Dezan Shira Joins Kung Fu Data to Decipher Asia’s E-Commerce Sector Recovery

On March 7th, 2023, in Munich, Germany, and March 9th, 2023, in Milan, Italy, Dezan Shira & Associates teamed up with Kung Fu Data to shed light on China’s e-commerce recovery post-Covid and discuss best practices.

Attendees participated in two happy hour networking sessions and lively Q&As.

Josh Gardner, the co-founder of Kung Fu Data, discussed consumer behavior in the wake of Covid-19 and China’s reopening.

Riccardo Benussi, Director of Europe at Dezan Shira & Associates, shared data and information on Southeast Asia’s e-commerce market and advice on intellectual property protection – a must in first-to-file Asian markets.

About the events, Riccardo said, “It was fantastic to hear the questions attendees posed in both Munich and Milan, all pragmatic, factual, and in-depth. It was valuable to reconnect with existing business partners and establish face-to-face with new ones, exchanging thoughts over canapes and connecting operators to the service world. We’ll be back in Europe for more, so stay tuned for our next location announcement.”

The E-Commerce Landscape in Asia

China is often the country most associated to the term e-commerce in Asia. The size of the market and the inherent potential is reinforced annually by Alibaba releasing record-breaking sales figures following the Double Eleven shopping holiday – a consumer holiday similar to Black Friday and Cyber Monday. 2023 was the first year in fact, in the wake of post-Covid, that the company declined to publish any numbers.

The Southeast Asian market on the other hand, is fast becoming a hotspot for digital trade. For example, the e-commerce market grew 15% year-on-year from 2021 to 2022 after having grown 48% from 2020 to 2021. Further, the market is expected to more then double within the next five years to a projected US$280 billion.