Local retailers struggling to enter Asia’s cutthroat e-commerce scene

Half of online retailers here are located outside ASEAN.

Local retailers are struggling to gain a foothold in Singapore’s incredibly lucrative e-commerce scene, a report by A.T. Kearney revealed.

The report showed that consumers are more attracted to products by foreign players although Singapore’s $1.7 billion market accounts for 25 percent of all online sales in the ASEAN.

Almost half of the e-commerce market in Singapore is made up of online players located outside ASEAN although the republic has the highest broadband penetration rate in the region.

In order to encourage local companies to participate in the online-trend, access to finance needs to be improved, the integration of digital talent needs to be fostered and the awareness of e-commerce marketplaces needs to be promoted”, says Olivier Gergele, Principal with A.T. Kearney’s Consumer Industries and Retail Practice said.