SE Asia’s e-commerce market led by women entrepreneurs set to grow over $260 billion by 2030: Report

Southeast Asia’s e-commerce market could grow by more than $260 billion by 2030, that is, if major online shopping marketplaces do more to encourage and enable women entrepreneurs, says the International Finance Corporation (IFC) report.

Amy Luinstra, IFC’s gender program manager for East Asia and Pacific, told CNBC that the anonymity of e-commerce has reduced many of the barriers to entry traditionally faced by women and afforded them the opportunity to thrive in new sectors. “Still, many of the inequalities faced by women in the traditional retail space bleed into the online world, such as securing access to funding,” she said.

Luinstra called on big e-commerce players to do more to support women vendors and capture the market opportunity. “That includes extending financing for women, providing training, and encouraging them to participate in higher value sectors like electronics,” she said. “For platforms that have financing options, that is an excellent way to bring more women in and help them thrive by making sure they are aware of the financing offers and they are able to take advantage of them.”

The IFC report found that in 2019, women were on course to reach gender parity in e-commerce. But even with the surge in online retail, driven by COVID-10 pandemic in the past year, the additional caregiving duties and time constraints that women faced caused progress to take a step back. “Prior to the pandemic, women were holding their own, in some cases outselling men and even out participating men,” Luinstra pointed out. “That has changed during the pandemic and that’s how we are starting to get the gap, and the opportunity for closing that gap, that adds up to the big number $280 billion.”

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Chun Li, CEO of Lazada Group and Lazada Indonesia, said that in Southeast Asia, e-commerce became a lifeline for individuals’ daily essentials as well as a natural business strategy pivot for vendors and brands when offline operations were affected by COVID-19 safety measures. “With the exponential growth opportunities available in the region, we are committed to providing women entrepreneurs with easy access to knowledge and tools to embrace and benefit from the digital economy.”