How will Asian consumers shop this year and what will they expect from retailers? We explore eight new customer priorities and outline the best strategies for success across all industries
Rohini Wahi & Alison Ho | 02.06.25 – 28 minutes
Need to know
Our Asia Shopper Priorities forecast covers eight drivers for APAC and complements the Shopper Priorities 2025 report covering Western markets. In the coming years, fragmentation between mature consumer markets and emerging ones will continue to grow, though Asian shoppers will continue to rally around value and localised offerings while adopting more intentional and slow approaches to living and consumption.
Opportunity
A divide is emerging in Asian retail markets, with optimistic shoppers in emerging economies showing growth potential while those in mature markets demonstrate price sensitivity. Despite widespread cost-consciousness into 2025, value will remain a main driver. Successful retailers will be those who can elevate the shopping journey and introduce products that bring consumers joy and convenience across all channels.
In this evolving landscape, pop culture, entertainment, and the arts will emerge as ‘anchors of meaning’ for shoppers, driving a greater focus on retailtainment and cultural spaces and products. As such, exceptional service will become rooted in respect for local languages and culture. 2025 will also see a continued focus on longevity, with shoppers adopting a more intentional and wellness-led approach to living. To come out on top, retailers must create compelling value propositions underpinned by affordability, ease and convenience, trust and new priorities around localisation, wellness and culture.
STEPIC forecasts: Consumer Personas 2027: The Energisers, The Year of Redirection, Intentional Tech, Polarised Consumption, Glimmers, Fresh Perspectives
Strategies
Finding the middle: shoppers are looking to maximise value from their purchases even as they continue to spend, regardless of whether they’re trading up or down. This theme mirrors emerging sentiments in our Shopper Priorities 2025 forecast covering Europe, North America and LATAM
Simplifying choice: faced with overwhelming choices online, shoppers will seek retailers that can help them combat decision fatigue and make the best choice for themselves
Superior service: new luxury consumers are demanding superior experiences and conveniences, combining digital-first strategies with Asia’s unique culture of service
Grow cultural currency: Asian shoppers are turning to cultural events and industries as an antidote to a polycrisis, gravitating towards cultural brokers that can help facilitate community and a sense of meaning. This theme mirrors a key strategy in our global Retail Forecast 2026
Seeking transparency: with a rapidly changing digital landscape and the rise of online scams, a new generation of APAC consumers is demanding transparency from businesses. This theme mirrors a key strategy in our global Shopper Priorities 2025
Hyper-personalisation: as AI acceptance grows, Asian consumers will expect services that incorporate deep personalisation of their diverse needs
Slowing it down: the mindset of ‘growth at all costs’ is giving way to newfound priorities around longevity and wellness, while leisure becomes adopted as a new luxury code
Commercialised comfort: comfort is becoming a priority as Asia’s 4.8 billion-strong population navigates increasing temperatures and teeming streets
Finding the middle
Shoppers in mature consumer markets are becoming more cost-conscious amid socioeconomic instability, while shoppers in fast-growing emerging markets are creating new growth pockets as they trade up. Service this new middle by offering more value for money. This theme mirrors emerging sentiments in Shopper Priorities 2025
Strategy 1 – Invest in new retail hotspots
- Consider less popular and less traditionally affluent areas. Reassess investments away from struggling outlets in Tier 1 cities and instead ramp up presence in lower-tier cities
- Retailers must respond as consumer perception of value continues to evolve. Consider new pricing strategies such as transparent pricing, absorbing price increases on essential items, and offering subscription fees that include complimentary maintenance of products to demonstrate support for shoppers during tough times
- With nearly half of APAC shoppers in loyalty programmes saying they are there for discounts and offers, retailers should optimise rewards and loyalty schemes, using paid membership fees or loyalty reward programmes that offer built-in discounts or perks. Aim for a 3:1 ratio between ‘perceived value’ and the amount paid (ie customers should feel benefits are 3x their membership fee) as more shoppers look to optimise their purchases
- Launch your own private-label basics and cheaper alternatives to popular or trending products to meet cost-conscious customers. A NeilsenIQ survey found that 95% of Singaporean shoppers bought house brands in 2024
- Amid omnichannel shopping, drive flexibility with hyperlocal delivery and last-mile networks – especially in heartland regions by using larger stores for hub-and-spoke delivery models
Swire Properties, which operates luxury malls in China, saw retail sales at Taikoo Li Sanlitun in Beijing fall by 3.5% in June, and retail sales at HKRI Taikoo Hui in Shanghai plummet by 19.6%. In contrast, mall operator, Seazen Holdings, which boasts a large presence in lower-tier cities, saw rental income rising steadily across 2024 (ThinkChina)
