When Amazon entered Southeast Asia in 2017 with a launch in Singapore, the Seattle-headquartered company was expected to rapidly begin devouring the region’s e-commerce market.
But even as Southeast Asia has seen its own digital renaissance, the expected Amazon invasion hasn’t yet materialised. Instead, rather uncharacteristically, Amazon has taken its own sweet time. But if 2017 was a false dawn, 2020 looks set to be the year that Amazon finally begins its Southeast Asian campaign in earnest.
Having failed to make meaningful inroads in the past, the company, which typically opts for organic growth through its own business units, is considering merger and acquisition (M&A) opportunities to end its stalemate in the region.
