A joint study by Google and Temasek Holdings has found that Southeast Asia’s web economy might be value greater than $240 billion by 2025, a fifth greater than previously estimated, as more consumers access the net via smartphones.
The study, first published in 2016, covers passenger transportation, e-commerce, online travel and online media. The latest report, released Monday, adds recent sectors corresponding to online food delivery, in addition to music and video-on-demand subscriptions.
The gross merchandise value (GMV) of the region’s web economy is estimated to have reached $72 billion in 2018, up 37 percent from the previous yr.
The report said e-commerce GMV within the region will exceed $23 billion in 2018 and can greater than quadruple to $100 billion by 2025, driven by rising consumer confidence.
200,000 HIGHLY SKILLED JOBS
Asia News Channel also reports that the web economy is predicted to create 1.7 million full-time jobs in Southeast Asia by 2025, 3 times greater than in 2018.
Of the 1.7 million jobs, some 200,000 might be created for highly expert staff by 2025 as corporations proceed to expand their core businesses and expand into recent areas.
The study also shows that the variety of jobs requiring high skills is currently growing by 10 percent a yr.
This is significantly faster than employment growth in the remainder of the economy, which averages 1 to three percent a yr in most Southeast Asian countries.
Internet economy corporations are hiring highly expert professionals in roles corresponding to software engineering, digital marketing, data science and product marketing. These positions often command salaries three to 5 times higher than the median wage in Southeast Asian countries, based on research.
The report highlighted that e-commerce firms — Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s Lazada, Sea Ltd’s Shopee and Indonesia’s Tokopedia — have contributed to the sector’s growth.
The report estimates that the GMV of the competitive ride-hailing sector, including online food delivery, reached $7.7 billion in 2018.
“Driven by Go-Jek and Grab’s ambitions to become ‘everyday apps’ in Southeast Asia, we forecast that on-demand ride-hailing will reach nearly US$30 billion by 2025,” reads the Google-Temasek study, cited by Reuters Agency.
Both Google Alphabet Inc. and Singaporean state investor Temasek have invested in Go-Jek. Temasek-backed Vertex Ventures is an early investor in Grab.
The Indonesian web economy is projected to succeed in $100 billion by 2025, accounting for $4 of each $10 spent within the region, the report said.
THE MOST ENGAGED INTERNET USERS IN THE WORLD
The Google-Temasek study also found that as of June 2018, there have been greater than 350 million web users in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam – 90 million greater than in 2015.
This makes Southeast Asians probably the most engaged web users on the planet.
Research shows that over 90 percent of them hook up with the Internet mainly via smartphones.
Research indicates that the rapid growth in user numbers is because of the increased availability of inexpensive smartphones and the introduction of faster and more reliable cell phone services.
Of the six Southeast Asian countries surveyed, Vietnam currently has probably the most developed web economy when it comes to the worth of products sold in 2018, which accounted for 4 percent of its gross domestic product.
Singapore comes second with 3.2 per cent.
