- 20 décembre 2021

Comscore Snapshots: online retail in the Asia-Pacific region

In this week’s edition of Comscore Snapshots, we look at the online footprint of the retail sector in the Asia-Pacific region. Our analysis includes statistics for Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Vietnam.

We include websites and mobile apps that provide retail services such as apparel, consumer electronics, home furnishing, fragrance and cosmetics and sports/outdoor. Examples include Amazon and Alibaba.

When we looked at online retail back in January 2021, it appeared that in some markets – namely China, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan - its reach contracted year-on-year from market to market. In others – Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Taiwan – its reach expanded. Now, ten months later, we see that the reach increased year-on-year in nearly all markets, as a further sign that Covid-related disruptions are pushing consumers online. (See table below.)

% reach of total digital population

Year-on-Year percentage points variation
(Oct 2021 vs Oct 2020)

Australia

70.6

6.5

China

66.5

2.5

Hong Kong

66.2

4.1

India

89.4

0.1

Indonesia

84.9

18.3

Japan

49.9

0.0

Malaysia

79.9

9.3

Singapore

44.2

4.4

Taiwan

91.9

6.7

Vietnam

12.1

-0.4

Source: Comscore MMX Multi-Platform, Total Audience, October 2021, Asia-Pacific region. (N.B. desktop only for all markets except India, Indonesia and Malaysia which include mobile.)

The Asia-Pacific region is perhaps unique in terms of the dynamism of its online enterprises, particularly its retail sector. In almost all markets, many entities have managed to reach at least 1% of online consumers; a smaller – but still significant - proportion of these entities have reached over 5%. Whether the region can sustain such fragmented market, or whether it will lead to a phase of consolidation remains to be seen.

Number of retail-related websites or mobile apps that reach more than 1% of the total digital population

Number of retail-related websites or mobile apps that reach more than 5% of the total digital population

Australia

30

6

China

15

4

Hong Kong

23

5

India

63

14

Indonesia

23

8

Japan

36

8

Malaysia

26

7

Singapore

20

4

Taiwan

36

12

Vietnam

8

0

Source: Comscore MMX Multi-Platform, Total Audience, Oct 2021, Asia-Pacific region. (N.B. desktop only for all markets except India, Indonesia and Malaysia which include mobile.)

Thanks to the size of the top sites and the ingenuity of their founders, the Asia-Pacific region is home to ecommerce entities whose reach stretches far beyond their home country. Alibaba is one such entity, as is Shopee, which was launched in 2015 and who now ranks first in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam.

Country

Top online entity

Australia

Amazon Sites

China

Alibaba.com Corporation

Hong Kong

HKTVMALL.COM

India

Amazon Sites

Indonesia

Shopee Pte Ltd

Japan

Rakuten Inc

Malaysia

Shopee Pte Ltd

Singapore

Amazon Sites

Taiwan

Fubon Multimedia Technology

Vietnam

Shopee Pte Ltd

Source: Comscore MMX Multi-Platform, Total Audience, Oct 2021, Asia-Pacific region.