Geography: South East Asia

Indonesia Consumer Survey Findings, Part 2 – Cautiously Optimistic

In this article, we share consumers’ views on key consumer internet sectors in Indonesia. This story builds on our earlier update on consumer sentiments on the macro-outlook, Consumer Survey – Part 1. We share our findings on e-commerce, on-demand and FinTech. Further, we share consumer insights on digitally native/ D2C brands and electric vehicles (EVs). […]

Indonesia Consumer Survey Findings, Part 1 – Cautiously Optimistic

In this interesting article, we share highlights from our consumer survey conducted in late Jan 2023. The survey assessed consumers’ views on the macro-outlook, as well as their spending preferences for key online product and services. In the first part, we cover some macro perspectives. In the second part, we will share consumers’ views on […]

The Great Shift: Advertisers look beyond big tech

Though Facebook, Instagram, and Google are likely to remain important channels for digital advertising, we can expect to see a shift towards alternative channels like e-commerce and affiliate marketing platforms in the coming years as advertisers look for new ways to reach and engage their target audiences. As per our recent study on Digital Ads, […]

Genomics – Leapfrogging into the Indonesian Healthcare Future

Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world, with a population of approximately 274 million people. The healthcare landscape in Indonesia is complex and challenging, with a range of issues such as inadequate healthcare infrastructure, a shortage of healthcare professionals, and limited access to healthcare services in rural areas. Here we look at […]

Agritech SEA – Growth From the Roots

SEA’s economy has a high dependency on agriculture (~17% contribution by GDP) and is strongly in need of modernization. In the wake, several innovative business models have come up in the region, and we go in detail to discuss a few. Here’s a broader look at the SEA market and how agri-tech players are growing. […]

InsurTech: Uncovering the Opportunity in Indonesia – Part 2

Indonesia’s InsurTech sector will grow at ~40% CAGR during 2021-26E due to low base (insurance penetration), already high (and rising) digital penetration, and the emergence of newer models. The capital raises by multiple players in the region suggests the continued support from investors. More could follow as players gain scale and display clearer path to […]

Web 3.0 – A Decentralized Opportunity (pt 2)

Blockchain’s hype led to several innovations in this space as designers and developers flock to make an impact. Nine of the ten investors we met last quarter are closely tracking the Web3/Metaverse-related developments. However, a consensus on what the eventual winners could look like is yet to emerge. While the gates are wide open for […]

Quick Commerce: The Way Forward

In this week’s newsletter, we take a deeper look at the Quick Commerce Business in Southeast Asia. Globally, it has not been an easy ride for the industry in the post-COVID period due to several key challenges such as logistics and profitability. We connected with Vincent Tjendra, CEO at Astro to discuss what players could […]

E-Commerce Double Days – Doubling Down on Retention

In Today’s newsletter, we take a look at changing e-commerce landscape in Indonesia. As the number of consumers grow in the country, preferences have shifted towards convenience based shopping. End of Year Double Day sales are one the largest sale periods in the region. With the evolving consumer preferences, the sale campaigns also need to […]

E-Commerce Enablers – An Encouraging Future

While a large portion of merchants have become digitized in the region, conducting efficient operations both online and offline continues to be a major challenge. E-commerce enablers helped merchants go online during the pandemic, and now, new challenges arise in the evolving market, which create further opportunities. Here’s a discussion on how enabler platforms in […]

B2B Trucking – An Interview with Eric Dharma, Group president at Waresix

Globally there have been cautionary headwinds for the ad market as a whole, but Southeast Asia has significant headroom to grow due to its low maturity compared to other countries in the region. The market is noticing a shift of advertising spend from offline to online channels, and e-commerce ads in particular, due to higher reach […]

Digital Ads: The Right Click!

Globally there have been cautionary headwinds for the ad market as a whole, but Southeast Asia has significant headroom to grow due to its low maturity compared to other countries in the region. The market is noticing a shift of advertising spend from offline channels to online channels, and e-commerce ads in particular, due to […]

Indonesia Manufacturing: Opportunities Galore For Digital-first Players – Part 2

Manufacturing contributes the highest to national GDP of Indonesia and has given employment to ~18 million people. Despite these numbers the industry has been stagnant in terms of cost to productivity due to the traditional practices followed.  Indonesia is en route to enter Industry 4.0 as the manufacturing sector is ripe for technological disruption and […]

Vietnam Healthcare

With robust macro tailwinds for the sector and on ground demand for health-related services, the healthcare sector in Vietnam is poised to undergo significant transformations. Emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, blockchain and online services are increasingly being used to tackle deficiencies in the existing healthcare system. Further omni-channel players have gained significant traction on account […]

Driven by Digitalization: Philippines Fintech

Philippines has a vast “underserved” banking population of ~57 million demonstrating the untapped potential in the country. Philippines lacks national ID system and hence the prevalence of financial frauds is also quite high. The new age fintech players with their latest technology and credit tools can tackle this issue well and thereby gain customer confidence […]

