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Felicia Moursalien is the regional head of communications and chief researcher at aCommerce . More posts by this contributor:
Sheji Ho Crunch Network Contributor
Sheji Ho is the group CMO of aCommerce . More posts by this contributor:
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Following in the footsteps of China and the U.S., Southeast Asia is on the cusp of an e-commerce golden age. With online shopping accounting for only 1 percent of retail today, the region is slated to reach double-digit China-esque numbers within the next 4-5 years. With a population of 600 million — twice that of the U.S. — Southeast Asia is poised to eventually become the third-largest e-commerce market in the world, second only to China and India (and ultimately surpassing the U.S.). But enough of the macro overview. How did 2015 turn out? And what will 2016 bring to e-commerce? Local, regional and global players stepped up their games. In particular, we saw Indonesia rise this year: MatahariMall launched with big fanfare as the nationalist answer to Rocket Internet’s Lazada; Lazada, in turn, doubled-down on Indonesia with the return of previous CEO Magnus Ekbom ; for the first time, aCommerce Indonesia surpassed Thailand in order volume; and, recently, China’s Alibaba competitor JD snuck into Indonesia and surprised everyone with the launch of JD.id . This has served to add to an immense amount of pressure and competitiveness in the pure B2C space. 2015 also was the year of M&As, as other players allied together or were absorbed in order to arm themselves against the behemoths mentioned above. First, Ardent Capital-backed WhatsNew acquired lifestyle vertical site Moxy in Thailand in January. More recently, we witnessed an encouraging e-commerce exit as beauty site Luxola was acquired by French luxury superstar LVMH. And in December, aCommerce gave a 20 percent stake to a 150-year-old Swiss retail distributor, giving it access to more than a hundred of its Western brands and physical infrastructure in the region. Unfortunately, the year did not pass without its share of casualties due to the hyper-competition in B2C e-commerce in Southeast Asia. Fashion retailer Paraplou Group shut down in October after two years (and having raised $1.5 million) due to lack of focus and deep pockets. In March, SingPost and Indonesia’s mobile phone retailer Trikomsel announced a mysterious e-commerce partnership — only to have reports pop-up of the telco’s dire financial situation three months later, in addition to the sudden removal of Wolfgang Baier as Group CEO of SingPost in December. If 2014 was the year of unprecedented capital injections to build Southeast Asian e-commerce businesses, 2015 was the year we saw the early rise, fall and transmogrification of players in the fragmented landscape as they vied for a piece of the rapidly growing e-commerce pie. We expect to see serious movement in the region from offline players moving online. In line with our annual tradition , we are giving you a sneak peek at what will be on the menu for next year. The conclusions were determined through extensive investor and executive interviews, as well as internal data and secondary sources from January 2015 to December 2015. Because we work for a major Southeast Asian service provider, with the biggest e-commerce names in the region (such as Lazada, MatahariMall, L’Oreal and more), we are privileged to sit at the intersection of tech, logistics, retail, marketing and VC. We see where our partners are putting their money and where the investors are willing to follow. As such, we are able to see with acuity where the growth will be. There’s no crystal ball or trusting a gut feeling here; we simply have the privilege of a bird’s-eye view that most players don’t have, and we’re providing projections here in the form of predictions. 1. Brand.com Is Poised To Be The New Black
The evolution of e-commerce commonly follows the trajectory of P2P and C2C to B2C to eventually Brand.com. The U.S. went from Craigslist and eBay to Amazon to brand sites like Nike, J.Crew and Gap. China went from Taobao to Tmall and JD to the many standalone and marketplace brand sites, like Estee Lauder, Burberry and Coach. Today’s Southeast Asia is following a similar pattern, yet at a much faster pace due to “ 1 to n, ” horizontal progress and the resulting leapfrogging behavior. In our region, we have P2P (OLX), C2C (Rakuten, Tokopedia, Shopee), B2C (Lazada, Zalora, MatahariMall) and Brand.com (L’Oreal, Estee Lauder) all happening at once within a very short time frame. Even Unilever in Thailand has created an e-commerce division with revenue targets they expect to start hitting in 2016. We are seeing brands going online much earlier than one would normally expect. It was no big surprise, then, when aCommerce recently landed a strategic investment from Asia’s biggest retail distributor, DKSH. Swiss-based DKSH owns distribution rights for some of the biggest brands in the region, such as P&G, Unilever and Johnson & Johnson. This partnership validates the growing demand for brand e-commerce in the region, and will further expedite the process at which brands go online, whether on their own brand sites or on the many marketplaces in Southeast Asia. 2. Omni-Channel Awakens: “There Will Be No More E-Commerce, Only Commerce”