In Japan, consumers are switching retailers and opting for private-label products as they continue to trade down
Despite premium membership costs, American membership-based warehouse supermarket chains such as Costco and Sam’s Club are finding success in China with novel in-store experiences such as live tasting areas, on top of bulk buying at low prices
Sam’s Club is merging value with convenience and speed by operating dark stores (warehouse-like spaces servicing online orders) on top of its hypermarkets in China, enabling the retailer to offer a one-hour delivery service
Korean e-commerce retailer Musinsa rewards members with Members’ Day, which occurs in the first three days of each month. The first 20 customers get 20% off, while members earn extra points on all purchases
Adding novelty into the grocery shopping experience, South Korean supermarket Lotte Mart expanded the floor area for food from 20% to 80% at its Gandaria City branch in Jakarta to account for Korean eateries and groceries
Singaporean online food and grocery delivery platform Foodpanda launched its affordable private-label range, Bright, in April 2024. Shoppers can save up to 25% from its house brand compared with other brands on its platform
In China, see our Brand Case Study: Pangdonglai (currently only available in Mandarin) for best practices on transparent pricing and transforming private-label basics into must-buy items
South Korean pharmacy Olive Young is meeting the growing demand for health and fitness food products by launching its own private-label functional food range, Tantan. Its first three products pack extra value by solving both dietary and skincare needs at once
Strategy 2 – Offer elevated essentials
Consumers in emerging markets, including New Tier 1, Tier 2 and 3 cities in China, smaller cities in India and major cities in Southeast Asia, are emerging as new drivers of Asia’s consumption boom. Inject extra value into the shopping journey to speak to these consumers who are looking to upgrade on essentials while stretching their spending on discretionary items.
Be innovative about how you can add value to the retail experience beyond price to build emotional loyalty in stores. Introduce thoughtful details that cater to new demographic shifts in stores, including elderly- or pet-friendly amenities, complementary services or goods, transparent labelling around nutrition and sourcing, and open feedback loops
Build on the affordable indulgence direction from last year and ‘glimmer-fy’ the experience of shopping for essentials. Embrace kidult aesthetics and leverage play, including the use of fun and vibrant colour combinations, interactive sensory-first touchpoints and joyful product formats such as gashapons and blind boxes, to encourage shoppers to trade up for a treat
Take this strategy even further by turning everyday retail spaces into multi-concept entertainment or lifestyle hubs to extend dwell time and sharpen differentiation from competitors
75% of Indian consumers planned to increase their spending in key categories such as clothing and footwear in H2 2024, and brands can expect similar sentiments to extend into 2025 (PwC)
Korean retail group Shinsegae is super-charging the mall experience by unveiling the first-ever integrated baseball stadium and shopping mall globally in 2027. Located in Incheon, the space will hold both a new Starfield shopping mall concept, the home stadium for local baseball team SSG Landers, and a hotel with an infinity pool overlooking the stadium
Emerging as a retail star amid sluggish consumer spending, Chinese hypermarket Pangdonglai, which predominantly services lower-tier cities, incorporates thoughtful touchpoints including free mobile phone chargers, magnifying classes on carts for senior shoppers, and a rest area for pets. The retailer also provides free returns for unsatisfactory products and absorbs price hikes in some instances
Japanese value retailer Muji’s revamped Ginza flagship is a tribute to value and minimalism across seven storeys. The space includes a food market with fresh products and Ginza-blend coffee, plus a design studio for personalisation and a Muji Hotel
Starbucks Korea’s newest store, Jangchung Lounge R, is the country’s first Reserve-only store and elevates the coffee store experience with AR displays that showcase the bean-to-cup journey and a Mixology Bar where consumers can enjoy coffee cocktails
Bangkok-based lifestyle and fashion retailer Daddy and Muscle Academy’s stores have a cute and kitsch Y2K-inspired concept with the use of playful and contrasting pastel colours, plus mischievous stickers and bold graphics
Singaporean grocery retailer FairPrice Group and its South Korean counterpart, Lotte, are offering private labels from each other at their stores, adding a regionally-inspired dose of newness to merchandising
Southeast Asian e-commerce platform Lazada has partnered with insurance technology service Peak 3 to offer shoppers embedded insurance, including gadget and electronics protection and product liability coverage for products purchased on its platform
Simplifying choice
Amid unlimited choices online, shoppers are becoming weighed down by decision fatigue and choice paralysis. Streamline the shopper journey by doubling down on subconscious commerce to anticipate their needs even before they do.
