Digital Consumerism Overview: SEA’s consumers grow by 70 million

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Southeast Asia’s digital consumer population jumped by 70 million. Indonesia in 2021 posted the highest growth rate in the region for the second consecutive time.

An annual report by Facebook and management consulting firm Bain & Company found a rapid digital adoption growth in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam. Surveying more than 16,000 respondents, they also projected that 8 in 10 of 15-year-olds and above in Southeast Asia will be digital consumers by end-202.

According to the report, Indonesia recorded the highest digital consumer growth rate, with the digital consumer population expected to grow to 165 million in 2021 from 144 million in 2020. Indonesia recorded a growth of around 15%, followed by Vietnam (8%), Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore (5% each) and Thailand (2%).

By 2026, Southeast Asia’s digital consumer population is expected to reach 380 million or 1.4 times higher than that in 2019. This drastic change was initially expected to happen in a decade, and yet it is happening right now in just one year due to the shift in consumption habits which was caused by the pandemic.

The report also noted that Southeast Asia’s online retail penetration growth outpaced that of Brazil, China or India, going from 5% in 2020 to 9% in 2021. The average spending per digital consumer is also expected to grow 60%  to $381 by the end of 2021 from $238 last year.

It is also noteworthy that social media videos are a popular source of product discovery as 22% of respondents cited social media videos as their reference to find new products. Online grocery is the fastest-growing ecommerce segment with the majority of its consumers planning to either increase or maintain their online spending.

The report also revealed that in Q2/2021, 346 million Southeast Asians accessed Facebook everyday, and 350 million people are expected to become digital consumers by the end of 2021. In addition, 95% of respondents accessed the Internet via smartphone.