The Knowledge to Decide

The establishment of ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015 was a major milestone in the region’s economic integration. With a GDP of USD2.6 trillion and 600 million people, the AEC is Asia’s third largest economy and the seventh largest in the world. What is the AEC score card thus far? Leon Perera, Chief Executive Officer of Spire Research and Consulting, shared his insights in China Daily – Asia Weekly. AEC’s Blueprint 2025 envisions in achieving a highly integrated and competitive regional economy with enhanced connectivity to improve market access for ASEAN companies to sell goods and services. However, the past year has seen missed opportunities to accelerate progress for cross-border investment between ASEAN countries, speeding up the harmonization progress of non-tariff barriers as well as integrating a competition policy across ASEAN. Nevertheless, the AEC is making some progress. In time, it is well-placed to improve market access and provide the ASEAN groupin

The ASEAN region will see double-digit growth for e-commerce. Indonesia has the highest retail sales in ASEAN at USD469 billion and is expected to see robust e-commerce growth. Jeffrey Bahar, Deputy Chief Executive Office of Spire Research and Consulting group, highlighted the growth potential and key opportunities present in this sector during his presentation at the third Annual South East Asia Retail Expansion Summit in October 2015. The number of online shoppers in Indonesia is set to reach 8.7 million in 2016. Indonesia boasts of being among the top six retail e-commerce markets with a total retail value at USD1.3 billion (in 2013). Bahar mentioned that 51% of Indonesian online shoppers fall in the 21-27 age category where free shipping, exclusive deals, product warranty and safe payment methods are strong motivators. Key growth categories are books (22%) and fashion products (20.5%). Nonetheless, challenges remain. Barriers that need to be addressed to promote Indon