Strategy 1 – Streamline choice to solve decision fatigue
Consumer expectations around the ease and speed at which they find what they are looking for are on the rise as they face the onslaught of digital clutter via both genuine reviews and paid promotions online. Seven in 10 APAC consumers say they want inspiration through search to purchase as quickly as possible. As new consumer behaviours nurtured by social interest platforms TikTok or Douyin are cemented, brands will need to anticipate, predict and seamlessly meet their potential interest.
Prioritise and expand your presence on social commerce platforms that use social interest graphs, including TikTok Shop, Douyin, Rednote (Xiaohongshu) and WeChat Channels. These platforms, which are expanding closed-loop commerce systems of their own, are winning market share and will set the tone for the future of e-commerce
With 70% of APAC consumers believing that brands and retailers should work harder to improve their mobile experiences, standalone brand apps must develop and refine their proprietary social-interest frameworks for a predictive approach to commerce
Expand investment into generative AI to power intuitive and fast searches, including visual and voice-activated search, conversational chatbots and AI-powered smart review summaries. Some of these functions saw a penetration rate of 23% among Gen Z Chinese shoppers in the six months ahead of Singles’ Day 2024, and 80% of consumers regularly use AI tools on Lazada
With generative AI being used to create product images and descriptions for merchants en masse on e-commerce, retailers must refine their content community and take a soft-sell approach on livestreams to fight digital clutter, offer a more nuanced value proposition and extend customer lifetime value
A new image-based search function by Taobao Wenwen pushes product recommendations for users simply by having them take a photo of the space where they work
First beta-launched in September 2023, Taobao’s Large Learning Model (LLM)-powered generative AI service, Taobao Wenwen (Mandarin for “ask”), has now been fully integrated on the e-commerce platform. The conversational service bot helps guide purchasing decisions using a mix of language, short videos and livestreams. Shoppers can also use it to compare products and ask for purchase recommendations
TripGenie is travel platform Trip.com’s AI-powered assistant which can help consumers plan and customise full itineraries and recommend bookings all within the app
In August 2024, South Korean e-commerce platform Musinsa revamped its app across six key categories to optimise UI/UX for shoppers. Each category homepage now features personalised ‘recommended for you’ sections and a ‘release’ board where users can customise filters to see news about their favourite brands and products. Its customer review section, Snap, has now been reorganised into a social media-like experience where shoppers can collect inspiration images, post ‘stories’ and follow brands and influencers
See our report, E-commerce Strategy: Livestreaming in Southeast Asia, for best practices and examples on brand building and scaling up on TikTok Shop
Strategy 2 – Introduce hyper-curated stores
- Balance the need for speed online with a more curated and intentional approach to discovery in stores. Focus on right-sizing of your product mix in stores by considering the unique climate, local lifestyle needs or cultural preferences of your customers
- Experiment with concept stores that position products as part of a brand story rather than a transactional process, leveraging archive-building to centre visual storytelling on an educational journey about brand history, key brand motifs and values or iconic products
- Bring social proof (product validations from social media and digital platforms) into stores. With shoppers’ reality and choices increasingly shaped by the content they consume online, retailers should play into this by carving out standalone ‘viral online’ sections to support fast and easy IRL discovery. A 2024 survey found 82% of Southeast Asian consumers have followed influencer recommendations for purchases (impact.com)
- Experiment with co-creating stores, products and services alongside your consumers to give them exactly what they want from physical retail. Create feedback loops and curate a brand community that you can rely on to test new concepts and ideas
