Asia-Pacific e-commerce sales to hit $877bn in 2015

By

Cajsa Lykke Carlson

Published
Dec 23, 2015

New figures from eMarketer forecasts that retail e-commerce sales in the Asia-Pacific region will rise by 35.7% in 2015, hitting $877bn.

For the first time, the Asia-Pacific region will not just have the largest e-tail market in the world, but also hold an outright majority of the market, as its global digital retail spend reaches 52.5%.

The increase is driven in part by the rising middle classes in China, India and Indonesia, as well as the increasing popularity of shopping via mobile devices. Asia-Pacific also has the fastest growth of digital retail sales, which are increasing by more than 10 percentage points faster than the worldwide average rate. The main growth drivers are the Chinese, Indian and Indonesian markets. In 2015, digital retail sales in India were up 129.5% and in Indonesia they rose by 65.6%.

This year, China alone will account for 40% of the world's retail e-commerce sales, up almost 5% from 2014. By 2019, China is predicted to have a 55.1% share of the global e-commerce market.

"This rapid growth in Asia-Pacific coupled with faster internet service and greater mobile uptake, is heating up the competitive landscape where large local players are increasingly vying for market share by improving their logistics and mobile platforms, and in some cases moving entirely to an app-only service,” said Monica Peart, eMarketer’s director of forecasting.

Retail e-commerce sales now account for 10.2% of all retail sales in the Asia-Pacific region. By 2019, this is predicted to rise to 20.4%.