SOUTHEAST Asia is adjusting to a new normal with the welcome return of travel and in-person gatherings, be it at work, with family and friends, while shopping, or for play. While it’s easy to slip back into old routines, some habits adopted during the pandemic—such as a heavier reliance on e-commerce—are here to stay. As economic headwinds buffet the world, important questions about the digital consumer landscape are emerging. Should companies continue to invest in the online experience, given that eight out of 10 consumers in the region are digital consumers? Or will consumers return to offline habits?

As it turns out, the answer is not black and white. In June, Bain & Company and Meta partnered to conduct an annual survey of more than 15,000 digital consumers and more than 20 business leaders across Southeast Asia to better understand the forces shaping the business landscape. The results, captured in our SYNC Southeast Asia report, ‘Southeast Asia’s Digital Consumers: A New Stage of Evolution’, show that the future may lie in a hybrid and connected experience that effectively bridges online and offline advantages.

While the rate of e-commerce adoption slowed across Southeast Asia in 2022, the outlook remains positive. E-commerce penetration growth is the highest across the Asia Pacific region—higher even than China and India—and now accounts for 11 per cent of total retail for a worth of US$129 billion. E-commerce sales are rising, and average basket sizes grew from US$52 to US$56 across most categories. Increasingly, though, consumers are demanding an integrated shopping experience that enables seamless movement between online and offline channels at different stages of the consumer journey.