Big business has tapped Asean’s burgeoning e-commerce market and regional governments have enacted measures to govern the Internet cloud. But institutional gaps remain and a region-wide legislation for e-commerce is required.

THE e-commerce market in Asean has grown exponentially with the rise in its netizen population. According to a recent UBS survey, the prospects for expansion are bright as Internet users are expected to increase from the current 199 million to 294 million by 2017, representing a penetration rate of 48 per cent of the Asean population, 67 per cent of whom are under 35 years of age.

The UBS report also indicated that Asean’s budding online shopping market is now worth between US$548 million and US$1 billion or around 0.12 to 0.24 per cent of the total retail sales. These figures are expected to rise by 5 per cent, making the future markets gross at US$21.8 billion in 2020.

…The writer is an assistant professor at the Centre for Multilateralism Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University. She teaches a course on the Political Economy of South-east Asia; this article was first published in RSIS Commentary.