This is what aCommerce Group CEO Paul Srivorakul said when e-commerce logistics player SingPost announced it would create a futuristic mall that combined online and offline shopping, in pursuit of the omni-channel retail dream — a dream that is quickly becoming a reality in the U.S. and China . Referring to a seamless shopping experience across stores and the online channel, omni-channel retail is considered the elusive Holy Grail in retailing due to the politics and logistical challenges of integrating often independent online channels with their brick-and-mortar counterparts. But so far, Southeast Asia has been late to the game, with its focus (reasonably so) on building up pure-play e-commerce first. In 2016, we expect to see serious movement in the region from offline players moving online, and vice versa. 2016 will be the year in which offline brands will go online due to the plethora of online marketplaces available, as well as the presence of full-service e-commerce enablers. Southeast Asia is on the cusp of an e-commerce golden age. For B2C players, the appeal of adding offline operations to the mix includes enabling faster last-mile fulfilment and delivery. In Southeast Asia, Vietnamese electronics retailer Nguyen Kim (acquired by Central Group) is able to pull off same-day, 4-hour deliveries because of the massive offline retail footprint it has. E-commerce players with a traditional offline arm, such as MatahariMall , Cdiscount and Central, will be in an advantageous position to execute on this. However, 2016 will also have B2C pure players looking into this, as logistics and last-mile in Southeast Asia increasingly struggles with industry-wide capacity bottlenecks. 3. Niche-Commerce Models Will Evolve To Avoid The B2C Bloodbath
In our 2015 predictions , we discussed how B2C e-commerce is a long-term, cash-intensive, winner-takes-all game. Companies trying to battle it out in this space better have deep pockets (see Lazada , MatahariMall , and JD ) — or face extinction (see Paraplou Group ). In his seminal essay “ E-commerce is a Bear, ” Andy Dunn, founder and chairman of Bonobos.com, elaborates on why B2C e-commerce is a winner-takes-all game, and what options remain for other players who don’t have the luxury of deep pockets or a sugar daddy. Much of this comes down to a “David versus Goliath,” Peter Thiel-esque contrarian approach to e-commerce. The U.S. e-commerce scene has been dominated long enough by Amazon to witness some of these models coming to fruition over the last several years: 1) Proprietary Pricing (think flash sale, Gilt Groupe), 2) Proprietary Selection (ModCloth, NastyGal), 3) Proprietary Experience (Rent the Runway, Birchbox), and 4) Proprietary Merchandise (Warby Parker, Bonobos). This will be the year where more creative e-commerce models emerge. Companies like Pomelo and Sale Stock Indonesia have already adopted the proprietary merchandise approach toward achieving a competitive advantage. They do this by designing their own fashion and gradually moving upstream to include manufacturing. Moxy has staked their flag as the “Everything Store,” but focused on women. We also may see the return of subscription-commerce business models with retailers like Central, impacted by a dip in foreign shoppers, seriously considering a Gilt-style flash sales model to get rid of excess inventory. 4. Cross-Border E-Commerce Will Be Driven By Silk Road 2.0, Not AEC
Despite all the media hype and lofty expectations (even our own predictions last year), the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) will not have a significant impact on e-commerce in 2016. Governments are too fragmented on policy; coupled with the immediate growth opportunity within the domestic markets, it doesn’t make sense to focus on cross-border within ASEAN, as evidenced by companies such as Lazada and MatahariMall doubling-down on Indonesia’s e-commerce opportunity. Cross-border e-commerce in 2016 will be driven mainly by what we call “Silk Road 2.0.” These are Greater China-based companies that will bring their products into Southeast Asia, laying the foundation for our generation’s version of the Silk Road and attempting to expand China’s soft power and hegemony through commerce and digital . Southeast Asia is poised to eventually become the third-largest e-commerce market in the world. China’s JD is a classic example. The No. 2 online retailer in China just recently set up shop in Indonesia and will be expected to leverage their 40+ million SKU product assortment and China-Southeast Asia supply chain to compete with the likes of MatahariMall and Lazada. Alibaba investing almost half a billion into SingPost clears the way for Alibaba, Tmall and Taobao packages to smoothly enter Southeast Asia. 5. Payments: COD Will Continue Its Reign While Third-Party Payments Struggle