Located in Shanghai, American sports lifestyle brand New Balance’s first-ever premium retail concept, NB Grey R, plays into colour wash with grey tones and materials such as stone to celebrate the brand’s iconic grey trainers. Meanwhile, the store focuses on its premium ranges including the Made-in-USA and UK series alongside the innovative Tokyo Design Studio collection to streamline merchandising
In action
Located within the third floor of Shanghai-based fashion retailer XC273, Archivism Showroom is a fashion retail-as-gallery space that showcases contemporary and vintage for sale items alongside archival pieces as part of a museum-like experience. Under the theme of Wearable Artefacts, the space rotated through exhibitions exploring the relationship between fashion and art across 2024
In Seoul, LG Electronics’ experimental customer experience store, Ground 220, was co-created alongside The LG Crew, a Gen Z advisory panel recruited from local universities, which gave input on store design choices, in-store offerings and services and event programming
Located in Tokyo’s Harajuku, Bape Think is the first concept store for Japanese streetwear brand Bape and will focus on highly-curated merchandising from its Mr. Bathing Ape line and exclusive collaborative pieces
For its first flagship in Singapore, Korean beauty retailer Ksisters features products handpicked by its aesthetician founder, Jungmin Lee, who took into account Singapore’s humid climate in the selection
Superior service
New luxury consumers are demanding superior experiences and conveniences that combine digital-first strategies with Asia’s unique culture of service. According to the UBS Global Wealth Report 2024, APAC’s riches grew by nearly 177% over the past 15 years, outpacing the rest of the world. To capture wealthy shoppers, brands will need to go above and beyond conventional service metrics.
Strategy 1 – Refresh old-fashioned concierge services
- Win young luxury consumers at the start of their journey. Introduce superior service where affluent youth spend the rest of their time – at malls. Create concierge points in luxury malls where hospitality-grade staff can tend to every need, book movie tickets or call a car. Offer butler services to carry bags while consumers shop or porter services to deliver items to their destinations. Blend old-fashioned service with modern convenience, allowing for the hailing of these services with an in-mall app or QR codes
- With wealthy youth in Asia aspiring to gain experiences over objects as signifiers of luxury, create exceptional concierge services that excel in cultural curation. Offer round-the-clock services that incorporate dedicated teams and relationship managers to provide sought-after tailor-made experiences. Incorporate seamless tech that allows users to manage their schedules with personalised calendars, conduct secure transactions and access curated content showcasing the latest luxury trends. Incorporate AI modelling to provide recommendations based on user personas and to identify new opportunities to connect and engage with customers
- Curate hospitality-grade spaces that allow customers to interact with like-minded communities while immersed in the brand’s culture. Heritage retailers can differentiate and appeal to new consumers by diversifying their offerings and crafting spaces that blend retail, lifestyle and community
Jio World Drive Mumbai’s luxury mall provides a 360 concierge service for shoppers including, a butler, a valet and styling services. Butlers can hold bags and make movie reservations as well as call the valet so shoppers don’t have to wait for their car. The service is complimentary for up to 24 hours
The Indulge Global membership provides an exclusive gateway to luxury experiences with a dedicated team of six to seven globally experienced professionals who are available 24/7 to fulfill unlimited requests via a private WhatsApp group – from securing hard-to-get restaurant reservations to sending international birthday surprises
British luxury department store Harrods offers ultra-premium services across aviation, real estate, interior design, personal shopping and access to exclusive masterclasses for members of its first private members’ club in Shanghai, The Residence
Strategy 2 – Leverage digital-first capabilities to replicate luxury service
