How to serve the Asian consumer: Lessons from the world’s fastest growing markets

Asia is not only the world’s largest consumer market, it is also the world’s fastest growing, and that is set to be the case for the foreseeable future, making it an essential arena for consumer business competition and innovation.

If the global consumer class is defined as those spending as those spending at least USD12 per day, Asia is expected to add more than 90 million consumers in 2024, and that is more than 80% of the total increase globally¹.

That trend is set to continue as India and Southeast Asia grow rapidly and China’s maturing economy becomes more consumer-driven.

“It’s about the growth of the affluent population across Asia. What Asian consumers buy, and how they buy, will have profound implications for how the global economy will operate in the coming decade,” said Jo Miyake, Head of Banking, Asia and Middle East, HSBC, who was moderating a panel on the Asian consumer at the HSBC Global Investment Summit.

China – already number one in consumer sectors from autos to luxury goods – remains a huge market with enormous potential. As China’s economy slows, its growing from a much larger base. The Chinese economy is adding around USD900 billion a year – twice the size of Vietnam’s economy.

Chinese policymakers have a goal of doubling the size of the nation’s economy from 2020 levels by 2035, requiring GDP growth of about 5% annually until then. This year they are shifting policy support to more directly stimulate consumer demand.

With China now a middle-income country, consumer spending on services such as travel, entertainment and education are growing faster than sales of consumer goods.

Yum China for example, is the nation’s largest restaurant chain with 16,000 stores across the country, serving 500 million people². The panel talked about how the company’s medium-term goal is to reach 700 million consumers, half of China’s population.

With some 670 million people across 11 countries, Southeast Asia stands out not just for its growing economy, but also its young demographics – with a majority of the population aged under 30 - and a rising middle-class who are very willing to adopt new technology.

Countries like Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia have seen rapid economic growth in the last decade. Malaysia is a firmly middle-income economy, and the region’s economies such as the Philippines are often heavily weighted towards consumption.

“Southeast Asia can be under-appreciated,” said Peter Oey, Chief Financial Officer at tech company Grab. “A lot of tech is being birthed out of southeast Asia.”

Operating in the region requires a fine-grained approach tailored for individual markets, he said. Grab, which is present in 800 cities, takes a hyper-local approach in each city, based on local demographics and consumption behaviour.

China travel trends

Chinese tourists are a cornerstone of travel demand both domestically and throughout the region. China recorded 610 million border crossings in 2024³ - an increase of nearly 44% from the previous year.

Tastes are shifting, with Japan last year overtaking Thailand as the most popular destination for Chinese tourists⁴.

Beyond the big destinations, Chinese tourists are becoming more adventurous. During the 2025 Lunar New Year, the fastest-growing long-haul destinations were Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, according to the country’s biggest travel retailer Trip.com.

Jane Sun, CEO of Trip.com Group, calls the biggest trends in travel “The Three Es”.

First, there is event-led travel, which is popular among young people, coinciding with concerts or sporting events. Second, emerging destinations, such as national parks in Japan, are gaining popularity as tourists seek to avoid crowds.

Third, there is elderly travel catering to a growing demographic of retirees who are healthy, energetic, and curious. Many of them have the time to travel during the slow season, helping increase hotel occupancy rates.

How to better serve the consumer

Looking ahead, there are headwinds for the Asian consumer notably from rising trade protectionism, with the region’s economies often highly integrated into international supply chains. This increases the need for consumer companies in Asia to leverage AI to better serve consumers and clients.

Grab built its business around digitising mobility, deliveries and financial services in Southeast Asia, and is now helping drivers and merchants adopt AI.

In 2024, Grab decided to pause business-as-usual for nine weeks to focus on AI projects that would deliver most impact and train employees in AI.

Now, Grab is equipping merchants and drivers to adopt AI as well. For merchants, Grab's new agentic AI chatbot acts as an account manager, able help them improve efficiency and business growth by fulfilling tasks like creating menu items and running promotions. It can also offer business guidance like how to improve sales. Grab's new AI ride-guidance feature, which guides drivers towards demand hotspots, is used by over 250,000 drivers across Southeast Asia so far.

“We have educated them, and businesses have thrived,” said Oey. “When you start playing with AI, you open up”.

Yum China is using AI to automate a wide range of tasks, from forecasting how much food to prepare, to quality control on pizzas, as well as scanning the millions of resumes it receives annually.

Asian consumers are demanding in terms of safety and punctuality. The executives on the panel agreed that it is key for companies not to position themselves just on low-prices, so consumers associate a company with excellent service.

Trip.com for example, focuses on customer service and branding to retain its industry leadership position. The company 10,000 engineers working on product innovation, with continuous innovation needed to stay ahead of fierce competition.

With so much innovation taking place, Asia’s consumers look set to be better served by companies competing to attract their custom and build a long-lasting relationship with their brand. The businesses that succeed in this rapidly developing consumer market will be able to grow alongside the world’s most dynamic economic region.