The e-commerce industry in Southeast Asia is at its best yet. With US$200 billion worth of market and billions more invested in the region, investors and consumers all around the world are looking forward to its emergence.

Southeast Asia is known for the differences between the countries. Each country is highly diverse in terms of payment method, logistics, internet access and more. Being the most advanced and richest country in Southeast Asia, Singapore has a distinct market compared to other countries in the region.

We compare the data between Singapore and the rest of Southeast Asian countries and discovered very interesting insights about the e-commerce market in Singapore.

Singaporeans appear to have higher demand for cross border shopping. Two out of the top five most visited e-commerce sites are platforms which hugely support such services by aiming to make the cross border shopping process easier for the consumers.

Based on the Q1 2018 Map of E-Commerce, eBay - the popular e-commerce platform from California, is the third most visited e-commerce site in Singapore. It’s followed by Ezbuy, which places fourth.

During Q3 and Q4 2017, Ezbuy was the third most visited site and eBay placed fourth. However, eBay overtook Ezbuy during Q1 2018 and both platform switches their rankings between each other.

Ezbuy and eBay share one significant similarity in which most of the products they sell are mainly from overseas.

A spokesman for eBay Singapore has stated that cross-border trade is their main focus for the platform and it makes up the overwhelming majority of transactions in Singapore.

EZbuy, claimed as Singapore's first and largest global shopping platform, is also a platform made to boost cross border shopping. They focus on connecting customers to products and top brands from overseas such as Korea, Taiwan, and USA.

The high traffic from customers clearly indicate the demand for cross border items. According to Forrester Research, 60% of Singapore’s e-commerce sales come from cross-border orders, a high percentage compared to its neighbouring country Malaysia at 40%.

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