Big business has tapped into ASEAN’s burgeoning e-commerce market and regional governments have enacted measures to govern the Internet “cloud”. However 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 the number of Internet users increases from the current 199 million to 294 million by 2017, representing a penetration rate of 48% of the ASEAN population, 67% 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 0.12-0.24 percent of the total retail sales. These figures are expected to rise by five percent, making the future markets gross at US$21.8 billion in 2020.

…Kaewkamol Pitakdumrongkit 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 Southeast Asia.