Jack Ma inaugurated the world’s first Digital Free Trade Zone in Malaysia to boost e-commerce and small to medium size enterprises (SMEs) in Southeast Asia. Considering Malaysia’s proclivity in the Asian region, This Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ) would act as a perfect platform for physical and virtual business set-ups to leverage the recent boom of online businesses. Malaysia’s DFTZ is set to handle more than $65 billion worth of goods at full functionality.

Asian retail and e-commerce market has grown leaps and bound in the past year and there is good reason to celebrate. What was once thought to be a red tape wasteland of opportunities, is turning out to be quite the temptress for all major corporations in the world. How did this transformation happen? How did Asian market become the darling of industries such as retail, FMCG, e-commerce, manufacturing, etc.?