SEA’s digital economy to generate $100b revenue in 2023
SEA’s Digital Economy Gears Up for 2023
Digital economies in Southeast Asia are going to make a lot of money this year, about $218 billion.
This is a big increase of 11% from last year, even though there are some problems happening around the world that could make it harder to make money.
The yearly report looked at the five main areas of Southeast Asia’s digital economy – buying and selling things online, traveling, ordering food and transportation, using the internet for news and entertainment, and using digital services for money.
The report says that the amount of money made from Southeast Asia’s online businesses is going to be $100 billion this year.
This is growing faster than the total amount of money that people spend online in that region.
Sectors driving growth
Online businesses are changing their strategy to focus less on getting new customers and more on making the customers they already have really happy so that they can make more money.
The report said that online shopping websites are trying to attract more important customers and make their purchases bigger.
They also want to make money from ads and delivery services. The report predicts that the total amount of money spent on online shopping will go up to $186 billion in 2025, from $139 billion in 2023.
As more people and small businesses use the Internet for banking and money transactions, they are also borrowing money online.
This type of borrowing is called digital lending and it has become very popular. In Singapore, it is predicted that the digital lending market will be the largest in the area for many years to come.
After the Covid pandemic, people are starting to travel and use transportation services online again.
A report says that by 2024, these industries will be back to how they were before the pandemic.
Even though people can now go out to eat at restaurants, food delivery services are still doing really well. In fact, in 2023, they made $800 million, which is a 60% increase compared to the year before.
In 2023, Thailand is experiencing a lot of growth in online travel. It is getting bigger and bigger every year, with an 85% increase.
Dry powder is still on the rise
The report said that because of things like higher prices and expensive borrowing, there has been less private money being used for projects, and this is the lowest it has been in six years.
Even though investors are being more careful about where they put their money, there was still a lot of money available for investing at the end of 2022.
This amount, called “dry powder,” increased to $15.7 billion from $12.4 billion in 2021. Dry powder means the amount of money that has been promised for investment, minus the amount that has actually been used.
This means that there is enough energy to help Southeast Asia’s digital economy grow even more.
In order for digital companies to get money from investors right now, they have to prove that they can make a profit in a clear and realistic way.
Investors are putting a lot of money into digital financial services because they think they can make a lot of money from it.
The report said that new industries in the area, like technology for healthcare, technology for education, and cars, are becoming more popular for investments. This shows that investors are spreading out their money to different types of businesses.
