Barring unforeseen wars, conflicts and protectionist crises, the SEAKJ region has been earmarked to see strong growth numbers up to 2027.
According to an IDC market InfoBrief commissioned by 2C2P and Ant Group Asia’s digital economies are doing well despite the poor global economic climate, with cross-border initiatives and tools offering businesses new avenues to unlock strong opportunities for growth.
Exploring factors such as increased regional connectivity and trade in Asia, driven by projected increases in cross-border e-commerce revenue and offline tourism spending, as well as public and private sector infrastructure, the intelligence report offers the following data.
- South-east Asia (SEA) is expected to lead in digital economy growth at 15.8% for the next five years, outpacing predictions for the US and the EU. South Korea (12.7%) and Japan (10.2%) closely follow in the forecast.
- Digital economy growth for this SEA and Korea-Japan cluster (SEAKJ) is projected to skyrocket from US$501.7bn in 2022 to a US$914.9bn in 2027.
- SEA is likely to see a 100% expansion in the e-commerce market, driven by accelerated digital payments growth, led by Buy Now Pay Later (38%), mobile wallets (18.9%), domestic payments (16.9%) and credit cards (14.4%).
- Private and public sector efforts are poised to inject an impressive US$232.4bn in fresh cross-border revenue into the SEAKJ economies from 2022 to 2027, driven by e-commerce and tourism spending gains.
- Cross-border e-commerce revenue is primed to grow by 70% to US$148.1bn by 2027, outpacing the growth of domestic e-commerce revenue.
- Offline tourism in SEAKJ is projected to grow by 334% by 2027, contributing US$171.4bn to the region.
Aung Kyaw Moe, founder and CEO, 2C2P noted: “We hope the findings of this report encourage businesses to unlock the immense potential of Asia’s digital economies by tapping on existing public- and private-sector initiatives and tools.”
Douglas Feagin, Senior Vice President, Ant Group/Head of Alipay+ Cross-Border Mobile Payment Services,said: “Digitalization will have a significant positive impact across Asia, shaping the future of businesses and lifestyles. From global online platforms to small street side merchants, it is now imperative for businesses to cater to these digital habits by working together, (to) benefit from digitalization.”
