Singapore high GDP gives it supremacy in Southeast Asia’s eCommerce

Malaysia is on par with Singapore with 74% share of mobile traffic and though Malaysia saw a steady increase from the past year, Singapore remains supreme in the state of eCommerce in the region.

The Southeast Asian eCommerce scene is a mobile-first economy, leapfrogging all the Western economies when it comes to the importance of mobile commerce in the traffic generated by each eCommerce operator.

Singapore supremacy in basket size

The basket size results are to be closely correlated to the GDP per capita of each country.

Singapore has the highest GDP per capita ($90,530) while Vietnam has the lowest GDP per capita ($6,880).

Relatively, Singapore’s merchants score highest with a basket size of $91, 3.7x higher than their Vietnamese counterparts, with an average basket size of $23.

Singapore second highest conversion rate

Using the average conversion rate in the SEA as a reference (1x), Vietnam merchants are leading the way, with a conversion rate 30% higher than the average.

Singapore displays the second highest conversion rate, closely tied with Indonesia.
The data shows the low level of correlation between conversion rate and the level of maturity of each eCommerce market.

COD and bank transfer to the rescue
Which payment solutions are merchants offering to their consumers to complete their purchases, in each of SEA’s country?

Due to low credit card penetration in the region (with the exception of Singapore), eCommerce players in Southeast Asia have had to face unique challenges, unbeknownst to the western eCommerce markets.

As a consequence of this structural shortcoming, a much more diverse range of payment solutions have proliferated in the region. Each country displays very different patterns, which highlights the challenges that merchants face when expanding regionally with one-size fits all approach

Singaporeans enjoy evening shopping

Considering the average number of order of the local country as a reference (100%), the number of orders is highest between 9am and 5pm, when people are traditionally at work or school, with the exception of Singaporeans, who seem to enjoy evening shopping more than other countries, peaking at 10pm.