E-commerce sales in Asia seen to exceed $1T in 2017

ATLANTA, Georgia—UPS, the world’s largest package delivery firm, projects that by 2017, e-commerce sales in Asia will exceed $1 trillion, 20 percent more than revenues from North America, due to the region’s rapidly growing middle class that drives up retail spending.

UPS CEO David Abney said in a briefing here with journalists from Asia-Pacific that the Internet and moves by governments to ease trade restrictions were quickly changing how people shop, leading to the day when “global commerce” becomes a reality.

The trend is most apparent in Asia which, he said, was home to some of the world’s most dynamic and innovative economies, accounting for more than half of global gross domestic product.

“There is no place where online shopping is hotter than in Asia. Asia represents about one-sixth of the world’s population but last year, it accounted for 46 percent of all online purchases made across the world,” said Abney.

“Last year, online purchases in Asia topped $580 billion, exceeding online spending in North America for the first time ever. And there are no signs of that changing,” he added.

This trend presents significant growth opportunities for UPS, which has committed to invest in improving supply chains that support the region.

Abney said small- and medium-scale enterprises had a lot to gain from the improved supply chains as they could become more than just suppliers to big companies. They can act like big companies themselves as they can sell directly to consumers all over the world with stronger supply chains in Asia and the rise of e-commerce, he said.

UPS can contribute to the growth of Asian enterprises, particularly the SMEs, by leveraging on its global network, being a leading provider of specialized transportation and logistics services. Every day, about 2 percent of the world’s GDP and 6 percent of the United States’ GDP travels through the network of UPS.

“I’m bullish on Asia because I believe we haven’t begun to tap the potential of the millions of small-and-mid-sized companies across Asia. We call this the rise of the ‘entrepreneurial economy’,” said Abney.

“Some experts predict that Asia’s growth over the next 25 years will be so great that it will be equivalent to adding three more Europes to the map. I believe it,” he added.

To adequately prepare for this growth in e-commerce and the increase in the middle class with disposable incomes in Asia, Abney said UPS had identified five key investment areas where resources would be focused.

Among these are increased capacity through both new facilities and modernization projects that will improve daily volume capacity as well as the expansion of infrastructure, people and products to offer custom solutions for industries like retail, healthcare, manufacturing and technology.

UPS

UPS believes it can contribute to growth of enterprises in Asia by leveraging on its global network. AP