Stripe launched its in-store POS system in Singapore as the wider region sees growing digital payment use and demand for unified commerce.

Shein’s legal maneuvers demonstrate its global ambitions: The fast-fashion retailer is expanding its Singapore presence as it attempts to bypass stricter Chinese rules on offshore IPOs.

For example, many local ecommerce giants in the region are tipping into a network of local mom and pop stores as fulfillment and payment collection centers. Innovative payment options, like buy now, pay later, are also important in overcoming the relatively low spending power in emerging economies.

The travel industry looks forward to a summer rebound: Will they get it, though?

Payments Ecosystem: This year will reveal how providers must adapt to lasting pandemic-driven digitization across payments channels, ranging from in-store retail to B2B ecommerce.

Increase Visibility on Ecommerce Platforms to Make Up for Lost Footfall. The increased dependence on online shopping brought on by the pandemic is likely to last well into the future in the Asia-Pacific region. The resulting growth in retail media provides more advertising options to marketers, as do ecommerce apps and increasingly popular livestreaming commerce scenarios.

The market’s appetite for personalization technology keeps growing: As investors see more brands prioritizing customer engagement, CX platform Insider becomes one of the few female-led SaaS unicorns in the world.

It launched the standalone Google Wallet, and a new Chrome feature lets online shoppers convert their cards to virtual cards.

Countries mentioned: China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand. Key companies: AirAsia, Gojek, Grab, WeChat. Essential stats: This year, retail sales will reach $970.83 billion across the six major economies we track in Southeast Asia. But only 4.6% of those sales—or $45.07 billion—will transact via ecommerce.

Ria Money Transfer and Wise each forged global payment partnerships, and Singapore and Malaysia linked their payment systems.