Asean e-commerce - Hidden tigers meet tech dragons

WITH 158 million middle-class consumers, Asean is often seen as the next frontier for the e-commerce market. Despite experiencing rapid expansion over the past five years, e-commerce penetration is still less than 2 per cent of total retail sales in Asean. For context, this was where China was in 2010 and only a tenth of Chinese e-commerce penetration today.

However, we think the Asean e-commerce scene is about to change significantly, thanks largely to the recent entry of Chinese tech giants into the region. China tech-related investments through companies such as Alibaba, JD.com and Tencent have surged in 2017 - the number of deals quadrupled and value rose about three times. These tech giants bring with them capital and know-how, while also easing constraints on logistics and e-payment adoptions that has been holding back e-taili…