The next double-digit billion dollar opportunity in Southeast Asia e-commerce is the third-party online payment space. U.S. has PayPal and China has AliPay;  what does Southeast Asia have? Contrary to what many people believe, building a successful payment product isn’t about technology, it’s about distribution. Payment technology is a commodity; everyone’s building the same thing, including banks (SCB UP2ME), telcos (TrueMoney, PAYSBUY), media (Line Pay, AirPay by Garena), retailers (helloPay by Lazada) and payment-focused startups (2C2P, Omise). The hard part is distribution. How do you reach critical mass in order to cruise off network effects? Until this happens, COD will remain the dominant payment method in Southeast Asia. Based on aCommerce’s latest aggregated numbers, COD made up 74 percent of transactions in Southeast Asia, up from 53 percent the year prior. This validates the importance of COD to e-commerce in our region, and already exceeds the COD penetration rate at the height of its popularity in China back in 2008. Eventually, COD will naturally reach its shelf life and be replaced by a “modern” third-party online payment product. Even then, the most likely scenario will be one leading payment product per country in Southeast Asia due to the region being fragmented . Until then, good luck “killing off” cash on delivery , Mr. Jon Sugihara. 6. The Fizzle Of Fast Fashion E-Tailers
We’ll see mass, fast-fashion players like Zalora struggle and either fizzle out or be rolled into cousin Lazada. People familiar with the history of e-commerce in China will see similarities between Zalora and VANCL. VANCL , a mono-brand fast-fashion retailer founded by Chen Nian (who sold his previous business, Joyo, to Amazon), rose to prominence in 2009, raised up to $570 million and even planned for an IPO, but then gradually faded away . Selling your own fashion products is less about retail economics and much more about brand building . In addition, VANCL suffered from competition from Taobao merchants who sold similar products for higher quality at lower prices. Replace Taobao with Instagram and Facebook and you’ll understand the pain that Zalora and other mono-brand, mass-fashion retailers are going through in Southeast Asia. E-commerce companies need to understand that this is a long-term game. Following the natural progression of e-commerce, fashion will start becoming a more popular category for online shoppers, especially with the rise of richer female consumers in Southeast Asia. Fashion brands currently have the choice of selling on the many marketplaces in Southeast Asia and/or selling via their own brand sites. We’ll expect them to set up shop on their own brand sites or specialized, fashion-friendly marketplaces. However, premium fashion brands may be hesitant to set up shop on mass marketplaces like Lazada and Rakuten because of the risk of being perceived as a mass brand. After many years of courting fashion and luxury brands, Amazon is still struggling . Don’t forget, most of Amazon’s premium fashion sales today are generated via Shopbop, a fashion-only destination that the company acquired in 2006. 7. New Channels Will Emerge To Challenge Google And Facebook’s Dark Side
When you’re digging for gold in the remaining e-commerce gold rush on the planet, you better be equipped with the best picks and shovels available. Unfortunately for e-commerce players in our market, the range of weapons available is quite limited due to historical and socio-economic factors unique to Southeast Asia. The appearance of a “ no-tail ” landscape in terms of publishers severely hampers the effectiveness of traditional tools, such as affiliate marketing and programmatic display. In Southeast Asia, players are already exhausting the “usual suspect” channels, such as Google Search, Facebook and Criteo, with the result being CPCs rising to all-time highs and companies tapping into offline marketing to seek better returns. This is Andrew Chen’s “ Law of Shitty Clickthroughs ” in full effect. Companies and savvy entrepreneurs will start addressing this gap by designing and building new demand-generation platforms to offer an alternative to the Googles and Facebooks out there. Expect to see more e-commerce firms adding channels such as price comparison, coupon sites and cash-back sites, as well as innovative affiliate marketing solutions to balance their media mix. 2016 will give us the excavators and bulldozers to complement today’s picks and shovels. 8.The Battle For The Last Mile Continues As 3PLs Fail To Adapt
In 2016, we will see companies like Lazada (LEX), MatahariMall and aCommerce investing in building out their own delivery fleet in order to help relieve the industry-wide capacity issues and serve the anticipated record-breaking transaction volume. The pressure will only become bigger in 2016 as transaction volume is expected to hit record highs in Southeast Asia. Challenges with last-mile delivery in Southeast Asia, if not addressed properly, will become the biggest bottleneck to e-commerce growth in the region. The industry is currently witnessing industry-wide capacity bottlenecks beyond what the JNEs, Kerry Logistics and DHLs of this world are able to handle. Part of this is the poor infrastructure to begin with. China, the world’s largest e-commerce market, never really had this issue because of the socialist and central government mindset of prioritizing infrastructure investments . By the time e-commerce took off, the infrastructure was already there, which resulted in last-mile delivery becoming a commodity service. Also, many existing delivery companies were never built for B2C deliveries to begin with. Their core competencies are in B2B deliveries, which typically don’t face B2C headaches, like returns management, reverse logistics, pre-calling, multiple delivery attempts and cash on delivery. 9. Channel Management Will Be The New “Programmatic” Ad Agencies Still Stuck In 2011
