Online sellers in Southeast Asia ‘optimistic’ over 2022 outlook

74% of online sellers expect at least a 10% increase in sales, Lazada reported.

Online sellers in Southeast Asia emerged out of 2021 with an “optimistic” outlook as 74% of them expect at least a 10% sales growth in the first quarter of the year, Lazada reported.

In its Q4 2021 Digital Commerce Confidence Index, Lazada found 76% of sellers have plans to increase their inventory by at least 10% over the same period.

The report surveyed a total of 1,126 online sellers across Southeast Asia, of which nearly half (or 47%) reported experiencing a sales increase of more than 10% in the last quarter of the year.

"We saw that in the last quarter of 2021, people were spending less time at home and increasingly visiting physical retail and recreational outlets,” Magnus Ekbom, Chief Strategy Officer of Lazada Group.

“This trend, when viewed against the success of the year-end online shopping festival season, shows that consumers today are taking a more blended approach to retail than ever before, making purchases both online and offline in a way that meets their needs, adds value and delivers convenience.”

Across all categories, the index also showed that sellers in fashion and electronics were the most optimistic with 75% and 73% expecting sales growth in the first quarter.

Moreover, 59% of the sellers surveyed said they attracted more online traffic from shoppers and 54% stated increasing price competition are the top two opportunities for growth in Q1 2022.

"Today, the customer shopping journey is much more complex: Customers are increasingly switching between physical and online channels,” Chong Hin Ng, co-founder and CEO of Asia Insight, said.

“To stand a higher chance of winning customers over, brands need to integrate online and offline experiences across a range of touchpoints, and leverage technology to recreate a 'human touch' in the digital space."