Report: Used car platforms in Southeast Asia

Momentum Works has recently published its Used Car Platforms in Southeast Asia 2020.

It is the first systematic assessment of the market potential, evolution, and ecosystem dynamics of the market, where 6 million cars were sold in 2019.

We also examined closely the competitive dynamics, strategy, and evolution of various platforms in the market, including Belimobilgue, Cardekho, Carmudi, Carro, Carsome, iCarAsia, OLX, SGCarmart, and so on. 

Our key findings, after examining the market and major players, include that consistent standards and clear information are the key for such business, and that transactional platforms adhering to the previous points are generating powerful data for the trade as well as ancillaries including financing & insurance. 

Here we are sharing some highlights from Used Car Platforms in Southeast Asia 2020 report:

1. Compared to developed countries, emerging countries from Southeast Asia offer better potential for car ownership. Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia are good examples of consistent high historic growth of used car sales and future potential because of lower bases they are at now.

Amongst the market in Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia account for the most used car transactions

2. The last decade saw a clear evolution of used car marketplace from pure offline to classified listing to transactional marketplaces. The current ecosystem looks like the following: 

3. Transactional platforms are changing the way dealers, a key party in the ecosystem, source for their car inventory:

4. Transactional platforms offer obvious advantages as, if executed well through a consistent standard, they capture (and aggregate) car inspection as well as pricing data. Such data can be used to increase the efficiency of the trade, and facilitate ancillary services including financing, warranties and insurance. 

5. BeliMobilGue, Carro, and Carsome are the main transactional players, they are leading the funding in the sector as well:

6. The three players employ different strategies to tap into the market. BeliMobilGue relies heavily on increasing local presence and boosting transactions; Carsome is focused on improving the quality service to individuals and dealers by achieving expertise in core competencies; Carro diversifies into financing, leasing, and subscription services.

7. Typically less volatile compared to new car sales, used car sales are expected to remain stable and less impacted by covid-19 pandemic:

We believe that C2B2C is the future for used car platforms in Southeast Asia, and Carvana can be a good role model for now. 

With less than 3% of the total transactions going through any of the transactional platforms, there is a lot of room for growth.