Amid the global economic slowdown, the outlook for Asia-Pacific will remain mostly positive in 2023. China is no longer the economic engine it once was, but major opportunities in ecommerce, the metaverse, and still-developing countries will support growth in the region overall.

In China, Social and Livestreaming Commerce Are Bright Spots—for Now

Overall ecommerce growth is fizzling in China, so brands and marketers will need to shift their attention to emerging channels. The country’s 10-year-plus digital buying boom is no more. Retail ecommerce sales growth dropped to single digits in 2022 and will remain there throughout our forecast period.

However, consumers are increasingly utilizing newer subcategories of ecommerce:

• Livestreaming commerce. We predict that livestream ecommerce—conducted via retail websites or social networks—will outgrow overall ecommerce this year (19.0% versus 8.0%).
• Social commerce. Though slowing, social will still outpace total ecommerce, growing 13.2% year over year (YoY). And livestreaming via social media will grow fastest of all, by 23.0%.