Alibaba’s presence in ASEAN region will help integrate China, SE Asia markets
Following Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group’s recent announcement of boosting investment and its presence in the market of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a question comes to mind – can China and Southeast Asian countries integrate each other’s huge consumer markets via e-commerce platform? The 13th China-ASEAN Expo kicked off on September 11 in Nanning China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, with a speech at the opening ceremony from Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma. Ma’s ambition to expand the company’s investment in the ASEAN region has once again attracted wide attention, after Alibaba earlier this year bought a controlling stake in the Singapore-based e-commerce platform Lazada Group, which is reported to operate in six countries that have a total population of around 560 million. “Southeast Asia’s e-commerce market will likely more than double in the next five years,” according to the Nikkei Asian Review, citing a report by research company Frost & Sullivan.
