Southeast Asia consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Five of them are among the fastest growing ecommerce markets worldwide, comprising half of the top 10.<\/p>\n
This article will focus on those five: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.<\/p>\n
Until recently Southeast Asia was an ecommerce laggard and overshadowed digitally by China and Japan. Impediments included poor infrastructure, limited internet availability, and consumer skepticism. Most residents have no computer. But nearly all of them now have mobile devices and thus internet access. Mobile penetration rates for the five countries hover around 100%.<\/p>\n
Covid-19 caused a shift<\/a> in consumer behavior as stores closed in 2020 and 2021. According to a report from Google and Bain & Company, as many as 40 million people in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand became new internet users in 2020. eMarketer projected the region’s 2022 ecommerce sales growth at 20.6%, the highest in the world<\/a>, totaling $89.67 billion.<\/p>\n