SEA eB2B Landscape

The eB2B landscape in SEA countries of Indonesia, Vietnam and Philippines offers strong growth prospects with ~40% or higher CAGR during 2021-26. The inherent inefficiencies in the traditional supply chains make eB2B an attractive business proposition. It addresses stockouts, product variety, financing options and other pain points for retailers. Similarly, they help brands with increasing […]

Vietnam’s FinTech Landscape

Vietnam is at the forefront of a fintech revolution. The structural opportunity in digital banking and insurtech sectors in particular is likely to unfold over the next few years. Accordingly, we expect investors’ interests to sustain in the foreseeable future. 1. Macroeconomic indicators present a conducive landscape for the fintech ecosystem to develop and grow […]

What’s Brewing In Indonesia Coffee Chains? – Part 3

Compared to other business models, coffee-chain players have been less affected by COVID due to their greater online presence, access and affordable offerings. They are expected to gain more traction by targeting different markets and introducing new products. We believe the sector holds long-term potential on the back of its standardized product offerings to a wider […]

Indonesia eHealth: Consumer Pulse Series

1. Indonesia healthcare faces severe shortage of resources, with the lowest density of medical practitioners and pharmacists in the region Current capacity of Indonesia’s Healthcare system highlights its inadequacy to deal with the demands of growing population especially post pandemic. It has the lowest density of doctors and pharmacists among ASEAN countries; and given the […]

InsurTech: Uncovering the opportunity in Indonesia

As per our report, InsurTech in Indonesia is estimated to grow fourfold during 2021-26 and reach a multi-billion-dollar gross premium size. This will be driven by rising awareness of the need for insurance, rising digital penetration, wider product offerings and other factors. The note also provides some colour on consumers’ preferences for InsurTech offerings.  Here’s a […]

PropTech In Southeast Asia

1. Indonesia is the largest real estate market in the region accounting for more than 50% of the overall realty market in SEA The combined real estate market size in the six focus countries of SEA is over $100 Billion. Indonesia and Vietnam are emerging as the most exciting real estate markets in the region […]

Indonesia Electric Vehicles: Charging Up

1. Indonesia possesses the macro tailwinds needed to stimulate the growth of the Electric Vehicles sector Indonesian government wants to invest for a green economy, hence has launched a roadmap to convert fuel engine vehicles to BEVs(Battery Electric Vehicle) and hybrid electric vehicles(HEVs).It possesses the largest nickel(an important component of Li-ion battery) reserves in the […]

Influencing On The Way Up!

1. Merchants are increasingly shifting their ad spend wallet to digital channels; influencer marketing is a fast-growing segment Traditional media is losing share to digital media on a global scale. Over the past year, internet advertising has grown at a robust rate of 26% beating offline ad spending, which only grew by 9%. Predictably, digital […]

The BNPL wave is rising

The BNPL sector has scaled well – we estimate USD 0.6 Bn of GTV will be processed in MENA in 2021

The Revival of Tourism

We expect the sector to multiply 4x from 2020 levels to represent a USD 165 Bn market by 2025

Is the era of live commerce set to begin?

India’s telemedicine market is currently ~INR 7K Cr. The segment is now seeing more traction as people are adopting it faster as they are reluctant to risk and physically visit a doctor.

Baby boom to boost online baby care

Online players are better positioned to capture the emerging opportunity: > USD 1 Bn to be added to Online Mom & Baby care segment over next 5 years

SEA: Bytes On Digital Diet

Students are the key consumer cohort with the highest digital activity followed by salaried employees and self-employed professionals

VIETNAM eB2B: Sit Up & Take Notice

The eB2B market is quite nascent at < USD 150 Mn in 2020, and is effectively a duopoly with top 2 players commanding a majority of the market

Southeast Asia: Beefing Up Alternative Meats

Southeast Asia presents a USD 10-15 Bn dollar opportunity for the alternative meat producers assuming a conservative target user cohort of 11% of the population as of 2019. This TAM could expand further in the upcoming years once the production is scaled up and products become affordable and accessible to a larger consumer cohort.

ASEAN GAMING PART 2: Game On!

This market seems to have a lot of preconditions to achieve massive growth over the next 2-3 years. If the right supply side levers are pulled, this opportunity could multiply 2x by 2024E.

Indonesia eB2B – Maths Behind The Models

Brands are experimenting with offering direct discounts to retailers and also terms of payment (credit) to drive volumes, not focussing on margin realisation. This is being done through their existing distributors, which highlights the importance of the offline distributor in the scheme of things.

Indonesia Social Commerce: Turning A Corner

Social commerce has historically been dominated by Fashion category owing to the fragmented nature of supply leading to a wide array of offerings that different sellers try to bring online. Beauty was the 2nd major category that saw presence in the social commerce space.

Indonesia E-commerce: Racing Ahead

At a macro level, GDP/Capita in Indonesia is close to 2x that of India and the retail spend is 2-2.5x that of India. The digital funnel is more evolved with highly digitally active consumer base complemented by sellers who are actively exploring the online channel for driving their business.

