The e-commerce industry is one of the largest markets in the world. The industry has experienced a dramatic increase over the past couple of years, and the pandemic pushed it to an all-time high.

Global reached an all-time high of 16.4% in 2021 as countries were on lockdown and stores were forced to close their doors, according to data from McKinsey & Co. Sales in retail e-commerce in 2021 were around $4.9 trillion in 2021, and this figure is projected to increase by 50% over the next five years to reach approximately $7.4 trillion by 2025.

According to an article by Inside Monkey, in 2021 the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) was first in terms of online retail sales as its subsidiaries Taobao.com and Tmall.com accounted for 15% and 14% of the global market, respectively. The Seattle-based e-commerce company Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) came in second, taking 13% of global retail sales.

In terms of monthly traffic in 2022, Amazon ranks first, with a monthly traffic average of about 3.13 billion visitors, followed by eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) with 596 million and Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) with 571 million.

E-commerce growth in Southeast Asia more than in any other region in the world. The region is expected to experience a 20.6% expansion in 2022, with sales reaching $89.67 billion from $74.36 billion in 2021. E-commerce in the region is expected to pass $100 billion by 2023.

Following Southeast Asia is Latin America, which is the only region to pass the 20% mark this year.

Thailand’s 18% growth in retail e-commerce sales in 2022 puts it on the top-ten list of countries that are expected to experience the largest increase in retail e-commerce sales growth. Several factors, including increased internet usage, improved logistics and e-payment systems as well as government policies are some of the drivers fueling this growth.

At 79.5%, Thailand’s is one of the highest in the world. As of 2020, the number of in the country was around 54 million, and the figure is expected to reach 60 million by 2026.

The Thai government’s policy, Thailand 4.0, included allocating a budget for the construction of a broadband network across all villages in the country. This plan is expected to increase internet penetration in the country even more and promote modern economic development through e-commerce.

The government also plans to create digital application platforms with the goal of promoting online activities such as e-marketplaces, e-payments and e-government.

Society Pass Inc. (NASDAQ: SOPA), an acquisition-focused e-commerce holding company, believes it is growing by leaps and bounds to become one of the giants of e-commerce in Southeast Asia. The company has already set up shop in Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines and Singapore and now looks to expand its digital ecosystem in the region with its latest acquisition of the Thai company Thoughtful Media Group.

Thoughtful Media is a social e-commerce business focused on multi-platform networks operating in the U.S., Vietnam and the Philippines. The company distributes digital advertising campaigns in the U.S. and Southeast Asia through its platform. Advertisers take advantage of Thoughtful Media’s wide network of influencers to reach out to more people with their advertising campaigns.

SoPa believes this acquisition will help the company bolster its e-commerce ecosystem and retail partners. SoPa reports having a large number of brands shifting to Thoughtful Media’s platform because of the impact that influencers have on consumers’ decisions.

SoPa intends to expand its presence by acquiring emerging technology companies across different countries. In 2022, the company expects to spend more than $20 million in acquisitions.

Featured photo by Cottonbro on

As a loyalty and data marketing ecosystem, Society Pass operates multiple e-commerce platforms across its key markets in SEA. Its business model focuses on analysing user data through the expected launch of its Society Pass loyalty platform and circulation of its universal loyalty points, which seamlessly connects consumers and merchants across multiple product and service categories to foster organic loyalty. Since its inception, SoPa has amassed over 1.6 million registered consumers and over 5,500 registered merchants/brands on its platform. It has invested 2+ years building proprietary IT architecture with cutting edge components to effectively scale and support its consumers, merchants, and acquisitions.Society Pass provides merchants with #HOTTAB Biz and #HOTTAB POS – a specialized POS technology solution, a comprehensive system for payment, loyal customer management, user profile analytics, and convenient financial support packages for small and medium-sized enterprises.In addition, SoPa operates Leflair.com , Vietnam’s leading lifestyle e-commerce platform, Pushkart.ph , a popular grocery delivery company in Philippines, Handycart.vn , a leading online restaurant delivery service based in Hanoi, Vietnam, and Gorilla Networks , a Singapore-based, blockchain/web3-enabled mobile virtual network operator.For more information, please check out: / .

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Dennis Nguyen: Founder, Chairman & CEO