Asia-Pacific has the largest retail and ecommerce sales in the world. While China continues to dominate global ecommerce share, India and Southeast Asia are increasingly driving growth. As consumer sentiment improves in China, the retail sales gap with the first-place US will narrow in the coming years.

Recent data on ecommerce in Indonesia highlights evolving patterns in online purchasing behavior, including social commerce.

In this report, we explore the world’s top region for retail and ecommerce, Asia-Pacific. Read on for a closer look at the markets in China, India, the Philippines, and more.

Amid escalating geopolitical tensions and regulatory scrutiny in the US and Western Europe, Chinese ecommerce giants are increasingly turning their focus to Asia-Pacific.

Splitting into six companies makes each business unit more competitive while reducing regulatory oversight, which could help increase profits.

For the third year in a row, ecommerce sales in Southeast Asia will grow faster than in any other region of the world. This is likely the final year of Southeast Asia’s long boom, but for now, the region stands out in a world of rapidly declining growth.

Amid global economic gloom, Asia-Pacific remains a region of digital opportunities in 2023, highlighted by the increasing momentum of the metaverse in China, surging retail sales in India, and burgeoning livestream commerce in Indonesia.

Growth of total retail sales in Southeast Asia is set to accelerate in 2022, bucking the global slowdown trend and roaring past its pre-pandemic rates. Singapore will shine exceptionally bright by leading the region in ecommerce growth.

After missing out on a big rebound in 2021, Southeast Asia’s total retail and ecommerce sales are both set to boom this year. Indonesia—set for a standout year—will shape the region’s metrics and account for nearly 65% of Southeast Asia’s ecommerce sales.

In Southeast Asia, total media ad spending snapped back to pre-pandemic levels in 2021 and will continue rising strongly this year. The growth in digital ad spending, though tamer in 2022, will again outpace that of the overall ad market.

Singles’ Day, the online shopping festival invented by Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba and held on November 11, is widely known in the West. Now, a series of similar “double-digit” shopping festivals from digital powerhouses Lazada and Shopee are driving ecommerce growth in Southeast Asia.

Like many regions around the world, Southeast Asia experienced an ecommerce boom in 2020, as various pandemic-driven social lockdowns encouraged more shopping from home. According to our estimates, ecommerce grew by 35.2% collectively in the region last year, and our newest forecast projects 14.3% growth this year. However, traditional retail is still overwhelmingly dominant.

Alibaba's Singles' Day, China's massive ecommerce festival held annually on November 11, has grown to surpass pretty much every other online shopping event in the world.

Retail ecommerce sales in India will increase 31.0% to reach $32.70 billion in 2018. Investment from Alibaba, Amazon and Walmart into the ecommerce market is fueling rapid growth.