The Asia-Pacific (APAC) region boasts some of the most dynamic, innovative and fast-moving ecommerce markets: from the largest ecommerce market in the world, China; to markets with near-total internet connectivity, like South Korea, to markets with high ecommerce penetration and immense potential for growth, like Indonesia. How is ecommerce in Asia-Pacific changing in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, and what can we learn from these trends? We’ll round up the most notable stats about Covid-19’s impact on APAC ecommerce every month, and discuss what they mean for online retail both in the region and worldwide. More stats can be found in the following articles: Stats roundup: the impact of Covid-19 on ecommerce Stats roundup: Online grocery post-Covid-19 Stats: How fashion ecommerce has changed post-Covid-19 Stats roundup: the impact of Covid-19 on marketing & advertising Alibaba records 8% rise in GMV for Singles Day 2021 despite subdued festivities Alibaba recorded an 8% rise in Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) for its annual retail bonanza, Singles Day, reports CNBC: the tech and ecommerce giant brought in a total of 540.3 billion yuan (US $84.54 billion), up from 498.2 billion yuan last year and another record-breaking figure. However, this 8% rise also represents Alibaba’s slowest year-over-year growth rate since the event began. The event kicked off this year amidst the twin factors of a slowing economy and intense scrutiny from regulators, who are in the process of cracking down on China’s tech giants as well as on extravagant displays of wealth and spending. As a result, Singles Day 2021 was more restrained affair, with a focus on sustainability and social responsibility. Nevertheless, the fact that GMV continued to grow in spite of these headwinds shows that the appetite for commerce is still strong in China. Alibaba’s major rival, JD.com, also saw a more impressive increase of 28% year-on-year, with transaction volume rising from 271.5 billion yuan in 2020 to 349.1 in 2021. Other positive news came in the form of increased sales from China’s less prosperous ‘lower tier’ cities: JD.com reported that users from lower-tier markets accounted for 77% of all shoppers during Singles Day, while Alibaba said that spending from lower-tier cities from 1st to 3rd November was up nearly 25% on the previous year. A record number of luxury brands were also reported to be taking part in Singles Day, with JD boasting that it was “doubling down” on new fashion items across the flagship stores of “over 300 luxury brands” for Singles Day. Korea reports record online shopping transactions in Q3 2021 The country of Korea has reported its largest value of online transactions on record in the three months to September 2021, as higher Covid-19 case numbers affect consumer habits. Total sales reached almost 50 trillion won in the region ($42.32 billion), with reports citing ‘strong demand’ for food delivery services and electronics amid a new wave of infections. In the month of September alone, online shopping Philippines Photo Editor transactions grew by a notable 17% to 16.3 trillion won ($13.69 billion), Pulse News Korea reports. Purchases were made largely on mobile devices, which saw a 72.5% share of all transactions across the three-month period. Mobile was also responsible for 35.95 trillion won ($30.36 billion) of merchandise turnover – a rise of 26.9% year-on-year. Drilling down by vertical, online food delivery purchases rose 36.8% year-on-year, while sales of electronics grew 25.8%. Online transactions in the travel sector also saw a large jump of 40% as more Koreans chose to travel for the Chuseok holiday season than they did in 2020. Agency Statistics Korea say the results of the last quarter have been the largest ever recorded since the study began in 2001. It is interesting to see that, even with high case numbers, western markets are seeing the opposite trend occur: ecommerce sales falling steadily, and in some cases dropping back to pre-pandemic levels. Indian online fashion marketplace Myntra sees record 19 million visitors to its site on first day of its annual Big Fashion Festival 2021 Indian online fashion marketplace Myntra, owned by Walmart, has said it saw a record 19 million visitors to its website on the first day of its annual Big Fashion Festival 2021.

Great technology and a unique selling proposition are not enough reasons for customers to buy more. Retail needs smart data to run their business better and the broken relationship between ecommerce and bricks-and-mortar retail will have to be mended sooner rather than later. The broadening of the ‘search circle’ means your search criteria need to become more nuanced. Plan beyond the single data point of a postcode or location to keep sight of people as they move in and out of the boundaries of their local area. To ‘manage, monitor and move home’, disruptor brand Twindig enables buyers to track the property of their dreams before it comes onto the market. By exploiting the power of data, its customers can ‘find and follow any home’, whether currently available or not. This extends Twindig’s presale pipeline and gives them earlier engagement with future buyers than their competitors. In this on-demand talk from the SAP Together Works Photo Editing Services Summit, part of Econsultancy Live, Maria Morais, Business Development and Strategy Director at SAP, gives examples of what good looks like in store digitalisation, smarter logistics, fulfilment, inventory management and how the precise alignment between supply and demand is crucial to the circular economy transformation. Beauty and personal care was the most popular category of the day, with sales up 190% compared to the start of the same event the year before. Accessories and sports apparel were the next biggest verticals for sales growth, recording 80% and 75% increases respectively. The pandemic has seen a rapid uptake of online and mobile commerce in India. Statistics from IBEF show that the country’s ecommerce order volume grew by 36% in 2020, while the total market is predicted to reach $18.2 billion by 2024 (a CAGR of 57%). These figures from Myntra prove what big ecommerce brands have to gain in the region and emphasises the magnitude of the shift in consumer behaviour.