Anti-Amazon alliances inspire sellers who shun Southeast Asia’s marketplaces

In 2015, Tran Dinh Phu was a freelancer for Shopify, advising clients on how to use the platform to build their online businesses. At the time, Shopee hadn’t stepped foot in Vietnam, and local ecommerce player Tiki was not open to third-party sellers.

In his role, Tran saw the demand for Shopify. Brands needed a cost-effective solution to bolster their online presence, and some individual merchants wanted to approach customers in the US.

In 2019, Tran founded his company Meowcart to provide digital tools and consultations to Shopify store owners. He also created a Facebook community of Shopify users in Vietnam which now has 18,000 members.

Millions of third-party sellers worldwide depend on Jeff Bezos’ Amazon empire. / Photo credit: 123rf

These days, despite the popularity of Shopee and Lazada in Southeast Asia, some merchants have started seeking out third-party services like Shopify to have better control of their branding, products, and data.

It’s an echo of what’s happening in the US, where small retailers are turning to anti-Amazon forces after realizing the risks of letting the ecommerce giant control the fate of their businesses.

What’s happening there might have future implications for regional marketplaces like Shopee and Lazada, which unlike Amazon, are not yet profitable.

Against the tide

Amazon has become a retail beast. It reportedly plans to open new department stores in the US and, for the first time, its retail sales – which combine both online and offline transactions – have eclipsed longtime rival Walmart’s.

From June 2020 to June 2021, consumers spent US$610 billion at Amazon, while Walmart netted US$566 billion, as reported by the New York Times, which cited data from financial research firm FactSet.

A significant chunk of Amazon’s sales comes from third-party retailers. As pointed out in this Forbes article, Amazon’s third-party marketplace is actually its hidden cash cow, with analysts estimating that it contributed US$300 billion out of the tech giant’s gross merchandise value of US$490 billion in 2020.

Source: The State of Amazon Sellers 2021 by JungleScout.

Third-party sellers are so huge on Amazon that there’s been a boom of ecommerce aggregators – companies that look to acquire and scale third-party sellers on Amazon – in the US and Europe. The trend has also caught on in India and Southeast Asia.

See also: Why these ex-Carousell, Fave execs raised $36.5m to join the global Amazon roll-up frenzy

Alternatives to Shopee and Lazada?

Shopify: the quiet force in Southeast Asia

Taking a bite out of Shopify

Multiplatform is the way in Southeast Asia