Top 10 ecommerce businesses in Asia

Asia is home to about 60 percent of the world’s population, so it’s no wonder that some of world’s biggest ecommerce businesses are also based here. Over the years, numerous western ecommerce giants including Amazon, eBay, and Uber have tried to acquire this luring market but local brands have managed to keep the larger pie for themselves.

Looking closely at Asian ecommerce brands makes it clear that their businesses have quintessentially innovative features, which puts them ahead in the race of global ecommerce. Aspiring entrepreneurs and startups can learn a lot from Asian online stores when it comes to understanding target market and strategizing sales.

The success of the top 10 ecommerce businesses of Asia is amazing and inspirational. The list below covers the most important factors that led to their success, and shows their current status in the world. Let us muse over what makes these Asian ecommerce stores distinct and how they could serve as a lesson for startups:

1. Taobao (China)

Business Model: C2C (consumer-to-consumer) ecommerce marketplace
Founded: 2003, Hangzhou, China
Founder: Jack Ma (Alibaba Group)
Operation: China (Delivery: global)
Funding: N/A – Subsidiary of Alibaba Group, an IPO with market cap of US$201.7 billion

With over 600 million unique monthly visits, Taobao is the world’s most visited ecommerce website; something you can be proud of as an Asian, whether you use it or not.

Taobao is pretty much the same as Amazon and eBay. Why it calls itself a C2C ecommerce marketplace is because sellers are individual retailers and small-scale businesses. More importantly, the C2C label is justified by the fact that the site allows customers to bargain with the sellers, as well as inspect the delivered product before paying.

Given the buying behavior of Chinese people, Taobao has an ace in the hole with its unique features.

2. Flipkart (India)

Business model: Ecommerce marketplace
Founded: 2007, Bangalore, India
Founders: Sachin Bansal, Binny Bansal
Operation: India
Funding: US$3.15 Billion

Started off in the typical Amazon-like fashion as an online bookstore, Flipkart is today India’s biggest ecommerce platform. Not just Asia but it reigns global ecommerce too, and ranks among world’s top 10 ecommerce giants.

Flipkart established itself in the game by offering the cash-on-delivery payment method to customers, and setting up its own logistic service, which apparently improved the lazy and unreliable delivery network of the existing ecommerce ecosystem in India.

Over the past couple of years, Flipkart’s intense battle with Amazon-India has helped the company evolved a lot as one of the bestselling ecommerce platforms. With a consumer focused approach, this Indian brand has constantly attained the edge over its western counterpart.

3. Alibaba.com (China)

4. Snapdeal (India)

5. Didi Kuaidi (China)

6. Rakuten (Japan)

7. Coupang (South Korea)

8. Lazada (Southeast Asia)

9. GrabTaxi (Southeast Asia)

10. Meituan (China)

Conclusion