Concung, Edamama, and the quest for SEA’s dominant baby ecommerce firm

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Hi readers,

For working parents of babies, it is challenging to keep track of essential items at home. I live in India, and my go-to platforms for last-minute needs are quick commerce services like Swiggy’s Genie and BigBasket’s BBNow, which deliver diapers, wet wipes, and other baby staples within a few minutes.

But when it comes to clothing and accessories for my kids, I turn to FirstCry. The abundance of options and affordable prices make it my top choice. Babies grow so rapidly that what fit them perfectly just last week might be too small today. That’s why I find myself browsing and buying baby clothes almost every month on FirstCry.

When I started writing our piece on baby ecommerce, I felt like this was familiar territory… except that I did not know what the scene in Southeast Asia is like. Some research revealed that while baby ecommerce in the region is growing significantly, it is still a small market compared to India.

This can be attributed to socio-economic, demographic, and operational factors, among others. While companies like Concung and Edamama have gained ground in their respective countries, a dominant platform akin to FirstCry has yet to emerge in the region.

Maybe there will be one on my next visit to Southeast Asia, and its impact will be similar to Grab’s or Shopee’s when they launched.

— Samreen Ahmad, journalist at Tech in Asia

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Image credit: Timmy Loen

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