Much has been made of the rise of e-commerce at the expense of traditional brick-and-mortar retailers in the U.S., but in developing economies, many consumers have never been exposed to brick-and-mortar retailers the way U.S. consumers have been.
Many emerging markets consumers do the bulk of their discretionary shopping online and many do so with mobile devices, indicating e-commerce is an epic growth opportunity in developing economies. Investors interested in this potential growth story can tap into this emerging market sector through a targeted Emerging Markets Internet & Ecommerce ETF (NYSEArca: EMQQ), which tracks both internet and online retail or e-commerce companies.
Markets are validating the growth potential offered by emerging markets Internet and e-commerce names. Year-to-date, EMQQ is up more than 31%, a performance that is better than double the returns offered by the MSCI Emerging Markets Index.
“How’s it accomplishing this? By focusing on technology companies that generate most of their revenue from the developing world. Investors are flocking to tech stocks and sending emerging market shares to their best annual start in at least a decade, as they scale back expectations for spending and tax cuts under U.S. President Donald Trump,” reports Carolina Wilson for Bloomberg.