While other countries in the region and around the globe have been affected by significant economic uncertainty, Indonesia’s economy is running at full bore, with a rapidly expanding middle class that is now the third-largest in the world.

For the majority of countries in Asia Pacific, official primetime television starts at 6pm and finishes at 11pm*. Taking a closer look at viewing habits around the Asia Pacific region, however, the time slot when the bulk of viewers tune in is between 8pm and 9pm, when close to one third of the Asia Pacific# population (32%) is watching television.

“Third quarter was volatile and challenging for global economies and financial markets amid stagnant U.S. unemployment figures and a worsening euro zone debt crisis,” said Dr. Venkatesh Bala, Chief Economist at The Cambridge Group, a part of Nielsen. “A recessionary mindset is growing among consumers.”

The strong growth in FMCG sales value in 2010 has continued into the first half of 2011, but this is increasingly being driven by inflation as volume growth has slowed down.

Consumers today are increasingly mobile and as technology advancements continue around the world, retailing will evolve to keep pace. And while online shopping has shown impressive growth momentum over the past few years in industries such as travel, publishing, electronics and even clothing, the pace of change has been much slower for consumer-packaged goods.

While many consumers, particularly in North America, report stocking up as the primary reason for making a trip to the grocery store, that reason is not uniformly widespread across the globe, according to Nielsen’s 2011 Global Online Survey.

Nearly six in 10 (59%) global consumers look for sales to save on household expenses—the leading saving strategy of eight measured across all regions and most prevalent in North America (73%) and Europe (60%), according to Nielsen’s 2011 Global Online Survey of more than 25,000 Internet respondents across 51 countries. Using coupons was the second most popular saving strategy, used by nearly half (48%) of global online consumers.

Consumers around the world continue their broad efforts to save money at the checkout counter, but while low prices are important to shoppers, getting a good value for their money takes priority.

As inflationary concerns continue to mount across Asia Pacific, more shoppers are turning to promotional offers for some respite from the rising prices of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs), according to a Nielsen study on shopper trends. Shoppers in Vietnam and Malaysia were particularly motivated by promotions, followed by shoppers in China.

From still to sparkling, from flavored to fortified, there is something for every consumer of bottled water in Asia, catering to basic hydration as well as lifestyle needs.