Indonesia Fintech – 4 P’s To Succeed In Payments

Vertical players have faced multiple challenges in scaling up and finding the right segments to target in the face of strong competition from the much larger horizontals. The funding inflow also has been relatively low.

ASEAN eCommerce and Logistics: Rising to Deliver – Part 4

Consumers also expressed strong willingness to continue using online channels for purchases in future, in a post Pandemic era. This increased demand for e-commerce will continue driving up eLogistics parcel volumes rapidly over the next 2-3 years as well.

ASEAN eCommerce and Logistics: Rising to Deliver – Part 2

Social commerce has seen an uptick in the recent months owing to Covid-19. Lockdown measures have resulted in decreased store time and extremely low footfall in offline stores. Many sellers have moved to the online channel to try and reach buyers and maintain their businesses.

ASEAN eCommerce and Logistics: Rising to Deliver – Part 1

The Seller & SME based in ASEAN countries are highly active on social media platforms. They have been quick to adapt to avenues like FB and Instagram to market and sell their products. This results in a high share of social commerce in most of these markets.

Vietnam Healthcare: New Lifeline in eHealth

Vietnam has very favourable digital enablers and there is a marked shift by the government towards digitizing the entire healthcare ecosystem which seems conducive for the growth of eHealth services.

Indonesia eB2B – Reviving the “Warungs” in a Post COVID World | Part 1

“Warungs” are local mom and pop stores. ~70% of the sales of warungs come from FMCG category (without fresh). Within FMCG, cigarettes account for >50% of the sales. Generally, warung sales are driven by low ATV impulse purchases of “on the go” items like RTD beverages, instant snacks and cigarettes.

Vietnam etailing: Decoding growth and structure

Vietnam formal online retail is ready for 10x growth in 6 years Published on: Nov 2019 Growth will slowly taper down as we move into the later years as 1) the digitally mature customer base will be already be shopping online and 2) companies would need to drive growth through tier2+ regions/long tail categories + […]

The 3A’s shaping the food service market of UAE

Published on: Nov 2019 Food service market of UAE is ~$ 15 Bn in size. The market took a hit in revenues during early 2018 due to implementation of VAT, but the sector is back on track to provide a stellar performance going forward. We expect the key drivers to be – 1. Increased adoption […]

Vietnam eLogistics: Dissecting Demand Drivers

1. Vietnam SMEs are still early into their online retail journey;  social commerce is their typical starting point Published on: Oct 2019 A significant share of SMEs started selling online very recently, with HCMC SMEs are slightly more mature in their online journey Most SMEs make their online foray via social commerce, however formal marketplaces […]

E-tailing Market Updates

Buy Full Report E-Tailers on track to sell USD ~3.7 Bn of goods during festive event 1- up 60-65% y-o-y  Published on: Sep 2019 Key drivers of growth to be an expansion in online shoppers who will likely shop across categories (even beyond mobiles) Compared to business as usual days, we expect that e-tailers will […]

Indonesia B2B Trucking: At crossroads?

Indonesia B2B trucking is ~$32 Bn in size currently and drives the majority of B2B transport market in the country Published On: Sep 2019 Supply of trucks is significantly fragmented with low utilization rates Fragmented B2B trucking market provides a clear opportunity for tech-driven aggregators Low utilization rates- with up to 80% empty backhauls- solvable […]

OTA/Hotel Aggregators Market Updates

business management consultant

Budget and Mid Market hotels will continue to dominate India’s lodging space  Published on: Sep 2019 Travellers are gradually shifting towards experiential and adventurous stays which are offered by homestays and hostels Expected to witness the highest growth Hotel Aggregators Saw a 40% YoY Growth in GBV Terms During Q1CY19 Published on: Apr 2019 In […]

Indonesia Fintech: Looking back into The Future

1. Fast-growing Indonesian eWallets and digital payments space seeing massive supply-side activity Published on: Aug 2019 Summary takeaways  Continued rapid growth (70-80% CAGR) in Indonesia e-wallets space is attracting the attention of major global players even as local players expand into new segments Given the expected intense competition, the market may be heading for consolidation […]

Ready to Cook Market: India

1. Ready to Cook Food market is gaining adoption among consumers owing to increasing urbanization and demand for convenience food Published on: Aug 2019 Ready to Cook market in India stands at INR 2100 Cr in 2019 and the market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 18% to reach INR 4800 Cr by […]

What’s makes India’s ePharma space so exciting | How will MAUs of digital content platforms grow | Private labels driving online beauty growth story

India’s USD 18 Bn unorganized pharma retailing market is ripe for digital disruption by ePharma players Published on: Aug 2019 Summary takeaways: ePharma (USD 350 Mn in 2018) is <2% of the overall retail pie currently, but poised to expand at least 40% y-o-y, driving significant action from companies and investors ePharma continued action and […]