March 5, 2020 
An exploding population has its benefits too as China has proven repeatedly over the years. The undisputed world leaders in manufacturing and exports have also steadily taken over the e-commerce sphere, sitting pretty as the largest e-commerce market in the world.
Apart from the fact that the revenue generated is in the region of $1 trillion, by 2020, China’s e-commerce marketplace will be churning out as much as the United States of America, Japan, United Kingdom, Germany, and France put together.
The largest contribution to the e-commerce boom in the Asian marketplace has, unsurprisingly, been thanks to Jack Ma and the meteoric rise of Alibaba. While China has been steadily rising, India is taking rapid strides towards ascertaining its status as an e-commerce superpower.
Growing at 51 percent annually, the fastest in the world, India’s e-commerce bounty is expected to shoot from $38.5 billion in 2017 to $200 billion by 2026. Indian-origin companies like Flipkart, Snapdeal, and Myntra have contributed heavily to this growth and continue to do so with every passing year.
Digitization in the last decade and a half has also witnessed the emergence of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, and Indonesia as other major forces in the Asian marketplace.
Here we will take a look at a few platforms that are the top Asian e-commerce marketplaces.
Alibaba
The world leader in B2B e-commerce, Alibaba’s market cap recently breached $400 billion with 80 percent of its online sales coming just from China.
Operating in over 200 countries with more than 100 million products in its inventory, the Jack Ma-founded giants help wholesalers in China connect with 200-odd businesses around the world. The website focuses majorly on bulk orders that are delivered to retailers looking to stock up.
The company also owns and operates successful e-commerce websites like AliExpress, TMall, and Taobao, which are household brands across the Southeast Asian subcontinent.
AliExpress
A subsidiary of the Alibaba Group, AliExpress caters to the international B2C market offering prospective buyers factory prices on a wide range of products.
Unlike Alibaba, AliExpress does not specifically require a bulk purchase. The website boasts over 60 million active buyers from 220 countries, with close to 20 million visits on a daily basis.
Flipkart
What started out as a website selling books quickly turned into India’s largest e-commerce marketplace with 10 million customers choosing from 100,000 suppliers. Flipkart has been pivotal to India’s rise as a leading Asian e-commerce player.
Pioneers of the cash-on-delivery system, Flipkart has penetrated the tier two and tier three markets better than competitors Amazon. With the user base breaching the 100-million-mark, the company has a 43 percent share of India’s e-commerce market.
GittiGidiyor
A subsidiary of eBay, GittiGidiyor – translating to going, going, gone – is a leading e-shopping mall in Turkey. One of the largest companies in the Turkish e-space, GittiGidiyor offers clothing, accessories, collectibles et cetera. Over 19 million users have registered with the website that has a traction of 60 million visits a month.
HipVan
A Singapore-based furniture e-commerce marketplace, HipVan is a website that works with a host of design studios and independent designers to ideate inspiration for everyday living.
JD.com
China’s second-largest B2C market, JD.com is leading the way in terms of what the future of delivery systems will be.
With 300 million registered users across four countries (China, Russia, Spain, and Indonesia) the company is the world leader in high tech and artificial intelligence delivery systems. A drone-based delivery system, robotic delivery systems, and autonomous delivery trucks are what can be expected from JD.com in the near future.
Lazada
Another Alibaba-owned entity, Lazada is a name to reckon with in countries like Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam generating approximately $1.5 billion in annual sales. Lazada’s product inventory ranges from consumer electronics and household goods to fashion and beauty products.
Qoo10
Accounting for 32.6 percent of Singapore’s e-commerce market, Qoo10 offers an eclectic range of products also in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Hong Kong. Rebranded from Gmarket to Qoo10 after eBay’s takeover in 2009, the website sees a daily traffic of 600,000.
Rakuten
Well renowned Japanese brand Rakuten caters to nearly 80 percent of the country’s population offering them a variety of wares.
Founded by Scott Blum in 1997 as buy.com, Rakuten was rechristened in 2010 after a takeover by Japanese firm Rakuten. Boasting 18 million products and 105 million users, Rakuten has become one of the strongest entities in the Asian and global e-commerce marketplace.
Shopee
A reputed brand in Southeast Asia, Shopee is a mobile e-commerce platform that initially catered to the C2C market before adopting a hybrid model accommodating C2C and B2C.
In 2017, the brand had acquired 180 million products from four million entrepreneurs across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
Snapdeal
Another vital cog in India’s e-commerce wheel has been Snapdeal. A marketplace with 40 million users, 300,000 sellers, and 35 million products, Snapdeal has gone from strength to strength after eBay’s strategic acquisition.
Snapdeal’s USP is to offer the best deals on various branded products – be it fashion, apparel, or electronics.
Taobao
Among many of Alibaba-owned entities, Taobao facilitates a consumer to consumer retail platform for many small businesses across Chinese speaking regions and abroad. The latest polls show that the brand has about seven million active sellers.
Tmall
A Chinese business to consumer model, Tmall is also owned by the Alibaba Group and is emerging as one of the biggest e-commerce marketplaces in Asia and across the globe.
Tmall primarily sells branded goods to customers across China using special warehouses. Its gaining prominence can be viewed by the fact that it has 500 million users and 40,000 unique sellers.
VIP.com
The third-largest Chinese e-commerce platform behind Tmall and JD.com, VIP.com specializes in online discounts. 60 million active users get to take their pick from fashion, homeware, cosmetics et cetera.
In 2016, the company generated a revenue of $2.73 billion from 269 million orders. 20 million visitors get to pick from over 20,000 brands available on the platform.
