Shopee may have overtaken Carousell as Southeast Asia’s top mobile shopping app

Photo credit: spotpoint74 / 123RF Stock Photo

Carousell and Shopee are locked in a fierce landgrab to become Asia’s dominant mobile marketplace. While Carousell got off to an early lead, it appears Garena-backed Shopee has caught up, and then some.

I’ll let the data do the talking. Here’s a comparison of the app store rankings on January 4 in the shopping category on both iOS and Android, compiled from App Annie:

App store ranking is a good gauge of how an app is performing right now, incorporating factors like download and install counts, uninstalls, app usage, growth trends, and more.

The picture looks rosy for Shopee. It has soared ahead of Carousell in the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Indonesia. These are countries that Carousell lists on its website as key markets.

Shopee’s also ahead in Thailand and Vietnam, while Carousell has maintained its lead in its Singapore stronghold and is unlikely to be dislodged from the top spot, at least in the near-term.

Carousell’s also ranking well in Hong Kong and Australia, while it’s barely noticeable in the US. Shopee does not appear to have a presence in these countries.

Shopee’s rise has been meteoric. It launched only in 2015, about three years after Carousell. It has caught up in product listings, claiming to have 65 million products on its apps compared to Carousell’s 57 million.

Shopee claims to have reached US$1.8 billion in annualized gross merchandise value. If the actual figure held up, it’ll be comparable to or even exceed Lazada.

Shopee’s vast resources from Tencent-backed Garena helped, as did its payments and logistics integrations, which Carousell lacks.

Carousell doesn’t do impulse buys

Catch ‘em all