Shopee + YouTube = live commerce BFFs?

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Hello reader,

Like a lot of people, I used to naively think of myself as immune to advertising.

A couple of years ago, I started following a YouTube creator called Deestroying, who makes videos on American football. They’re fun, simple videos where he goes to different cities and films one-on-one competitions between young players.

For a while, he was sponsored by a glove brand called Grip Boost, which would get shouted out every time a player dropped the ball, the logic being that they would have made the catch had they been wearing the gloves. This repeated advertising sure worked on me, and now I wear Grip Boost gloves.

Shopee is hoping its deal to work with YouTube on live shopping will drive plenty of similar purchases in Indonesia. Dive into today’s featured story for an analysis on how this deal could shake up ecommerce in the country – and in Southeast Asia as a whole.

Today we look at:

• Shopee calls in the big guns
• Grab employees set to return to the office
• Other newsy highlights such as China’s Horizon Robotics listing in Hong Kong and Singtel selling its mobile wallet to Western Union.

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A match made in heaven?

Image credit: Timmy Loen

The merger of TikTok and Tokopedia in Indonesia ramped up ecommerce competition in the country, and Shopee has fired back with its own partnership.

The firm has teamed up with YouTube, allowing creators to sell products on the ecommerce platform. Will this collaboration help fend off the surging TikTok Shop?

• Apples and oranges: While YouTube and TikTok are both video platforms, they have distinct differences that may play in Shopee’s favor. YouTube has some 56 million more users in Southeast Asia than TikTok, and its audience tends to be older and more affluent compared to TikTok’s, according to Ming Yii Lai, project leader and research manager at Chinese strategy consulting firm Daxue Consulting.
• Let battle commence: The debut of YouTube Shopping may lead to an influencer arms race in ecommerce, with Shopee, Tokopedia, Lazada, and TikTok Shop all already having affiliate programs for influencers on their live shopping platforms. YouTube may again have an advantage here, as many creators on the platform have large, passionate followings that serve as potential customers, according to Jacob Cooke, co-founder and CEO of global digital marketing agency WPIC Marketing + Technologies.
• Complementary: Shopee already has its own livestreaming and video commerce audience, but YouTube Shopping is unlikely to cannibalize it due to the differences in their respective users’ purchase preferences. Still, experts believe that it will be hard for the combined entity to compete with the already entrenched TikTok Shop and Tokopedia in live selling, who already have a proven track record.

Read more: Shopee’s YouTube tag team a retort to TikTok-Tokopedia

Office, sweet office

On November 14, learn from founders who’ve walked the path

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