Landscape of social commerce in Southeast Asia
Social media usage in Southeast Asia is ubiquitous, with penetration rates ranging from 68.9 to 91.7 percent in the big six Southeast Asian countries. Besides the vast consumer base across the region, the time spent on social media is high across the region. The main factor that drives the success of social commerce lies in how consumers use social media. Social media was the main channel for new product discovery, brand consideration, and product research for shoppers in Southeast Asia; and convenience of using was the leading reason to use social commerce for consumers in Asia.Consumers in Southeast Asia started shopping online significantly more after the onset of the pandemic. While shopping online through apps and websites increased the most, the share of users who tried social commerce for the first time was high. The adoption rate and market size of social commerce among Southeast Asian countries vary. For example, Vietnam's social commerce market rivals that of Indonesia, the largest e-commerce market in the region. Vietnam leads in both interest in social commerce, and share of first-time users in Southeast Asia.
Consumer behavior
The majority of the respondents in surveyed Southeast Asian countries shop on social media up to two times a month, with clothes and accessories being the leading category. Preferred payment methods for social commerce vary across the economies, but cash on delivery is still prevalent in many Southeast Asian countries, possibly related to the high usage of Facebook, which does not allow in-app payments yet.Like any new service, social commerce also comes with significant user difficulties and barriers. Expensive shipping options and no return or exchange policy are the leading difficulties for Southeast Asian shoppers. Moreover, the leading reason to not use social commerce among Southeast Asian consumers preference to shop on official websites or physical stores.
