Southeast Asia is made up of eleven countries that around 650 million

people call home. It includes Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam,

Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines, East Timor, Brunei, Burma and

Thailand.

We’ve decided to focus on five countries from this region that are

emerging as the favorites for international eCommerce, especially in

the apparel and accessories industry. These five countries have a large

percentage of people using the internet, an emerging middle class

with growing purchasing power, and increased credit card usage. Even

with narrowing it down to five countries, this is a seriously diverse

region that’s almost impossible to generalize.

1.2 Southeast Asia: the where and who

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V I E T N A M

P H I L I P P I N E S

M A L A Y S I A

S I N G A P O R E

I N D O N E S I A

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When exploring any region for business expansion, it is important to

know the trends in the market and to evaluate if you can take

advantage of them. We've noticed the following shopper trends in the

5 SEA countries we are discussing:

2.2 Trends, in general

BRAND-CENTRICPrefer well-known,

international brands

BOUTIQUE & LOCALIncreasingly support

local A&A brands

ETHICAL STANDARDSIncreasingly supportive of

fairtrade & sustainable fashion

FASHION TRENDSSignificantly influenced

by major Asian hubs

ONLINE VS. OFFLINEPrefer physical store and

somewhat distrust online payments

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In Singapore, 66% of the population has a social media account.

Indonesia has the second largest number of Facebook users in the

world and looking at the combined number of people in these 5 SEA

countries that use a social media account, you could be reaching

around 160 million potential customers. (1)

As a marketing tool, a social

media presence can help

develop trust and brand

awareness, allowing you

to enter the market with

more recognition.

Use social media to its fullest

Moko MokoMoko Moko

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Sources: 1 We Are Social

It’s hard to resist a good sale, and these are the sale periods

throughout the year in each of these countries that you should

definitely get in on.

3.2 Everyone loves a good sale

S A LE

The Great Singapore Sale,

held during the month of

June, and Christmas in

December.

SINGAPORE

The Grand Prix Sale, held

during the Formula 1 race,

usually in March, Mega Sale

Carnival Sales in July and

August, or Year End sales,

November and December..

The end of Ramadan, Idul

Fitri - dates change every year

according to lunar calendar.

INDONESIA

Christmas is the main

shopping sale time.

PHILIPPINES

MALAYSIA

Tet and the Vietnamese New

Year, dates change every year

according to the lunar

calendar.

VIETNAM

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Now that you've become more familiar with the region, we leave you

with some eCommerce best practices to consider:

3.6 Best practices for SEA success

It’s common for the major A&A eCommerce sites to offer Free 30-day returns. Low-hassle returns or exchanges are the norm forregular priced items.

Indonesia and Malaysia are predominantly Muslim and more conservative cultures, at least when it comes to on-the-surfaceadvertising. This may affect the overall style of your advertisements and marketing.

Shipping costs for the customer of most major online retailers generally range from low to free, with many sites offering free shipping onpurchases above a certain amount.

As a general rule, societies in these fivecountries tend to be family-oriented. Many people are the first generation in their families to have disposable income; and as a result, consumer spending is mostly focused on improving the household and buying gifts for others.

30DAYS

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So, what does all this information boil down to? Get your eCommerce

store to Southeast Asia, and fast! It can be tricky, and there’s lots of

information to digest, but when you do, the rewards have the potential

to be amazing.

Get out there! 650 million potential customers are just waiting to

‘proceed to checkout’ with a cartful of apparel and accessories items

from your eCommerce store.

Visit tradegecko.com to download the full eBook.

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