Targeting consumers across the ASEAN region

Comprising ten Southeast Asian nations – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, the AEC will be a young and dynamic consumer market with over 622 million consumers, a burgeoning middle class with rising incomes and total consumer expenditure of US$1.5 trillion. 

Multinationals, excited at the prospects of the AEC single market, will not only face a changing business environment and consumer market landscape that they need to be prepared for, but will also need to have a deep understanding of the ASEAN as a region of unique economic, cultural and religious diversity. However, owing to the lack of standardised data and reliable forecasts, especially on household income and consumer expenditure, in-depth research on Southeast Asia’s consumer market potential is hard to come by. 

To fill in that gap and help companies gain an insight into Southeast Asian consumers’ purchasing power and spending priorities, this article provides an examination of the ASEAN’s four largest markets – Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia – which are likely to be the principal entry points for multinationals seeking to enter the AEC.