Cars24’s impending showdown against Carro, Carsome

The Checkout is Tech in Asia’s free newsletter that breaks down the biggest stories and trends in ecommerce. [Read from your browser]( The Checkout 🛒 Welcome to The Checkout! Delivered every Thursday via email and through the Tech in Asia website, this free newsletter breaks down the biggest stories and trends in ecommerce. If you’re not a subscriber, get access by [registering here](. Written by Tay Tian Wen Ecommerce Journalist Hello {NAME} These days, conversations with friends are often filled with angst over rising prices. While I sigh about how a packet of Hainanese chicken rice from my favorite hawker now costs twice as much, my friend is more sanguine about his car ownership plans. His pocketful of sunshine: used-car marketplaces like Carro and Carsome. Even better news? Competition in Southeast Asia’s used-car scene is about to heat up, and that could be a boon for car buyers seeking their dream ride on a budget. In this week’s Big Story, my colleague Samreen looks at Indian pre-owned vehicles marketplace Cars24’s foray into Southeast Asia. Founded in 2015, Cars24 enters the region with a war chest of US$850 million, having already set up shop in Thailand and Indonesia. Malaysia is next on its radar, where it will clash with Carsome and Carro-backed MyTukar. In this week’s Hot Take, I look at how NFTs can take Southeast Asia’s direct-to-consumer scene forward, and why the time to do so could be right. -- Tian Wen THE BIG STORY  [Can Cars24 take on Carro, Carsome in SEA?]( Image credit: Timmy Loen Cars24 is wheeling around choice, value, and quality to compete with local unicorns Carro and Carsome in SEA. THE HOT TAKE  Can NFTs be rocket fuel for SEA’s D2C brands? Image credit: Timmy Leon Here’s what happened: - Southeast Asia’s D2C scene continues to boom, with the Philippine market expecting to see a [56% increase]( in D2C web stores this year. - Still, many early-stage D2C players in the region struggle to find profitability. - At the same time, cryptocurrency adoption is reaching all-time highs in Southeast Asia, with funding to blockchain enablers soaring to record levels in 2021. Here’s our take: Southeast Asia’s D2C revolution isn’t slowing down. Indonesian brands like beauty startup Social Bella and fashion firm Berrybenka are growing in prominence. Meanwhile, the Philippines is expected to see a [56% increase]( in D2C web stores this year. But it’s still too early to pop the champagne. Even now, most early-stage D2C players [still struggle]( to break even, let alone scale their business. At the same time, profitability tricks in the D2C playbook come with undesirable trade-offs. For example, if you leverage marketplaces like Lazada and Shopee to get customers, you lose absolute control of the customer journey. If there’s a way for Southeast Asian D2C brands to have their cake and eat it, the answer could lie in blockchain technology. Here’s why. D2C brands work when they [attain]( a healthy ratio between customer lifetime value and customer acquisition cost. NFTs can help brands achieve this by becoming a cornerstone of their community-building efforts. Integrating NFTs as part of community building could strengthen brand loyalty and keep customers coming back for more. That’s a plus for customer lifetime value and the overall financial health of D2C brands. NFTs also help brands with cash flow by getting people to buy into a concept before a product is delivered. Case in point: Singapore-based NFT community Luna Kiddy [plans]( to not only sell titles to JPG files, but also give back royalties from secondary NFT sales to original buyers. The organization is also tinkering with the idea of launching a toy merchandising business based on the Luna Kiddy characters. But if pundits have been heralding Southeast Asia’s blockchain era for years, why should anyone, let alone D2C brands, be serious about it now? For one, crypto has gone mainstream in the region. Blockchain enablers are also gaining traction, and even established banks like Thailand’s Siam Commercial Bank and Singapore’s DBS are making a splash in the space. Still, there are a couple of roadblocks D2C brands will have to deal with if blockchain adoption is on the cards. The interest in NFTs has [cooled lately]( even as various copycat projects get launched, with many people viewing them as cash grabs. As such, the era of NFTs as a source of easy money may have ended. The mushrooming of blockchains could also [make it difficult]( for ecommerce businesses to pick an appropriate platform and ensure cross-compatibility in the long term. This makes it more challenging for D2C brands that have cut out the middlemen to harness network effects with other stakeholders in the ecommerce ecosystem. Are NFTs the rocket ship Southeast Asia’s D2C commerce scene has been looking for? It could be a long-term game changer - or a quick ride on and off the Web3 hype train. -- Tian Wen  NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW Check out Tech in Asia’s coverage of Asia’s ecommerce scene [here](. 1️⃣ Alibaba has [approved]( an upsize of its share repurchase program from US$15 billion to US$25 billion amid a slump in its stock price due to Beijing’s ongoing regulatory crackdown. 2️⃣ iPrice Group, a Malaysia-based price comparison platform, has [raised]( US$5 million from Japanese conglomerates Itochu Corporation and KDDI Corporation. 3️⃣ CommerceIQ, a US-based retail ecommerce management platform with operations in India, has [raised]( US$115 million in a SoftBank-led series D funding round. 4️⃣ Pinduoduo’s revenue [saw]( a sluggish 3% year-on-year increase to US$4.3 billion due to weak user growth and fluctuations in user activity. 5️⃣ The Parent Inc, the owner of Singaporean parenting community platform theAsianparent, has [raised]( US$8 million from Line Southeast Asia, the VC arm of Japanese messaging platform Line. FYI  [After $1.5b IPO, Bukalapak explores new frontier: gaming]( Photo credit: Bukalapak While much of the spotlight has fallen on its investments in banking and retail, the Indonesian ecommerce unicorn is preparing for a serious venture into gaming. That’s it for this edition - we hope you liked it! Do also check out previous issues of the newsletter [here](. Not your cup of tea? You can unsubscribe from this newsletter by going to your “edit profile” page and choosing that option in our preference center. In the meantime, if you have any feedback or ideas, feel free to get in touch with Terence, our editor-in-chief, at terence@techinasia.com. See you next week! [ADVERTISE]( | [SUBSCRIBE]( | [HIRE]( | [FIND JOBS]( P.S. Don't miss out on the biggest tech news and analysis. Add newsletter@techinasia.com to your address book, contacts, or safe sender list. Or simply move us into your inbox. Too many emails? 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