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Putra Muskita · · 7 min readShopee claims to be Southeast Asia’s ecommerce leader
In a recent earnings call, Shopee made a bold proclamation. “We are the largest player not just in Southeast Asia, but particularly in Indonesia,” a spokesperson had said.
A relative latecomer to the ecommerce scene, Shopee began six years after Indonesian giant Tokopedia and three years after Lazada.
And unlike its competitors, which are aligned with Alibaba and SoftBank, Shopee is the brainchild of Sea Group, which counts Tencent as a major shareholder.
Shopee’s Singapore office / Photo credit: Shopee
Shopee’s rapid ascent, made through a concerted mobile strategy, heavy subsidies, and aggressive marketing spending, sets the stage for an even more intense ecommerce battle in the coming year.
In particular, Tokopedia is armed to the teeth, having just banked US$1.1 billion in a round led by Alibaba and SoftBank Vision Fund.
However, the data seems to be pointing Shopee’s way at the moment. In Indonesia, which is Southeast Asia’s single largest market and the fiercest battleground for ecommerce companies, Shopee claimed in its earnings call to have fulfilled 63.7 million orders for the third quarter of 2018, or a daily average of 700,000.
According to app analytics firm AppAnnie, Shopee has spent most of the past year as the country’s most downloaded shopping app, with Lazada coming in second. They are followed by local unicorns Tokopedia and Bukalapak, though as far as engagement goes, Tokopedia is Indonesia’s top ecommerce app based on monthly active users.
Confidential data reviewed by Tech in Asia appears to confirm the marketplace’s leading position.
Lazada and Tokopedia declined to comment on Shopee’s claim.
Photo credit: Sea Group
Activity on Sea’s ecommerce venture has continued to grow. For the third quarter of 2018, Shopee posted a gross merchandising value (GMV) of US$2.7 billion – a 153 percent increase compared to the same period last year. The company expects this year’s total GMV to be between US$9.2 billion to US$9.7 billion.
“Shopee posted its best-ever quarterly gross merchandise value and number of orders as it extended its lead as the largest ecommerce platform in our region,” said Forrest Li, chairman and CEO at Shopee’s NYSE-listed parent company, in a press release.
Mobile-first approach pays off
Subsidies and more subsidies
Shopee’s profits remain to be seen
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Estimates say the company alone would account for a third of Southeast Asia’s total GMV this year.
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