The pandemic has boosted the online market in Southeast Asia, with a surge in online activity

To a certain extent, the outbreak of the epidemic has driven the rapid growth of e-commerce in Southeast Asia.

While Southeast Asia’s e-commerce explosion has spawned multibillion-dollar companies, online shopping remains a minority. In Indonesia, e- commerce accounts for less than 5% of total retail sales , compared with about a quarter in China.

But the outbreak has changed that. Online payment methods, the rise of ride-hailing apps and people's growing familiarity with e-commerce have driven a shift in Southeast Asia's online market .

In a December study by the World Bank of more than 15,000 vendors using the Shopee platform, 25% of respondents said they joined the platform after the pandemic began.

Tokopedia, founded in 2008, said it added 3.8 million of its more than 11 million suppliers last year alone. Bukalapak said the value of wholesale goods ordered through its platform has tripled.

Ms. Inna Chandika, Vice President of Marketing at Tokopedia , said that many novel products on the e-commerce platform attracted more new users , who purchased many platform products .

Ms Inna Chandika said : “In 2020, we have seen a surge in the number of people selling online as traditional offline shopping channels have been closed . ”

A report jointly released by Bain, Google and Temasek shows that since the outbreak began, more than 90% of new Internet users have continued to shop online, watch videos or order groceries through the Internet. The report shows that Southeast Asia added 40 million new Internet users last year alone, and the cumulative number of users in the previous five years was 100 million. Since the outbreak of the epidemic in Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia , most new users are from non-urban areas.

As e-commerce coverage varies across regions, it is thought that only about half of Indonesians have regular access to the internet.

Mr Howard Gani, senior vice president of Bukalapak, added: “ Providing services to these remote areas is something we strive to achieve, but it depends on whether there is adequate infrastructure in the area . ”

Southeast Asia