Prime Now allows online shoppers in the affluent city-state of five million people to order a wide range of goods from baby products to food, electronic items and beer. Alibaba already has a headstart in the region with an 83-percent stake in Southeast Asia-focused online retailer Lazada. By just entering their postal zip code after opening the app on their devices, online shoppers can start placing their orders. Southeast Asia includes relatively wealthy countries such as Singapore, but also developing nations with poor infrastructure where it is harder to do business. "While e-commerce is set to grow the market in Southeast Asia is relatively small and fragmented with narrow margins," he said.

Source: The Nation Bangkok July 27, 2017 06:33 UTC