New visual analytics app dethrones Singapore as most expensive city in APAC

SINGAPORE – JUNE
15, 2016 – Qlik® (NASDAQ:
QLIK), a leader in visual analytics, has developed a new web-based app for
consumers that allows them to quickly and easily compare the cost of living
across eight key cities in Asia Pacific (APAC) – Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur,
Mumbai, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo.

Built on Qlik Sense®, the Qlik APAC Cost of
Living app uses embedded
visual analytics to enable users to uncover insights into the
cost of living across different cities in the region. The app incorporates a
broad cross-section of goods such as property, transport, education,
entertainment, utilities, food, restaurants and clothing, in addition to
allowing users to select ‘Budget’, ‘Mid-range’ or ‘Expensive’ across any cost
category. 

“With the constant fluctuations in Asian economies and changing
consumer price indices (CPI), getting to grips with the cost of maintaining a
certain standard of living before you move somewhere can be difficult,” said
Phillip Beniac, Regional Vice President, Asia Pacific for Qlik. “The Qlik APAC
Cost of Living app takes the pain out of the process by using visual analytics
to compare the average cost of living in various cities. Easy to assimilate
visual representations enable expatriates, as well as local residents, to
compare selected APAC cities side by side, and drill into the data to find out
how their city of choice stacks up against the rest.”

Deeper insights with visual analytics: Tokyo most expensive, Hong
Kong, and Sydney close behind

Using heat maps, the Qlik APAC Cost of Living app instantly
illustrates how the prices of individual items in various countries differ from
the APAC average, with red highlighting the costliest and blue denoting the
least expensive. A ‘Highs and Lows’ page enables users to track prices of
particular items – from alcohol and entertainment to clothing and household
essentials – across APAC, and literally watch the colors change.

Japan’s most populated city, Tokyo, takes the overall title as the
most expensive city, with costs 39% higher than the APAC average. However,
delving deeper into the data reveals that all is not how it may seem. For
example, looking only at the ‘Expensive’ category of items shows that Hong Kong
usurps Tokyo as the most expensive city to live the high life. At the other end
of the spectrum, exploring ‘Budget’ costs shows Sydney elevated in the rankings
to second behind only Tokyo, showing that Australia’s sparkling harbor jewel is
no place to try and live on a budget.

“APAC is well regarded as an attractive location for expats and
also sees a great deal of mobility from within the region, with potential to
accelerate due to recent initiatives such as the Asian Economic Community
formed in December 2015,” commented Professor Wong Poh Kam, National University
of Singapore (NUS) Business School.

“Part of this attractiveness of the region is the perceived low
cost of living in various countries. However, cost of living standards can
often be misunderstood unless people have access to a good level of detailed
information that informs them what it will cost to live their particular
lifestyle. For example, not everyone wants or needs to own a car, which can be
a particularly expensive proposition in some APAC cities, especially Singapore
and Tokyo, where the public transport network is already extensive,”

With so many variables to choose from in the app, some of the most
interesting insights include:

“In the same way that organizations now routinely use business
intelligence, individuals are seeking ways to use everyday data to analyze and
derive insights into what’s going on in their lives. The Qlik Cost of Living
app is a great example of how you don’t have to be a data scientist to get
useful insights from data, by using visual analytics,” added Beniac.

The Qlik APAC Cost of Living app built on Qlik Sense, is based on
data collected from varied sources including desktop research as well as
surveys of regional retail chains and hotels. The app is available at www.qlik.com/apaccostofliving