your wishlist with friends and family on
multiple social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.
About PayPal
PayPal is the faster, safer way to
pay and get paid online. The service allows members to send
payments without sharing financial information, with the
flexibility to pay using their account balances, credit cards, and
bank accounts where available in various markets. PayPal is an eBay
company and enables global e-commerce with more than 90 million
active accounts in 190 markets and 24 currencies around the world.
PayPal's open payment platform, PayPal X, allows developers to
build innovative payment applications on multiple platforms and
devices. More information about PayPal can be found at https://www.paypal.com.
PayPal is headquartered in San Jose,
California and its international headquarters is located in
Singapore.
* Subject to participating merchant
terms and conditions. The free shipping promotion is provided by
the participating merchants and their preferred shipping partner,
not by PayPal.
** Terms and conditions from PayPal
apply.
Media Contacts:
Dickson Seow
PayPal Asia Pacific
+65-6510-6463
[email protected]
Jeremy Seow / Jolin Tan
Text 100 Public Relations (for PayPal)
+65-6603-9000
[email protected]
SOURCE PayPal