Year in, year out, brand advertisers, agencies and adtech sales execs rave about programmatic display advertising and DSPs being the future of digital marketing . However, few actually have been outside their ivory tower in Singapore long enough to realize that “ no-tail ” has essentially killed off any promise of “programmatic” advertising in Southeast Asia outside of Singapore and Malaysia. The real “programmatic” opportunity in Southeast Asia will be in e-commerce, not in display advertising. With the advent and fragmentation of online marketplaces, the challenge for brands will be to choose on which channels to be present and what products to push in each of these channels. One of the biggest issues faced by all e-commerce players in Southeast Asia is the lack of talent. 2016 will see the emergence and adoption of next-generation channel management platforms, which are essentially “e-commerce DSPs.” These products will help brands enable omni-channel retailing across all major marketplaces, while also offering traditional programmatic benefits such as a dynamic optimization engine and plug-and-play integration with multiple first- and third-party data sources for better targeting, personalization and optimization. 10. The Talent War Will Inflate Salaries Faster Than Uber’s Valuation
One of the biggest issues faced by all e-commerce players in Southeast Asia is the lack of talent. In 2015, it was common to see employees being poached left and right with new salaries of 1.5-3x. Obviously, this isn’t sustainable, but it is the current foundation of the talent war in Southeast Asia. Opportunistic professionals, often young, jump to roles where their skills, experience and leadership don’t match the package and title. “The most important thing to optimize for on your first job is growth. Growth is king, queen, and emperor combined. Optimize for growth above compensation, above location, above lifestyle, and above anything else,” says Auren Hoffman , former LiveRamp CEO who founded and sold five companies. E-commerce companies need to understand that despite all of us being in the midst of a Gold Rush, this is a long-term game. To attract and retain the best talent, more and more e-commerce companies will be buckling down on culture and building an appealing work environment. aCommerce in 2016 will be relocating its headquarters to the E-commerce Valley of Bangkok — Emquartier (also home to Lazada’s regional headquarters). 11. Amazon Will Enter Southeast Asia
Not. Sorry, Jeff.

10 Trends That Will Shape Southeast Asian E-Commerce in 2016

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Fashion is the fastest-growing ecommerce vertical in Southeast Asia, and Rocket Internet’s Zalora is leading the pack. The fashion estore de force operates in Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, Thailand, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Indonesia, and New Zealand. It also recently launched an app in Taiwan. In the past, the firm told Tech in Asia that it has a few key strategies to win the fashion ecommerce market regionally, including focusing on mobile commerce, incorporating offline strategies like setting up pop-up stores in malls, and even launching its own marketplace for third-party merchants. The site has adopted an affiliate marketing program too, with users getting up to a 12 percent commission for getting others to buy Zalora products. Fashion ecommerce experts may tell you that Zalora already has the mass market sewn up in Southeast Asia. A notable Indonesian fashion estore and services provider Paraplou Group grabbed headlines last week when it announced it had shut down . Zalora is indeed the fattest kid at the dinner table in terms of market share, having sucked up US$238,000,000 in funding to date, and claiming more than 17 million monthly visits across ASEAN at the end of 2014 . See: Lessons from ecommerce giant Zalora on its third birthday
The company says next year, the Southeast Asian fashion market should be worth around € 70 billion (US$77.1 billion). Zalora’s gross merchandise value grew 80 percent in recent years: from €84 million (US$92.5 million) in 2013 to €151.6 million (US$167 million) in 2014. For the shoppers: Zalora carries several trendy brands like Aldo, Mango, and Factorie. The firms says some of its top brands include Adidas, Levis, Ray Ban, Cocolyn Apparel, Rip Curl, Daniel Wellington, and more. The firm has created its own private labels too, including Ezra , Zalia ,  24:01 , and Something Borrowed . In markets like Indonesia, shipping is free so long as your order is worth a minimum of Rp 300,000 (US$22). The site lets users pay via cash-on-delivery, but it also accepts Visa, MasterCard, and various bank transfers. In many Southeast Asian cities, Zalora offers same-day delivery. The site has a 30-day return policy, excluding lingerie, underwear, swimwear, beauty products, earrings, watches, and sunglasses. But despite the firm having a clear foothold in ASEAN, and Rocket Internet calling Zalora the region’s clear winner, data suggests there’s still a large piece of the fashion ecommerce pie to be had. As regional markets mature, we can expect to see more online fashion retailers cropping up than ever before. The key question investors are likely going to be asking these firms is: “How will you do it differently than Zalora?”