- Win VIP consumers with beyond-money online previews. Very important customers (VICs) play an important role in online luxury. In China, VICs who buy more than three times a year account for over 50% of sales at Tmall Luxury Pavilion, thriving on exclusive collections and rare opportunities to purchase luxury items (Bain and Co). Offer exclusive previews that combine both offline and online elements, with consultants dialling in from immersive showroom settings and applying culture as a KPI. Treat consumers to previews of upcoming collections and yet unseen pieces, creating exclusivity for valued customers viewing items before they are even stocked in-store. This will help deepen engagement and relationships with their high-profile patrons. Brands can also use this as a data-collecting exercise, sense-checking collections and preferences before they go to market
- Offer trackable post-purchase services. Bring in-store repair services online, allowing customers to easily schedule product pick-up and delivery through an app and track its status. Look to Tmall Luxury Pavilion, which offers services ranging from luggage cleaning and maintenance to bracelet or ring adjustment and handbag repair, and enables luxury customers to easily schedule product pick-up and delivery through its platform
- Create VIP digital salons that blend tech and personal services seamlessly, cherry-picking the best elements that drive the needs of the new luxury consumer. These rooms can allow VIP customers to shop remotely within the showroom and still experience cultural immersion. Incorporate video consultations with staff in the main store through digital screens as well as AR technology to suggest style combinations
- Continue to expand unified commerce capabilities while ensuring that information is available to customer service and sales representatives to drive recommendations in stores as well as online
Luxury Indian jewellery brand Goenka blends digital consultancy with an emphasis on craft by offering video consultations from its luxury store locations. VIP customers are treated to previews of upcoming collections and yet unseen pieces, creating exclusivity for valued customers viewing items before they are even stocked in-store. The previews can become points of in-depth discussion and helped the brand deepen engagement and relationships with their high-profile patrons
Bvlgari has partnered with Indian e-commerce retailer Tata CLiQ Luxury to launch the brand’s first digital boutique in India. This collaboration aims to expand Bvlgari’s reach with HNWIs in India. The boutique will offer India-inspired creations and include a luxury concierge service for a personalised shopping experience, with knowledgeable experts trained by the brand to guide customers through their purchasing journey
Porche’s new two-storey mixed-use Singapore showroom is located in the prestigious Guoco Midtown development. With the aim of elevating customer experiences, the space also features two exclusive delivery bays set against the backdrop of the picturesque Marina Bay area, creating a “reveal moment” and a dazzling location for a would-be Porsche owners before handing over the keys
Shinsegae Department Store in South Korea has opened its most ambitious VIP facility to date. The Personal Shopper Room (PSR), a lavish 3,627sq-ft space, is reserved for elite customers who spend over 100m South Korean won (approximately $68,000) annually at the store. One of the four rooms, dubbed the Digital Room, features a full-length mirror equipped with a camera, enabling customers to have video consultations with staff members who are in the store. The setup allows clients to shop remotely, also using (AR) technology to suggest various styling options tailored to each individual
Grow cultural currency
Consumers are gravitating towards culture, media and entertainment for anchors of certainty and community amid global upheaval and a youth loneliness crisis. Align your strategies to offer emotional antidotes and meaning beyond immediate gratification. This theme mirrors a key strategy in our Retail Forecast 2026
Strategy 1 – Act as a cultural broker for fans
- Start crafting a cultural calendar to plan retail activations, merchandising deals and feeding the fandom touchpoints. Track major events within the K-wave, gaming and esports, anime and comics and the emerging C-wave and T-wave, as well as key cultural moments such as upcoming blockbuster releases. Cash in on music tourism, especially in India, which is experiencing a live entertainment boom
- Demonstrate authenticity by including fandom-native activities such as trading card games (or collectible experiences) and DIY fan merch experiences to grow cultural cachet
