Asian consumers are leapfrogging their peers when it comes to digital technology

According to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), for companies in Asia, leadership in digital transformation is often the result of consumer pressure. In many ways, Asia is becoming the place where consumer companies are figuring out how to future-proof their businesses. And nowhere is this truer than in China. That’s because consumers in China are leapfrogging their peers elsewhere when it comes to digital technology.

People’s lives in Asia are strongly based on technology; it has penetrated all aspects of their daily activities far more deeply than in many other parts of the world. Take for example messenger applications. These are widely used across the globe, but China has taken the idea of a messenger app to a whole new level with its WeChat platform, which combines the capabilities of a classic website, a product catalog, an online ordering and payment system, a newsfeed, and a social network thanks to its unique app-within-an-app model. The WeChat platform helps people organize their entire life, and they spend hours every day consuming services through it. As a result of such a profound integration with technology, the boundary between people’s work lives and private lives has essentially disappeared.

Asia is also home to a growing number of technology giants. In 2014, Asia’s top ten smartphone brands – the likes of Samsung, LG, Xiaomi, and Sony – already accounted for 69 percent of global handset sales. And because of the associated ecosystem, a third of the world’s 2.3 million app developers are based in Asia.

Such companies are driving innovation in all facets of digital business, including the smart home – now a reality in Asia. In South Korea, SK Telecom has partnered with LG and Samsung, as well as construction firm Hyundai E&C, to build fully connected apartments, and market leader LG Uplus has also introduced a plethora of innovative services. This includes sometimes surprising but very popular new services such as connected rice cookers and even a connected pet feeder! There are now an estimated one million users of smart home services there, with the market volume in South Korea alone expected to grow to USD 19 billion in the next two years.