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Digital Platforms

The platforms have won adoption. Now they have to win the economics.

Across Southeast Asia, users are already on the apps. The contest now is which experience they stick with, and which business model survives once the promotions fade. We help platform leaders turn adoption into durable, profitable primacy.

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Industries
Digital Platforms

Market signals

Signal 01

Experience Beats Scale

The contest is now experience, not scale: Decision Lab’s Connected Consumer tracker shows Grab leading ride-hailing on penetration (61%) but Green SM winning on satisfaction (63% rank it first) and advocacy (NPS 48), while Shopee holds a commanding 64% of online-shopping preference.

whether to compete on price and incentives or invest in the service and experience layer that now decides who keeps the customer.

Signal 02

A US$300bn Digital Economy

SEA’s digital economy is on track to surpass US$300bn in GMV in 2025 with revenue reaching US$135bn — both now growing ~15% year-on-year across the SEA-6 (Google, Temasek & Bain, 2025).

where to cut subsidy and switch to monetisation without breaking frequency — and which cohorts to protect while doing it.

Signal 03

Monetisation Catches Up

E-commerce remains the largest engine at ~US$185bn GMV and US$41bn revenue in 2025, with monetisation keeping pace with GMV as incentives are cut (Google, Temasek & Bain, 2025).

which services to put behind a fee or ad load, and how far to push take-rate before users defect.

Signal 04

Discovery Moves To Social And AI

Social commerce now accounts for roughly 20% of SEA e-commerce, led by TikTok Shop, and 85% of shoppers use or plan to use AI tools in product discovery (Bain & NielsenIQ, 2025).

whether to defend marketplace search or invest to own discovery in social and AI feeds before a rival sets the default.

Signal 05

Capital Rewards Profit

Investor focus has shifted decisively to profitability — entry valuations have settled, monetisation models are proven, and a regional IPO pipeline is re-forming (Temasek, 2025).

which markets and lines to prioritise for a credible path to profit — and which to exit — ahead of the next funding or IPO window.

Sources: Decision Lab, The Connected Consumer Q4 2025 (n=1,427); Google, Temasek & Bain (2025); Bain & NielsenIQ (2025); Temasek (2025).

Where platforms are heading

The market has moved from hyper-growth to profitable scale — and the metric that matters has moved with it.

The region’s digital economy is now judged on unit economics, not GMV vanity. Discovery is migrating to social and AI feeds, monetisation is catching up with growth as incentives are cut, and capital markets reward demonstrated profitability. Platforms need first-party evidence on retention, monetisation and journey ownership that internal dashboards cannot supply.

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The decisions on the agenda

  • Convert GMV into durable revenue

    Move from subsidy-led growth to monetisation — tiered subscriptions, in-app ads and lower incentives — without breaking frequency.

  • Own the next consumer journey

    Decide whether search, social, super-app or marketplace owns discovery and checkout, and where to invest to hold primacy.

  • Make merchant and partner experience a growth lever

    Treat drivers, sellers and partners as a retention engine, not just supply; friction on their side caps platform growth.

  • Expand across markets on a repeatable playbook

    Scale into new SEA markets with a standardised market-access model rather than bespoke, country-by-country entry.

How we help

We bring the cross-market consumer and merchant evidence platforms need to make monetisation and expansion calls

Market access

Repeatable multi-market entry evidence and consumer sizing.

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Journey ownership

Discovery and checkout mapping across search, social, super-app and marketplace.

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Merchant & partner experience

Seller, driver and partner satisfaction and friction diagnosis.

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Monetisation

Willingness-to-pay, subscription and ad-load testing, and frequency impact.

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Curious to see how we drive success in the digital platform market? Contact our experts to learn more about the solutions that fit your goals.

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Intelligence

The platform benchmark operators plan against.

The Connected Consumer tracks penetration, satisfaction and advocacy across ride-hailing, e-commerce and super-apps — the first-party read on who actually keeps the customer.

Explore The Connected Consumer
The Connected Consumer 2026

The Connected Consumer Q4 2025

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Expertise that drives success

Meet our platform strategists

Trinh Ngoc Anh Duong

Trinh Ngoc Anh Duong

Associate Director, Finance Practice

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$300B

SEA digital-economy GMV, 2025

~20%

of SEA e-commerce now social commerce

We work with platforms, marketplaces and super-apps across Southeast Asia — bringing the first-party consumer and merchant evidence that turns adoption into profitable primacy.

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Platform success in action

Stories of transformation

Trusted by platform leaders

Partnering with leaders in the digital economy

“We are very pleased to partner in this project with Decision Lab. They provided valuable insights and data on the audio advertising landscape in Vietnam and helped us create a compelling thought leadership report. It has enabled us to position ourselves as experts in audio advertising and attract more clients. We look forward to continuing our collaboration.”

Nguyen Ha Duc Minh

Founder & Senior Advisor

Lava Digital Group

“The partnership with Decision Lab will enable us to be transparent with our clients on how much brand impact advertising on our platforms has. Internally, understanding our campaign's effectiveness will also help our team to optimise brand KPIs.”

Chu Thi Diem Thuy

Head of Strategic Planning

Adtima

“We are delighted that MoMo is the brand most Vietnamese consumers would turn to when looking for new financial products. It shows the speed at which customers have embraced the ease and convenience of our platform.”

Nguyen Manh Tuong

Executive Vice Chairman & CEO

MoMo

From Decision Lab

Press releases

Research, rankings and commentary on Southeast Asia’s digital economy.

Digital Platforms

Vietnam’s Digital Plateau: Platform loyalty softens, generational patterns re-emerge
Coc Coc: Maintaining its solid position amidst competition with giants and becoming Gen Z's favourite
Digital Platforms

Coc Coc: Maintaining its solid position amidst competition with giants and becoming Gen Z's favourite
Digital Platforms

The Connected Consumer Q3 2024 report highlights digital trends shaping Vietnamese consumer behaviour
Digital Platforms

Decoding the Text-based social media boom in Vietnam: Implications for businesses
Digital Platforms

Vietnamese shift towards social commerce for online shopping
Digital Platforms

TikTok is having the best quarter ever

Connected Consumer Q3 2023 TikTok
Digital Platforms

What’s hot and what’s not: Social media preferences of Vietnamese consumers in Q1 2023

Social Media
Reports & downloads
Trend Report

The State of Social Commerce & Live-streaming in Vietnam

The State of Social Commerce & Live-streaming in Vietnam
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Trend Report

Live Commerce Landscape in Southeast Asia

Live Commerce Landscape in Southeast Asia
Download
Trend Report

The State of Consumer AI in Vietnam 2025

The State of Consumer AI in Vietnam 2025
Download

Ready to decide with evidence?

Tell us the question you are trying to answer. We will show you the shortest route to a defensible answer — and what it costs.

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