Xendit and e-commerce intelligence firm Cube have published a report forecasting that Southeast Asia’s e-commerce market will approach US$400 billion by 2031.

The report finds that as cash-on-delivery declines, payment preferences differ across markets, leaving merchants to manage different checkout requirements across the region.

Southeast Asia’s online market reached US$197 billion in 2025, meaning it would roughly double in six years, according to the Xendit Ecommerce Payments Momentum Report 2026.

Shopee, Lazada and TikTok Shop, the region’s three largest e-commerce platforms, grew a combined 33% year on year in the first quarter of 2026 after a slower 2024 and early 2025. Their quarterly net merchandise value rose to US$39 billion from US$29 billion.

About a quarter of all retail spending in Southeast Asia now takes place online, compared with about 35% in China and 10% in India.

Cash-on-delivery made up about half of e-commerce transactions in 2019 and now accounts for well under a third. Between 27% and 45% of shoppers in each market say they use it much less than they did a year ago.

The report expects cash-on-delivery to fall below 25% of regional e-commerce value in 2027.

“Southeast Asia is growing exponentially, and cash no longer dominates consumer transactions. But what replaces it looks different in every market, each market has its own payments acceptance landscape, and that makes payments harder to get right just as they matter more to growth,”

“As Southeast Asia’s ecommerce market heads towards US$400 billion, the gains will go to businesses that recognize payments as a business enabler,”

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