TMCnet News
E-Commerce Is Accelerating the Rise of a Common Southeast Asian Consumer MarketSINGAPORE, Sept. 15, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The rapid spread of e-commerce and embrace of digital technologies are binding together the economies of the ten members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations into one of the world’s largest emerging consumer markets, helping fulfill a decades-old aspiration of the region’s leaders. This is among the key findings of a report titled How the Digital Revolution Is Integrating Southeast Asia’s Consumers, which The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is presenting today in Singapore, in a partnership with the Singapore Summit. This digital revolution has been aided by the efforts of many innovators and entrepreneurs to drive a regional strategy across ASEAN, which includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Social media, the growing reach of e-commerce platforms, and investments in logistical infrastructure are helping connect buyers with sellers across Southeast Asia. As a result, e-commerce is projected to grow explosively by 36% per year through 2025, when it will reach around $88 billion. E-commerce is also projected to account for 6.4% of retail sales in ASEAN by 2025, compared with less than 1% today. This will create enormous new opportunities for companies to reach the region’s middle-class and affluent consumers, whose ranks are projected to reach 400 million by 2020. “A common market is emerging, due to similar consumer themes developing across ASEAN,” said Aparna Bharadwaj, a BCG partner who leads the firm’s Centre for Consumer Insight and its Marketing, Sales & Pricing practice in ASEAN. “Affluent consumers are growing more rapidly than the emerging middle-class. To capture the enormous opportunities, companies will not only need an ASEAN-wide strategy. They will need a digital ASEAN strategy.” The rapid spread of e-commerce is also likely to help keep Southeast Asia’s economic prospects strong. The region's combined population is larger than that of the European Union and nearly double that of North America. Its combined GDP of $6.5 trillion, measured in purchasing power parity, is the equivalent of the world's fourth-largest economy in 2017. With a projected compound annual growth rate of 5%, GDP is on track to nearly double by 2030. Several powerful megatrends are accelerating the growth of e-commerce:
“Digitalization is making it increasingly possible for companies big and small to gain access to Southeast Asian consumers long separated by geography and a wide variety of languages and cultures,” said Vaishali Rastogi, a BCG senior partner who leads the firm’s business in Southeast Asia. “Companies need to engage with the rich new market segments that span Southeast Asia by analyzing the immense data generated by connected customers.” Digital integration is still in its early stages, and different tariff and regulatory regimes across ASEAN will continue to have an impact on the physical movement of goods. But businesses can help ease cross-border data flows by working with the region’s governments to update regulations and improve data privacy and security. “Businesses can help governments gain a better understanding of how the evolving digital economy can be mobilized to boost economic growth,” said Michael Tan, a BCG partner and coauthor of the report. “By accelerating digital integration, ASEAN can become one of the world’s greatest growth zones for decades to come.” A copy of the report can be downloaded here. To schedule an interview with one of the authors, please contact Eric Gregoire at +1 617 850 3783 or [email protected]. About The Boston Consulting Group About Center for Customer Insight (CCI) About Singapore Summit The Boston Consulting Group Tel +1 617 850 3783 |