Alibaba, Amazon, Tencent and SoftBank compete to lead the ecommerce market in emerging Asia–Pacific

Ecommerce activity in emerging Asia–Pacific (EMAP) is driven by high levels of consumer adoption, particularly on mobile devices. According to Analysys Mason's Connected Consumer Survey 2017, a third of participants in EMAP made online purchases more than once a month, up 15 percentage points from the previous year, and 81% used their mobile phone to buy goods online. Operators have largely failed in their ecommerce ventures, because they are competing against massive ecommerce players that are betting billions of US dollars to take their successful models and enter new countries. This article assesses the ecommerce market in EMAP and the prospects for operators in this market.