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In focus
- Shopee merchants face pressure amid rising fees
- Revisit Shopee’s attempts to fend off TikTok Shop, like its YouTube partnership
- An MDI Ventures director and two former TaniHub execs have been detained in Jakarta
Hello reader,
Among the first casualties of the tech winter are incentives like ride-hailing discounts or free shipping for ecommerce. But for Shopee, cutting back on incentive spend is a sign of strength.
Even with TikTok Shop’s rise, Shopee has held its ground – enough for the platform to confidently raise commission fees and introduce new flat transaction fees for sellers.
Some sellers aren’t happy, as the higher fees are eating into their already-thin margins. In today’s Big Story, I take a closer look at mounting complaints from merchants dealing with the rising cost of doing business on Shopee.
The company doesn’t seem too worried about sellers leaving. After all, do merchants really have better alternatives?
TikTok Shop is gaining traction, but its model – driven by social media algorithms – makes it a different kind of marketplace. As long as Shopee reinvests those fees to keep orders up, sellers may stay put – if begrudgingly.
This edition is (almost) all about Shopee. Below are some of our previous coverage on how the platform has responded to TikTok Shop’s arrival – which, so far, has allowed Shopee to maintain market share dominance.
In developing news, three execs linked to TaniHub have been detained in Jakarta over corruption allegations relating to the now-defunct agritech startup. Read on for the latest details.
Jofie Yordan, journalist
The Big Story
Shopee tightens grip on Southeast Asia’s sellers as take rates climb
Image credit: Timmy Loen
Shopee’s rising fees and tighter rules reflect a broader shift in Southeast Asia’s ecommerce power dynamics. This story captures how sellers are losing leverage – and why that matters for the region’s digital economy.
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