E-COMMERCE performance in Southeast Asia is hitting record highs in terms of spending among consumers and is estimated to keep growing, according to a recent study and other reports.
Consumers spent an average of US$125 (RM523) on online purchases in 2018 – a figure expected to more than triple to US$390 in 2025, said The Asean Post.
It quoted the results of a joint study by Facebook and global consultants Bain & Company, titled “Riding the Digital Wave: Southeast Asia’s Discovery Generation”.
More intense online trading activities will enable Southeast Asia to reach an estimated 310 million digital consumers by 2025, eclipsing 2018 (250 million) – a huge increase from just 90 million in 2015.
Among the main factors that will inject more spending online are varied choices, better web access and rising affluence.
The study’s main objective was to gauge the spending behaviour of digital consumers who have been reshaping online transactions.
About 12,965 respondents across Asean’s biggest economies – Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam – participated in the survey, which also interviewed more than 30 CEOs and entrepreneurs in the region.
Online shoppers are no longer looking at e-commerce as a platform to get discounts on items such as electronics, but have expanded their online habits to purchase lower-cost daily items such as groceries, clothes and personal care products.
About 70 to 80 per cent of web consumers are from the middle class, citing the survey results.
The soaring interest from the public has helped e-commerce overtake online travel to become the biggest sector in Asean’s internet economy.
In another report by etradeforall.org, the rise of e-commerce is driven by shopping portals like Lazada, Shopee and Tokopedia, whose growth has increased over seven times since 2015, well eclipsing other rivals.
These web portals’ obvious popularity among shoppers could be seen by the reception to Lazada’s 11.11 Singles Day Sale held in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam, last year.
Also, more than 20 million consumers browsed and shopped on Singles Day in the six countries, said Lazada.
Lazada Malaysia posted a record 3,000 transactions per minute in nine hours of sales, surpassing its 2017 sales record.
A twin combo of a young population and ever-increasing internet penetration rate has helped e-commerce sales bloom.