e-Commerce Boom in Asia

Tony Sagami takes a closer look at growth in e-Commerce in Asia. In this issue of Money and Markets, Mr. Sagami also discusses the high usage of cell phones in replace of computers in China.

Jupiter, FL (PRWEB) July 10, 2008 -- Tony Sagami takes a closer look at growth in e-Commerce in Asia. Mr. Sagami also discusses the high usage of cell phones in replace of computers in China.

The latest MasterCard study, which examined Asian e-commerce trends, demonstrates that Asia's Internet growth is astonishing. Asian e-commerce could grow by 23% a year for the next decade. China will replace Japan as the largest online shopping market in Asia by 2010. According to the study, "Domestic consumer spending in the two countries is poised to pick up strongly, underpinned by the rapid pace of urbanization, robust economic expansion and rising spending power."

MasterCard expects 480 million Chinese to spend $1.4 trillion over the Internet with India a close second. "The rising population of upper-middle-income urban elites is likely to boost the online shopping markets in China and India significantly."

The overall Asian online shopping penetration rate is about 70%, "indicating the online population has a high tendency to make online purchases."

Effective e-retailing requires online advertising and that too is booming in Asia. Japanese companies are expected to spend $6 billion in online advertising in 2009, while Chinese advertisers are going to allocate $2.6 billion into online ads by 2010.

Although the price of computers has fallen dramatically in the last few years, a personal computer (PC) is still out of financial reach for the average Chinese. Meanwhile, mobile phones are both cheap and capable of many of the same functions as PCs. Mobile phones are much more than telephones to Asians. In China, mobile phones are called a shouji, which roughly translates into "hand-machine." That's an extremely accurate characterization of how mobile phones are used in China. In addition to traditional calling services, the company offers value-added services such as: caller ID, call waiting, call forwarding, voice mail, conference calling, instant messaging, text messaging, as well as accessing the Internet. And the advances in WAP (Wireless Application Protocol), an international open standard, make it possible for wireless devices to provide all of the basic services of a computer-based web browser. WAP is now the protocol used for the majority of the world's mobile Internet sites and makes it possible to display Internet-contents on wireless devices.

The total number of Chinese with cell phones has increased to 592 million. But that still means that only about 45% of China's 1.3 billion residents own a cell phone, as compared to nearly 85% in the U.S. The number of cell phone users in China surged by 44.8 million or 8% since the start of the year. And those users are spending more money on those value-added services, too. Total cell phone revenue for all of China's cellular companies in the first five months of 2008 grew by 9.6% to $48 billion. Interestingly, the demand for traditional fixed-line telephone service is falling. The number of fixed-line accounts fell by 6.5 million to 358 million.

The largest mobile phone carrier in China is China Mobile with more than 400 million subscribers. The company totally dominates in terms of market share. And that's not going to change anytime soon. China mobile is 75% owned by China Mobile Communications Corporation (CMCC) and the government of China owns CMCC. In fact, the President of CMCC, Wang Jianzhou, is also the CEO of China Mobile.

"There is no way that the Chinese government is going to do anything to hurt one of its most valuable assets and crucial telecommunication providers. If anything, the Chinese government will pave the way for China Mobile to prosper," Sagami states.

To read this issue online, please visit:

http://www.moneyandmarkets.com/Issues.aspx?A-Big-Winner-from-Asias-E-Commerce-Boom-1940

About TONY SAGAMI & MONEY AND MARKETS     

Tony Sagami, a veteran investment advisor and a leading expert on Asian markets, is the owner and founder of Harvest Advisors, an investment research and money management company. Mr. Sagami has been managing money for more than 20 years and is one of the early pioneers in the application of technical and quantitative analysis to mutual funds and stocks. He is a featured contributor to Weiss Research's daily e-letter, Money and Markets and monthly Safe Money Report as well as the editor of Asia Stock Alert.

Prior to establishing his own firm, Mr. Sagami was managing director at W.E. Donoghue & Co, serving additionally as the director of investment. During his successful career, he also held the position of account executive at Merrill Lynch.

Mr. Sagami's views on Asian markets, specifically Chinese investments, have been featured in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, Kiplinger's, Smart Money, Business Week, New York Times, Washington Post, Investors Business Daily, Bloomberg, Financial Planning Times, Mutual FundsMagazine, Chicago Tribune, and the LA Times, as well as on CNBC and CNBC Asia.

Mr. Sagami holds a degree in economics from the University of Washington.

Money and Markets (www.moneyandmarkets.com) is a free daily investment newsletter from Dr. Martin Weiss and Weiss Research analysts offering the latest investing news and financial insights for the stock market, including tips and advice on investing in gold, energy and oil. Weiss Research, Inc. is located in Jupiter, Florida. For more information about our editors, or to set up an interview, please contact Jennifer Moran at 561-627-3300 or visit www.moneyandmarkets.com.

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