With this in mind, we’ve put together a list of fashion players that could be Zalora competitors a few years down the line. It’s important to note that these startups aren’t likely able to out-muscle Rocket Internet in terms of spending power, but with a little bit of strategy, investor support, and segment differentiation, they could find a way to outmaneuver the fashion ecommerce giant. After all, fashion is an ephemeral business. One day you’re hot, the next you’re not. Here are 24 fashion ecommerce sites that compete with Zalora in one way or another. See: Indonesia’s fashion ecommerce firm Paraplou shuts down
1. Ava
Ava calls itself the Philippines’ premier shopping site for well-loved brands and experiences. Ava aims to be the country’s “online retail therapy, done right.” The trendy store has its own private label, but also acts as a flash-sale and brand discovery site. See: Fashion brands find it hard to grow in the Philippines, but e-store AVA wants to help
2. Berrybenka
Berrybenka is an online fashion and beauty store in Indonesia. The site sells more than 1,000 local and international brands. It also features its own labels. Berrybenka has raised VC funding rounds from TransCosmos, GREE Ventures, and East Ventures in recent years. See: Berrybenka targets Muslim women in Indonesia, launches Hijabenka
3. Smooch The Label
Singapore-based Smooch The Label is a fashion ecommerce site for women. It aims to provide stylish clothes at reasonable prices. The site features many popular clothing brands, but also showcases its own label called Smooch. The startup also offers personalized style tips based on items the shopper is interested in. See: 14 popular ecommerce sites in Singapore
4. Chon.vn
Chon.vn claims to be one of Vietnam’s biggest players in fashion ecommerce, and therefore one of the key local competitors of Zalora. The firm calls itself the biggest fashion ecommerce portal in Vietnam. However, this may not be saying too much, as the Vietnam market seems pretty sparse in terms of current competition. SimilarWeb sats Chon.vn clocked 80,000 desktop visits in September 2015. Meanwhile, Zalora Vietnam saw 2.2 million . See: Chon.vn battling Rocket Internet’s Zalora in Vietnam’s fashion eommerce market
5. WearYouWant
WearYouWant refers to itself as a leading fashion and beauty ecommerce site in Bangkok. However, it serves the Thai market only. Comparable to Zalora, it allows cash-on-delivery payment, and free shipping with a minimum purchase amount. However, WearYouWant’s return period only lasts for 14 days. It carries brands like Braberry, Gym Republic, and TBY Jeans. See: WearYouWant: cash-on-delivery is secret to success for ecommerce startups
6. Dressabelle
Singapore-based Dressabelle says it seeks to delight you with apparel that you love – flattering silhouettes, stylish designs at affordable prices, allowing you to shine through. The firm looks to combine the instant gratification of a physical store with the personalization of technology. See: FatFish invests in blogshop turned fashion ecommerce site Dressabelle
7. WhatWeLike
WhatWeLike is based in Indonesia and calls itself a social shopping platform focusing on the fashion vertical. The firm pulled in a seed funding round from East Ventures earlier this year. 8. Pomelo
Thailand-based Pomelo is an online fast fashion brand and marketplace for greater Asia. In September 2014, the firm grabbed US$1.5 million in pre-series A funding led by Jungle Ventures. See: Pomelo Fashion aspires towards better e-commerce for the love of street chic fashion
9. VIP Plaza
Singapore-based VIP Plaza aims to offer high-quality branded fashion products at significant discounts to consumers through daily flash sales. In January, the firm grabbed series A funding from YJ Capital , a venture subsidiary of Yahoo Japan. See: Fashion flash sales site VIP Plaza launches in Indonesia with CyberAgent Ventures funding
10. PinkEmma
PinkEmma is an Indonesia-based startup with a vision to “liberate everyday good style.” The firm says every woman has the right to quality and affordable lifestyle, and that naturally includes fashion. 11. BrandClozet
Jakarta-based BrandClozet brands itself as an ecommerce site and flash-sale online store specifically for fashion products. It launched in February 2014. See: Flash sales are suddenly fashionable in Indonesia with the launch of BrandClozet
12. Maskoolin
Maskoolin is an ecommerce site which sells men’s clothes in Indonesia. Recently, the startup grabbed a pre-series A funding round from Indra Djokosoetono, the owner of Indonesia’s largest taxi company, Blue Bird Group. 13. 8wood
