E-commerce brings more momentum for economic recovery in Southeast Asia
The annual ASEAN Online Sale Day is being held from August 8 to 10, creating an avenue for retailers across various sectors to showcase their offerings and reach out to the larger regional market, China’s Xinhua reported.
Despite the uncertainties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the economy of Southeast Asia is showing resilience by a promising e-commerce industry.
This is the second time for ASEAN members to hold the shopping event, which was initiated by Vietnam in 2020 to be a yearly event, and aims to facilitate cross-border e-commerce and to support local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the context of COVID-19.
Flashing ads for sales have been seen several days before the event on the websites and apps of local and cross-border e-commerce players, such as Shopee, Lazada, Zalora and JD.
From groceries, electronics, to educational and hotel services, a variety of products and services across the region can be reached with a click.
The rise of e-commerce has appeared to be the silver lining of the pandemic-stricken economy and is bringing more and more momentum to the economic recovery.
According to a recent report released by Lazada, a leading e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia, 52% of sellers in Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore saw a high level of growth during the first half of 2021, with 70% expecting additional growth of more than 10% in the third quarter of 2021.
