(This article was written on the 8th of November for the Chinese blog of Momentum Works on the Wechat platform, and was translated into English by the MW team.)  

On 30 October 2024, the Southeast Asian ecommerce enabler Synagistics went public through deSPACing and was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with its largest single shareholder being Alibaba. 

On the opening day, Synagistics’ stock price soared to HK$50 in early trading, a 150% increase from its issue price. However, it eventually closed at HK$17. 

A week later, the stock price remained high. As of 11:00 a.m. on November 8, Synagistics’ stock price was HK$16.7, with a market valuation of HK$7.26 billion.

With this valuation, Synagistics has become the world’s most valuable publicly listed ecommerce enabler, surpassing all the other listed players- even Baozun eCommerce.

We created an infographic comparing the market cap, revenue and profit of the major public listed ecommerce enablers in the world. As you can see, most of them are chinese.

Baozun as the benchmark

Founded in 2007, Baozun, whose largest shareholder is Alibaba, is the leader in China’s ecommerce service industry and was listed on NASDAQ in 2015. Baozun’s clients include many internationally renowned brands, concentrated in the fashion, luxury goods, fast-moving consumer goods and other industries. Two years ago, the company acquired Gap Greater China which is wholly owned by Gap (one of the largest American specialty apparel companies), to expand its brand management services and facilitate transformation.

Compared with other players in the same industry, Baozun had the highest revenue in 2023 of over USD 1.23 billion but the lowest profit – a loss of USD 39 million due to intense competition and transformation challenges. As of November 6, its market value was USD 136 million, only 1/8 of Synagistics. Synagistics has been valued at nearly USD 1.06 billion even before it has made a profit. 

There have been rising stars in the industry. After 2019, Chancemate, RuoYuChen, Lily&Beauty, and Qingmu successively went public in China. These four companies have gradually closed the revenue gap with Baozun, with their market valuations and profits eventually surpassing Baozun. 

Chancemate, which was listed in 2019 and mainly covers mid-to-high-end consumer brands, reported a revenue of USD 180 million and profit of USD 15 million in 2023, with a market valuation exceeding USD 701 million, second only to Synagistics.

Diversifying beyond enabler services

In our “Ecommerce in Southeast Asia 2024” report, we estimated that the ecommerce enabler market in SEA is only around USD 1.1 billion. 

In order to grow, many competent enablers have also been doing retail. Consolidation is a viable option moving forward, but leading enablers will need to diversify their business models further to realise the value commensurate to all the hard work they have put in, and expertise built. 

With the listing of Synagistics, what should other ecommerce enablers in Southeast Asia do going forward?