Is Qoo10’s latest deal Wish-ful thinking for a turnaround?

NEWS of e-commerce marketplace Qoo10 acquiring US online shopping platform Wish for US$173 million came as something of a shock to those watching South-east Asian markets.

Despite a headstart in the region’s e-commerce space with its 2010 inception as Gmarket, Qoo10 has lagged far behind the market leaders, Sea’s Shopee and Alibaba’s Lazada.

Competition has only grown even more intense, with ByteDance’s TikTok continuing to bear down, having cleared hurdles to operating in South-east Asia’s largest market, Indonesia.