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 |
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.