The statements are now motherhood ones: Asia is the next big thing, its growth is unstoppable, the online market is exploding.
But why is it that each time you see the numbers, read the analyst reports, a jolt of electricity still goes through your brain? Perhaps because the numbers are still hard to fathom, and often the market scenarios described have never been seen before.
Booking Holdings recently put together a report on The Next Billion Online, a paper chock-full of statistics that again is hard to visualise. And it is all happening in Asia. While it premises that the economic growth numbers and the market potential has long been said and documented, it ventures further to explore the digital transformation of the region and how that phenomenon will impact businesses and lives.
“In 2018 alone, 112 million Asians logged onto the Internet for the first time. Between 2019 and 2022, another 365 million new Internet users will join them. As Internet penetration rates climb to match those found in Western markets, another one billion people will come online,” said the report.
The report focuses on the three most populous countries in Asia – China, India and Indonesia, and targeted two specific groups of people: digital experts and leaders (those who follow the tech press).
Interestingly, the report picked up a paradigm shift in the attitude of the countries surveyed towards the Internet: people no longer consider the Internet a luxury but a basic human right. According to the survey, 79% consider it a basic necessity and 82% of people call it a “fundamental right”. People generally will fight for their rights, so expect governments to pay close attention to this shift in attitude.
Those surveyed also firmly believed Internet connectivity will improve their personal fortunes. They expect their fellow countryfolk to benefit from digital inclusion – for improved education and wealth gain.
Some of the other meaningful data points are as follows:
• According to the respondents, Internet is accessible to the majority: China (94%), Indonesia (74%) and India (56%).
• In the second quarter of 2018, Asian startups had a total of $29 billion in funds at their disposal, a 102% increase on the previous year and more than what is available in the U.S. or Europe.
• Indonesia’s e-commerce market is expected to grow from $8 billion to $55 billion. In China, the e-commerce market is already worth more than $1 trillion, over 40% of the total global value of online trade. In India, the e-commerce market is expected to quadruple in size between 2017 and 2022 to $150 billion.
Barriers still exist
While these projected numbers are more than encouraging, the report highlights barriers that could potentially limit the potential. Highest among the barriers identified by the respondents is a lack of online security (84%). This would highlight the huge potential of the cyber security industry in the region.
The list of barriers in descending order of significance after lack of online security are as follows: lack of publicly accessible Internet (78%); English language barrier (76%); lack of affordable Internet service (76%); lack of a strong Internet policy/initiative by the government (73%); lack of network infrastructure, lack of affordable devices (72%).
Booking Holdings report analysts picked out the language barrier as a surprising one. According to a Statista study, English accounts for 52.9% of the top 10 million websites. However, according to language-teaching service Babbel, only 20% of the world’s population speaks English.
With an explosive rate of Internet uptake in these countries, what do the respondents think the Next Billion will use the Internet for? Highest on the list was social media (75%), followed by news consumption (71%), purchase of goods and services (67%), entertainment (66%), job searches (66%) and dining (51%).
Boost to Gender Equality
The report also highlighted the impact of this digital transformation on the lives of women and girls in a region where gender equality has never been a given. “One of the most heartening and economically significant impacts of the expansion of connectivity in Asia has been the corresponding improvement in the lives of women and girls.”
Almost 80% of respondents said gender was not a barrier to Internet adoption in their country; 86% feels increased gender equality would drive adoption and 91% said greater digital participation would also improve gender equality in their country.
Featured image credit: Getty Images
