Asia is the world’s largest continent both in terms of land mass and population. Now, if you add Oceania in there to galvanize the entire Asia-Pacific trading zone, you will get what researchers of the e-commerce industry have termed as the world’s largest online retail market.

In 2015, the Asia-Pacific e-commerce market oversaw more than $730 billion in annual sales and recent reports indicate that Asia alone is now overseeing more than $770 billion while Australia is tipped to cross the $35 billion mark this year despite having a population of less than 25 million people. If you throw in New Zealand and the rest of the Oceania countries, then Asia-Pacific market could be already overseeing upwards of $830 billion.

This translates to growth of about 13.7% from 2015-2016. This is in line with Forrester Research’s forecast that the Asia-Pacific e-commerce market will grow to $1.4 trillion by the year 2020. Assuming that the 13.7% CAGR will gather pace down the years to stand at an average of 14%, the Asia-Pacific e-commerce market will hit more than $1.4 trillion in four years.

Australia, Japan, and South Korea are already considered to be mature markets in the e-commerce space. However, they are not short of positives that could drive growth in the coming years. More entrepreneurs are now launching their businesses online and this move is having a retrospective impact on startup enthusiasts. Take for example Truck Dealers Australia, which is an asset finance platform that allows individuals and businesses to apply for credit via their platform within minutes.

This is not only encouraging for new businesses looking to access financing, but it also helps them to maintain pace with the developments in the e-commerce industry thereby reaching more customers.

China and India are the region’s largest e-commerce markets based on current numbers and the potential for growth. This is due to their massive populations and the growing internet penetration amongst locals. Despite both accounting for more than 50% of the region’s population, infrastructure is still nowhere close to the levels in developed countries.

As such, there are still several people who have no access to the internet, let alone e-commerce platforms. However, internet penetration has increased over the last few years due to the use of internet-enabled mobile phones. Several companies are also developing e-commerce apps for smartphones and these have allowed e-commerce penetration to those who have no access to computers.

In China, Alibaba (NYSE: BABA ) and its mobile ePayment service AliPay have contributed to the massive growth of e-commerce in the country and as more people continue to embrace the culture of online shopping, analysts are already estimating astronomical numbers for Asia’s largest economy. Forrester believes that China could be overseeing $1.1 trillion worth of transactions within the next four years.

However, according to reports, a good number of products sold in the country could yet originate from overseas. China has a reputation for producing sub-standard products and its residents have become more sensitive to what they buy over the last few years as they begin to become more health-conscious.

Several Chinese are now opting for Australian products because of what they refer to as being of high quality and e-commerce is at the center of it all. Since the emergence of e-commerce platforms, especially those that focus on B2B transactions, cross-border trade has become simpler. In Australia, eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) is the dominant e-commerce platform while Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN), currently only available in Kindle is slated to launch in all the major cities later this year.

Australia is one of the mature markets in the Asia-Pacific region when it comes to e-commerce. However, given its growing influence of the Chinese e-commerce market and Amazon’s impending entry later this year, there could be still some room for growth.

Conclusion

In summary, while Asia-Pacific appears set to dominate the e-commerce marketplace in the coming years, Australia could benefit retrospectively through its increasing impact on Chinese trade.

With a population of less than 25 million people, it’s unlikely that the country will be able to rely on organic growth. However, since e-commerce is now a cross-border marketplace, Australia could count on foreign customers to help it in keeping up with its counterparts in the Asia-Pacific region. Amazon and Alibaba could be the stocks that benefit most at the expense of eBay.