8wood is an Indonesian fashion ecommerce site that sells its own fashion private label products. The firm says, “We are here to help dynamic 15 to 35 year old females shop for fashionable outfits at reasonable prices.” 8wood recently pulled in seed funding from local VC firm Ideosource. See: With celebs at the helm, 8wood challenges Indonesia’s big fashion estores
14. Cloth Inc
Indonesia-based Cloth Inc is an online shop aiming to bring fashion conscious people the latest trends for every season. The firm says, “We deliver a young vibe with the essence of comfort and practicality in our creative designs.” The boutique firm designs and makes its own clothes. See: This bite-sized boutique startup is undaunted by fashion giants like Zalora
15. Wokuwoku
Wokuwoku bills itself as the first and biggest celebrity fashion ecommerce site in Indonesia. The firm exclusively sells clothes and apparel from fashion lines owned by celebs. 16. Etclo
Etclo is an Indonesian fashion estore that aims to enrich Indonesia’s “streetstyle ecosystem.” The firm wants to bring everyday street-ready products to the local market and the rest of the world at reasonable prices. See: Etclo wants to make Indonesians more edgy and fashionable
17. HijUp
Jakarta-based HijUp claims to be pioneering Islamic fashion with an online mall concept. The firm sells fashion apparel for women including clothes hijabs (head scarves), accessories, shoes, bags, and more. 18. Shopdeca
Shopdeca calls itself Indonesia’s first curated lifestyle online store featuring products from local and international designers. See: Shopdeca gets sporty with launch of specialist estore, Sportdeca
19. Chicify
Chicify from the Philippines calls itself an online shopping mecca for things chic and stylish. It claims to advocate homegrown fashion, featuring local brands and new, upcoming designers. 20. Tate & Tonic
Singapore’s Tate & Tonic slates itself as Asia’s first personalized styling service for men. The firm says, “We help men look great without the hassle of shopping.”
21. Reebonz
Although not purely a fashion play, Reebonz is often cited as a bona fide Zalora competitor. Reebonz bills itself as Reebonz as “a place where discounted luxury is not an oxymoron.” The firm aims to bring you straight into the world of private sales, with exclusive members-only deals. See: What Reebonz’s and Zalora’s funding rounds mean for e-commerce startups in Asia
22. Bobobobo
Similar to Reebonz, Indonesia’s Bobobobo brands itself as an online mall offering quality lifestyle products in three areas: shop, travel, and treats. 23. Megafash
Singaporean startup Megafash is a self-serve, automated marketplace for indie brands to share, sell, and showcase their products. 24. Love, Bonito
Love, Bonito aims to offer women a wide array of designs for dressing impeccably yet comfortably, bringing out their best. Love, Bonito is Singapore-based, but is also looking to serve the Indonesian market. Can any of these firms truly compete with Zalora? Do you know of any fashion estores in Southeast Asia that deserve honorable mention on this list? Please mention them below and we will make updates as necessary. Editing by Charlie Custer and Michael Tegos
(And yes, we're serious about ethics and transparency. More information here . )
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24 trendy Zalora competitors in Southeast Asia

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October 27, 2015: &nbsp
Paraplou Group , an Indonesian eCommerce retailer and brand partner, focused on premium fashion announced on Monday, that it has shut down its business. “Indonesia is a fashion-forward place and we believe the industry has a rosy future ahead of it. Unfortunately, the market for premium branded fashion is still young this paired with uncertain global financial conditions and a tight funding environment, mean it has been necessary for us to close the company down.” said the Paraplou team on their website. Paraplou Group was originally founded as “Vela Asia” in 2012 by Sugden and Moore to assist fashion brands, to go online in Indonesia. The company had retail capability of eleven international and domestic fashion brands, including large global brands such as Havaianas , Lee Cooper , Jack Nicklaus and G2000 . In early 2015, on the back of its success running mono-brand webstores, the group raised $1.5 million from leading Singaporean VC, Majuven , in order to launch the marquee multi-brand store, Paraplou.com . Paraplou.com  introduced almost 20 international fashion brands to the Indonesian market.

