Similarweb in APAC: Introducing South Korea Country Filter and First-Ever Digital 100 India

While much of the world is still recovering from the market volatility that categorized 2022, one region is expected to be the driving force behind global economic growth.

Economies in Asia-Pacific (APAC) are expected to ramp up, with S&P predicting that the APAC region will achieve growth of 3.5% in 2023, while Europe and the US still grapple with inflationary economies. The expected growth is attributed to regional free-trade agreements, efficient supply chains, and competitive costs.

To further support our clients as the official measure of the digital world and double down on the increased web traffic in the region, Similarweb has made it a priority in 2023 to expand its presence in APAC.

As Q1 2023 draws to a close, we are delighted to share that we have already achieved two milestones that bring us closer to our goal: the incorporation of South Korea as a new country filter on our platform and the release of Digital 100 India – our first comprehensive insights report for the country.

Here’s what you need to know:

Introducing our newest country filter: South Korea

South Korea has the fourth-largest economy in Asia and the 10th-largest worldwide as measured by GDP. It is also one of the most significant ecommerce markets globally, with almost all of its citizens having access to the internet and over 97% of those aged 20 to 39 engaging in online shopping.

Source: Statista

In light of South Korea’s growing presence in the digital world, our clients worldwide have been highly requesting country-specific data. We’ve been working tirelessly to deliver this critical country filter. “We are pleased to announce that Similarweb’s monitoring of the digital world now includes the ability for business leaders and market analysts to focus specifically on activity from within South Korea,” said Uri Snyder, Senior Vice President for APAC at Similarweb. 

The new filter allows marketers and digital researchers to track their website’s performance, marketing channels, and user behavior, and create content for topics that resonate with the market. Although internet usage from within the country was previously included in Similarweb’s worldwide data all along, the new filter pinpoints web and mobile activity from within the South Korean market to help tailor content and campaigns to better engage with audiences there.

For example, according to Similarweb, the Fashion and Apparel industry in South Korea achieved a year-over-year (YoY) growth rate of +14%, the second-highest globally for this category, trailing only India.

Understanding market dynamics, strategies, and the digital performance of established players and up-and-coming disruptors in South Korea can lead to lucrative growth opportunities—new business initiatives and ultimately increase ROI.

How to access it: The Republic of Korea country filter now appears on the drop-down list for Similarweb tools, including Market Analytics, Website Analysis, Segment Analysis, Company Analytics, and App Analysis (Premium). Coverage is being introduced with 24 months of historical data for websites and 15 months for apps.

Announcing Digital 100 India

Similarly, India is becoming a powerful country in APAC by economic standing and consumer spending habits. Consumers in India drove 230.2 billion website visits in 2022, up 10% YoY. Fashion & Apparel websites in India saw an even more substantial growth at 17%. Urbanic, Nike, and Adidas are some international brands capitalizing on India’s highly-resilient economy.

Similarweb decided to expand Digital 100, our globally recognized rankings of the fastest-growing digital players, to India for the first time to shine some light on the success of top digital companies in the region.

This report examines the ten industries that were impacted by inflation and the global economic downturn of 2022. We found that the most successful digital companies provided cost-effective solutions, such as budget-friendly shoes, eco-friendly travel, and streaming services.

Here is a preview of the top performers and the prominent trends that emerged:

Consumer electronics: Apple resellers see a dramatic uptick in organic and paid search

Our list of the top 10 fastest-growing consumer electronics sites in India included three Apple resellers –  iStyle, iVenus, and Unicorn Store – which saw increases of 174.8%, 154%, and 144% YoY, respectively. According to the Wall Street Journal, the iPhone has become popular in countries where Android phones were once more common, and India is among these countries.

Download the full list ⇢ 

Automotive: Demand for environmentally-friendly vehicles in high gear

Drivers in India are conscious of the carbon footprint they’re leaving behind. Ecologically-friendly vehicles were the top trend of 2022 in the industry, with energy-efficient and electric cars in high demand.

Three of the top 10 companies in our list specialize in green technology for vehicles: ultraviolette.com (#2, +101%), visteon.com (#3, +98%), and aptiv.com (#10, +57%). Our category winner, ackodrive.com, also offers a wide selection of electric vehicles.

Download the full list ⇢ 

Beauty & Cosmetics: Shoppers are mostly browsing from their phones

The vast majority of the traffic going to the beauty winners of 2022 came from mobile web – 94.5%, compared to only 5.5% for desktop.

In order to compete in this industry, Indian beauty and cosmetics brands need a functional, fast-loading, and user-friendly mobile interface, or else they’ll lose traffic to competitors who do.

Download the full list ⇢ 

Are you ready to dive deeper into APAC insights?

Log into the Similarweb platform and put our new Country Filter to the test. Or head over to Digital 100 India and download the rest of our industry-specific insights reports, including fashion and apparel, health and fitness, financial services, and more.

Don’t have access yet? Reach out to your account manager or contact us for more details. Or start a free trial. 

FAQs

How accurate are the country-specific filters?

By utilizing four distinct data sources, Similarweb is able to go beyond IP addresses to gain an understanding of where a website is being accessed from. These sources, combined with our exclusive data synthesis and modeling, enable us to classify traffic based on the country of origin.

How do VPNs affect which country we attribute a website visit to?

We attribute a visit to the country from which we detected their first visit of the day. For example, if someone from country A visits a website and then connects to a VPN in country B within five minutes, all website visits for the rest of the day will be attributed to country A.

How does Similarweb pick the winners for the Digital 100 list? 

We conducted an analysis of websites with more than 50,000 annual visits to determine the Digital 100 winners for 2022. We compared the number of visitors on desktop and mobile web devices in India from 2021 to 2022 and ranked the top 100 websites with the greatest year-over-year (YoY) increase.