When looking at the biggest markets for E-commerce in the world, Asia stands out. Just looking at the top 10 alone, 5 of these markets are in Asia. These 5 markets alone constitute 62% of the total world E-commerce.
This is, of course, mainly due to the influence of China, which on its own is responsible for just over half of global E-commerce. It is simply a powerhouse on its own, unlike any other market in the world. However, focusing only on China runs the risk of ignoring the other Asian markets on the list, as well as the up-and-coming ones.
The Asian non-Chinese footprint
For starters, four other Asian markets – Japan, Korea, India and Indonesia – are also in the top 10 of E-commerce. This means that even without China, there are more Asian markets in the top 10 than from any other continent. As such, Asia can thoroughly be said to dominate among the top markets in the world.
But it is not only when it comes to the top markets that Asia is dominating. It is also in terms of growth. This applies to some of the top 10 markets, but also to the non-top 10 markets or second-tier E-commerce markets in Asia. Looking at the top 10 markets in terms of growth, we find that seven out of 10 markets on the list are in Asia. The top five is in fact completely dominated by Asian markets. There are a few clear takeaways from this.
First, Indonesia, India, and Korea are all top 10 markets and among the top 10 fastest-growing markets. As such, we can expect these markets to continue their climb among the top E-commerce markets in the world.
The other thing to note is the clear ascent of Southeast Asia. Five out of the top 10 fastest-growing E-commerce markets in the region are in Southeast Asia, with Indonesia also being among the global top 10 E-commerce markets. The only Southeast Asian market not among the top growing markets is Singapore, which is also the smallest and the most saturated market in the region.
Southeast Asia consists of six main markets and five of these are among the fastest-growing markets in the world. The E-commerce markets of the region are now worth US$187 billion in total, making this grouping compete with the UK and Japan overall for the third spot. On top of that, these markets are growing a lot faster, meaning the total footprint of the region will only continue growing.
An Asian future
Asia already dominates total global E-commerce. But with the fastest growing markets in the world also mostly hailing from Asia, this dominance is set to further grow, especially outside of the massive Chinese market. We can expect to see this reflected in new E-commerce developments globally, where more and more will be from Asia. TikTok shop is only one example of a concept that is already big in Asia but with much bigger aspirations.
For global brands, the message is equally evident: a clear Asia strategy needs to be in place. Not just for markets like China but for regions like Southeast Asia which are well on their way to dominant positions in the global eCommerce landscape.
