"Online sales growth was nearly double, even though Asia-Pacific ecommerce already started from a higher base," said Melanie Sanders, a Bain partner in Melbourne and co-author of a new report on Asia-Pacific retailing.

"Covid-19 has only accelerated many of the key shifts already under way," she added.

That means, Ms Sanders said, that "re-inventing store formats is suddenly now urgent for retailers trying to get an edge in a region that has accelerated past the rest of the world in terms of digitisation".