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ASEAN’s fast-growing digital economy and life
By Ryu Han-seok IT columnist

Shopee is an e-commerce platform that is immensely popular in the ASEAN region.

A digital platform fosters commercial transactions between sellers and consumers through the internet. Amid global increases in sales and venture investments in digital platforms and their increasing visibility in the stock market, “unicorns” (unlisted companies with a corporate value of at least USD 1 billion) are also growing rapidly in the ASEAN region. Grab is a Singapore-based company that provides services such as car sharing and food and package delivery to approximately 650 million people in 400 cities in eight ASEAN countries. At the moment, Grab’s corporate value is USD 39.6 million (approx. KRW 45 trillion).

A short list of ASEAN’s most noteworthy platforms is as follows: Zalo, Viet Nam’s most widely-used messenger service, and its parent company, VNG; Ascend Money, an e-commerce platform that is called “Thailand’s Alipay;” Indonesia’s Sicepat, which provides distribution services for social commerce; Carsome, a Malaysian secondhand car transaction platform; and GCash, a popular mobile wallet company of the Philippines and its parent company, Mynt. Other prominent businesses include: Shopee and Lazada, which are e-commerce platforms; JustCo, an office sharing platform; PropertyGuru, a real estate service portal; Traveloka, a travel platform; Ajaib, a fund & stock investment platform; Carousell, a marketplace platform for secondhand items; and Moglix, a B2B platform for industrial and office goods. Today, ASEAN countries are using the growth of these digital platforms as a stepping stone for going fully digital.

Article may not reflect the opinion of the editorial board of the ASEAN Culture House Monthly.