The report by Alphabet’s Google, Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings and global business consultant firm Bain & Company said 40 million new internet users came online in 2021.
This brought internet penetration in Southeast Asia (SEA) to 75% and strong consumption of digital services is likely to continue over a year after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The report notes that SEA is entering a ‘Digital Decade’ where seismic shifts in consumer and merchant behaviour mean its internet economy will flourish as more people in the region turn to online shopping.
60 million new digital consumers joined the internet economy since the start of the pandemic and 20 million in the first half of 2021 alone.
Amongst SEA’s internet users, 8 out of 10 are digital consumers with the highest percentage of online buyers hailing from Singapore (97%) followed by Thailand (90%) and then Malaysia (81%).
2021 is also on track to become SEA’s biggest deal year ever as investments into its internet economy is set to reach new heights.
The report indicated that investments will hit an all-time high this year as the race to public markets heats up. The first half of 2021 is already on track to surpass the 2020 full year value as e-Commerce and digital financial services continue to attract the lion’s share of investment dollars.
