17 DECEMBER 2020, SINGAPORE – PPRO, the world’s leading provider of local payments infrastructure, revealed a positive outlook for Southeast Asia’s E-commerce market with growth of 5.5% expected in 2021. PPRO has highlighted Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam as the top 5 Southeast Asian markets leading the charge when it comes to market growth over the coming year.

The findings, included in its latest report, ‘Southeast Asia: The New E-commerce Frontier’ have been collated from PPRO’s own data and market research over the course of the year.

Consumers in Singapore increased value of online transactions by 51% in 2020

Singapore’s e-commerce market has advanced rapidly over recent years, but 2020 saw consumers in Singapore increase the value of their online transactions by 51% across the top 5 biggest e-commerce platforms; Shopee, Lazada, Qoo10, Amazon and Ezbuy.

Whereas Singaporeans used to procure groceries in-store or at more traditional wet markets, COVID-19 has sparked a shift in consumer habits with 70% now buying food and household items online. This trend is set to continue with the Singapore government accelerating the adoption of cashless payment methods with incentives for businesses, like subsidising the costs of digital transformation.

Indonesia set to surpass India’s rapid e-commerce market growth

Notably, Indonesia has trumped the competition when it comes to market growth with 55% of Indonesian consumers claiming they are buying online now more than ever.

This growth could be attributed to Indonesian consumers buying products online that would previously have been bought in stores, including medicine (21%) and cosmetics (18%). It marks a shift in consumer purchasing habits, which presents a large window of opportunity for merchants looking to tap into this growing market in 2021.

To enable more merchants to access the Indonesian market, earlier this year PPRO announced it integrated DOKU and OVO to its platform – two of Indonesia’s most popular payment methods – as part of its strategic expansion in Southeast Asia’s hottest payments battleground.

Market confidence buoys Malaysia’s retail spending

Despite market contractions over the course of the pandemic, the confidence of consumers in Malaysia has not been buoyed with 63% feeling positive about their future. This has been reflected in recent spending habits with gradual growth of retail spending in Q4 2020 expected to continue.

To facilitate this spending, Malaysians have adopted the use of digital payment methods such as e-wallets. In fact, 40% of consumers are now using e-wallets for online purchases more than they did pre-pandemic even for lower value purchases.

Tristan Chiappini, VP, Head of Partnerships APAC, PPRO comments:

“This past year accelerated the world’s e-commerce growth by a decade, and our report highlights the impressive strides that have been made this year. In a world that’s less physically connected than ever, borderless commerce is connecting businesses with new customers. However, for merchants to truly capture the benefits, they must have a sharp understanding of the local payment methods which are crucial to converting sales. Those that strike the right balance between localisation and global expansion will be the true winners in 2021’s e-commerce race.”