Indonesia premium fashion e-commerce Paraplou Group shuts down

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On Saturday, October 24, Tech in Asia discovered Indonesia’s fashion ecommerce site Paraplou shut down . The firm posted a farewell message on its homepage, citing reasons of market immaturity, uncertain financial conditions, and a difficult funding environment as the primary reasons for its closure. Paraplou was headed by Bede Moore and Susie Sugden, two former Rocket Internet managing directors who worked at Lazada Indonesia in 2011 and 2012 before starting Paraplou Group , an ecommerce services provider for premium fashion brands in Indonesia. Many of the companies Paraplou Group served were foreign brands looking to enter the Indonesian market. Paraplou Group’s ecommerce services page is still up. However, most of its clients like Lee Cooper Indonesia , Jack Nicklaus Indonesia and G2000 Indonesia display messages on their own sites indicating they are temporarily closed. While it’s unclear whether Paraplou Group’s ecommerce services arm is also now defunct, these messages may very well indicate the entire group has closed its doors in Jakarta. See: Indonesian ecommerce enabler Paraplou Group diversifies. Is it stretching itself too thin? Originally, Paraplou Group offered services under the name Vela Asia. The startup raised a US$1.5 million series A funding round from Singapore-based VC firm Majuven last February. Majuven is run by several prominent business figures in Southeast Asia, including SingPost chairman Ho Kee Lim and former SingTel CEO Lee Hsien Yang. At the time of funding, Vela was a two-year-old company, and claimed to have captured an “appealing section of Indonesia’s online fashion market.”
The following April, after the inception of Vela Asia’s own ecommerce site Paraplou , Moore and Sugden rebranded Vela Asia as Paraplou Group . The switch, they said, was an effort to keep all of their ecommerce activities under the same company umbrella. Tech in Asia has reached out to Paraplou for a statement and advice for the budding fashion ecommerce community in Indonesia. Moore, the startup’s co-founder and managing director, has been unreachable for comment. We will continue coverage on this story if more details come to light. Further, we’d like to tip our hats to Moore and Sugden for helping propel Indonesia’s fashion ecommerce awareness. Is Indonesia’s ecommerce landscape ready for premium foreign fashion brands? What does Paraplou’s closure mean for the nation’s online retail sector at large? Editing by Nadine Freischlad

Indonesia’s fashion ecommerce firm Paraplou shuts down

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If you follow Indonesian ecommerce , there’s a decent chance you’ve heard the name Vela Asia. Until recently, the company referred to itself as a fashion ecommerce enabler, providing website-building, logistics, digital marketing, and other services. Last February, it successfully bagged US$1.5 million from Singapore-based Majuven to scale up its operation. The idea was that Vela Asia would be a more niche-oriented ecommerce services provider than say aCommerce , for example. It would strictly focus on the fashion vertical, one of Indonesia’s most fruitful ecommerce categories to date. In April, following the inception of their own ecommerce site Paraplou , co-founders Bede Moore and Susie Sugden rebranded Vela Asia as Paraplou Group . The switch, they claim, was an effort to keep all of their ecommerce activities under the same company umbrella. “We will still be operating our full range of mono-brand sites, but we wanted to consolidate our activities under a single brand name,” said Moore. With all the media attention on Indonesia’s ecommerce market, Moore and Sugden have been secretive, and clearly have their work cut out for them. Neither have commented on what the name Paraplou means, and for a little while, the strange rebrand had our team scratching their heads. We looked at the Techlist data and tried to figure out if Majuven had invested twice, once in Vela Asia and once in Paraplou. We asked each other, “Does Vela belong to Moore and Paraplou belong to Sugden? Wait, are they actually the same?” We soon learned they were. See: Zalora looks back on three years in Southeast Asia
A lot of moving parts