- To stay ahead of cool culture and amplify the rise of subcultures, including the nu-indie revival in South Korea and Southeast Asia’s subcultural sunrise, which will form as niche becomes the norm
- Situate the collectibles economy within the experience renaissance by crafting ‘collectible experiences’ for fans. Turn stores and pop-ups into immersive and interactive playscapes where fans can enter tangible spaces that bring them closer to their favourite fantasy worlds or celebrities
- Treat stans and superfans as store VIPs as you align with new fandoms. Design exclusive events for them, including fan meetings, screening or listening parties, and book or album signings, and incorporate discounts and rewards for those who can demonstrate the strongest fan loyalty
74% of Gen Z and Millennials (including those in key APAC markets) have attended concerts or live shows in the last year, while nearly half of Indian Gen Z say they’re more likely to purchase from brands that sponsor live music events or concerts (WWD/Spotify)
In Hong Kong, the 350 large-scale pop concerts held between 2023 and 2024 attracted 4.2 million concertgoers, including more than 1.5 million tourists, generating HK$282m for Hong Kong’s economy (CNA)
Bangkok’s Iconsiam mall hosted the first ever Southeast Asian pop-up exhibition, Dream Vibe, for K-pop group NCT Dream in January 2025. A multisensorial and interactive space that immerses visitors into “the world of NCT dream”, fans can also buy Bangkok-exclusive merchandise and DIY keyrings at the store
Art toy brand Miniso’s collaboration with the anime title One Piece achieved a 95% sold-out rate within two days of launch in Jakarta. The retailer is continuing its Anime, Comics and Games (ACG) partnerships with hit Chinese gaming title Black Myth: Wukong
Tapping into the region’s love of K-wave and K-beauty, retail pharmacy Watsons Malaysia launched ‘K-pop Land’, a shop-in-shop concept dedicated to showcasing K-beauty products alongside fan merchandise and albums from leading K-pop groups
In September 2024, South Korean fashion retailer Musinsa collaborated with iconic K-pop girl group 2NE1 to create exclusive merchandise for the group’s sold-out comeback concerts in Seoul and Japan
Hong Kong art mall K11 Musea set a new record for single-day footfall, with an almost 40% increase, during its 100% Doraemon & Friends exhibition, which included hyperphysical installations, a “tailored-for-Hong Kong” animated short film and food and drink experiences
Making a play into esports, premium Japanese sports and outdoor brand Descente has become the official outfitter for South Korean League of Legends (LoL) team Gen.G. Release dates are tiered with Gen.G fanclub pass holders getting early access to items
For Seventeen’s concerts in Korea, Spotify Korea launched a pop-up, Carat Station Seoul, in Seoul’s Konkuk University neighbourhood. Experiences included a group listening session, which includes organised fan chanting every 17 minutes
Strategy 2 – Imbue soft-selling environments with cultural storytelling
- Encourage serendipitous discovery by blurring the boundaries between gallery, third space and store. Take a curatorial approach to elevating visual merchandising and creative collaborations while making space for ‘meet cutes’
- Extend cultural sponsorships into tangible store experiences, including concerts or performances, film screenings and cultural salons, to emotionally differentiate retail beyond transactions. Piggyback on the literary and film revival, and the ‘academic bars’ trend in China, with spaces that recreate intimate nights or turn stores into cultural salons
- Approach spatial design as a physical extension of brand world-building. Build out brand fictions IRL while playing up the qualities unique to physical retail such as touch and visual awe. Focus on sensorial-first concepts powered by immersive digital displays, AR, AI and digital mannequins and holograms
- Ensure that you’re accounting for other subconscious drivers, which are said to influence 95% of decision-making, including the in-store mood, vibe or ‘aura’. Utilise vibe curation as an opportunity to align with artists and musicians that reflect your brand values. Three in four Gen Z in Australia and New Zealand feel more connected to brands that create playlists for specific moods and moments (Spotify)
- As mainstream culture becomes defined from within APAC rather than traditional West-to-East flows, brands must continue to harness regionality and invest in hyperlocalism and rural and heritage creativity while giving it a fresh twist via restorytelling
