Seoul (VNA) – The Korea JoongAng Daily of the Republic of Korea has recently published an article by Ko Young Kyung, a research professor at Yonsei University’s Graduate School of International Studies, noting that the ASEAN economy is entering a new phase of digital growth driven by the rapid expansion of video-based commerce, digital finance, and artificial intelligence (AI).
In 2025, Southeast Asia’s digital economy surpassed 305 billion USD, growing 15% year-on-year across six major ASEAN markets, with video commerce, digital finance and AI emerging as the main drivers.
Video-based commerce, in particular, is reshaping consumer shopping behaviour. Instead of searching for products through traditional online channels, sellers now showcase goods via livestreams, while consumers watch content and make purchasing decisions in real time. From accounting for less than 5% of total e-commerce value in 2022, video commerce has expanded into a 46 billion USD market, representing roughly one quarter of all e-commerce transactions today, Ko assessed.
While traditional e-commerce was built on search, video commerce has evolved into an AI-driven recommendation economy. Platforms analyse viewing time and user reactions to connect consumers with personalised livestreams, reinforcing trust and repeat purchases through real-time interaction.
The payments backbone supporting this shift is national QR payment systems. Eight ASEAN member countries have already begun cross-border integration. As digital payments expand, cash usage has fallen to the high-30% range and is projected to drop to the high-20% range by 2030. Total digital payment gross transaction value has reached 1.41 trillion USD, with QR codes and e-wallets surpassing card payments.
Digital lending and installment services, including buy now, pay later options, are also spreading, the author assessed. Consumers now access payments, loans and insurance directly within shopping, delivery and mobility apps. This so-called invisible banking, also known as embedded finance, allows financial services to fade into the background of everyday life.
About half of consumers already make payments this way, while loans and insurance are increasingly handled through lifestyle apps. Superbank’s rapid profitability illustrates how such ecosystems can quickly absorb customers previously excluded from formal finance./.
VNA
