Digital platforms in SEA facing slowdowns after pandemic peak: study

Source: The E-conomy SEA report is a multi-year research programme by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company. The research taps on Temasek insights, Bain analysis, Google Trends, primary research, expert interviews, and industry sources to look into trends in ecommerce, travel, food and transport, online media and digital financial services (DFS).

Key findings: 

• After years of acceleration, digital adoption growth is normalising. The majority of digital players are now shifting priorities from new customer acquisition to deeper engagement with existing customers to increase usage and value.
• Amidst global macroeconomic headwinds, reduced disposable income, skyrocketing prices, and lower product availability, there is tapering of demand from SEA consumers.
• Digital sectors such as food delivery and online media are facing slowdowns after peak periods triggered by the pandemic. Food delivery returns back to trendline growth aher tripling through the pandemic and is expected to hit 14% growth in GMV.
• Among paid online media sectors, its GMV growth tapers to 9%; music and video growth returns to normality; digital ads maintain momentum; and gaming is seeing a consumption pullback.

More from this source:

• Digibanks are gaining traction amongst young digital natives while high net worth and affluent customers remain loyal to established financial services providers given their existing deposit balances and multiple investments.
• SEA is one of the regions most exposed to the risks and consequences of climate change and its digital economy is projected to drive 20 million tonnes of emissions in 2030. If emissions are optimised, the carbon output of digital channels can be reduced by up to 30-40%, and potentially be much lower than traditional channels.
• SEA’s digital economy is expected to grow twice as fast as GDP in most Southeast Asian countries and could reach up to $1T by 2030 if the full potential can be unlocked.