According to the firm, Paraplou Group provides end-to-end ecommerce support to premium fashion brands, from website to warehouse. Paraplou, the consumer-facing ecommerce site, is a bona fide fashion ecommerce itself. It features lesser-known brands for Indonesians like Playhound , but also mainstream ones like Nike, Adidas, and Bonds for men. For women, a few notable brands include Ciciero bags, EPA jewelry, and Kimihara shoes. Moore and Sugden’s approach carries a two-pronged strategy that is also likely a way for the co-founders to hedge their bets on the Indonesian ecommerce playing field. It seems pretty smart; if fashion retailers want their own business-to-consumer ecommerce site, Paraplou Group will build it. If they want to simply sell on a marketplace platform, Paraplou provides it. Depending on which arm of Paraplou performs best in the early stages, the company could easily pivot if necessary. This could mean discontinuing one arm to focus on the other – kind of like how the Dark Knight’s bat mobile transforms into a motorcycle after it’s damaged. Critics could argue that if a startup tries to be everything to everyone, in the end it will be nothing to no one. To some, Paraplou Group’s strategy of running enabler services while also building out its own estore might seem unwise, and with too many moving parts that need to be micro-managed. With only US$1.5 million and a lean team, there are questions that inevitably come up. An important one is how the startup will be able to manage ecommerce sites for a bunch of different firms while also ensuring its own is positioned as a market leader. Trading in focus for a wide net
In terms of serving other ecommerce players, a great deal of Paraplou Group’s clients are brands from overseas that can’t easily be found in the archipelago. Paraplou Group has built ecommerce sites with local domains for several companies so far, including Lee Cooper from England, Universo from Brazil, Jack Nicklaus from the US, and G2000 from Hong Kong. In Indonesia, it serves refurbished goods ecommerce site Kukuruyuk , luxury estore Bobobobo , and muslim fashion portal Saquina . See: Indonesia’s Bobobobo bags series A funding from Emtek
Moore and Sugden haven’t shared the traction numbers of Paraplou Group or its ecommerce counterpart, but it seems clear that the startup will inevitably go head-to-head with a few of the big players in Jakarta. For enabler services, Paraplou Group will still need to outmaneuver aCommerce, a firm that may be in the best position possible on the eve of Jakarta’s ecommerce showdown. Paraplou will also double duel with Rocket Internet’s Zalora , and homegrown Indonesian fashion estore Berrybenka . But arguably, the biggest thorn in Paraplou’s side (and for the other players too) will be the nation’s upcoming MAPeMall , a large soon-to-launch ecommerce site primarily driven by high-end fashion brands . MAP is an Indonesian offline retail conglomerate that has department stores, popular apparel brands, a variety of lifestyle products in its arsenal, and very deep pockets. It has nearly 1,800 retail outlets with more than 150 brands in more than 60 cities across Indonesia. It’s also the local franchise holder of well-known global brands such as Pull & Bear, Zara, Bershka, and Adidas. Based on what we can see, the biggest advantage Paraplou has going for itself is that it features smaller foreign brands not easily found in Indonesia. In this regard, Paraplou could theoretically champion a relatively niche segment of Indonesia’s eshopping market, but would unlikely capture a majority efashion user base in Indonesia. According to Moore, Paraplou’s unique value proposition is that while other players offer “mass fashion,” Paraplou aims to “offer affordable luxury to sophisticated consumers.”
If you ask me, Paraplou Group should focus more on its business-to-business offerings, an Indonesian well that has fewer people drinking from it. Both Moore and Sugden worked at Lazada Indonesia as managing directors in 2011 and 2012 before starting Paraplou Group. Moore and Sugden’s money and resources don’t spring from the seemingly limitless coffers of Ardent Capital, Rocket Internet, or a big Indonesian family conglomerate. However, the race is still on in the archipelago, and Paraplou Group is a still a contender to keep an eye on. Editing by Terence Lee and Michael Tegos

Indonesian ecommerce enabler Paraplou Group diversifies. Is it stretching itself too thin?

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Companies that sell goods online (B2C), or enable the selling of goods online via tech solutions (B2B). 

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Paraplou, formerly Vela Asia, is an Indonesian brand partner and eCommerce retailer, focused on premium fashion. Vela works with brands and manufacturers to operate their online sales channel, running their end-to-end eCommerce from website to warehouse.

Date	Round	Amount	Investors	Valuation Valuations are submitted by companies, mined from state filings or news, provided by VentureSource, or based on a comparables valuation model.	Revenue	Sources
10/26/2015	Dead		Dead	$XXM	0 FY undefined	1
2/6/2015	Series A	$XXM	Subscribe to see more	$XXM	0 FY undefined	10

Date	10/26/2015	2/6/2015
Round	Dead	Series A
Amount		$XXM
Investors	Dead	Subscribe to see more
Valuation	$XXM	$XXM
Revenue	0 FY undefined	0 FY undefined
Sources	1	10

First funding	2/6/2015
Last Funding	2/6/2015
Investor	Majuven
Rounds	1 Series A
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Type	Venture Capital
Location	Singapore

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