Shopee drops J&T Express’ standard, economy deliveries in Indonesia (update)

Photo credit: Susilo Prambanan / Shutterstock

Updated (March 26, 12:00 pm): Added a statement from J&T Express.

Shopee will no longer offer standard and economy delivery services from J&T Express in Indonesia, the ecommerce firm said in a statement. The measure will be implemented in April, a Shopee spokesperson told Tech in Asia.

This change does not affect other markets. Shopee has communicated the change to sellers since March to “ensure operational readiness,” the spokesperson added.

J&T Cargo, which is a separate brand from J&T Express’ core offering, will still be available as a delivery option. It focuses on larger-sized parcels weighing up to 600 kilograms.

J&T Express confirms the news to Tech in Asia, adding that customers can still use its services on other marketplaces. We also asked Shopee whether this decision is temporary or permanent, but we haven’t heard back.

Excluding J&T Express, 10 other logistics partners offer delivery services on Shopee. Aside from the platform’s own Shopee Xpress (SPX), they include JNE, Pos Indonesia, Anteraja, and SiCepat.

These platforms offer standard delivery, which gets a package to a customer in two to seven days. Some offer a cheaper alternative in economy delivery, which takes a longer time to fulfill orders.

According to a previous Tech in Asia analysis, SPX and J&T Express offer the cheapest shipping rates on Shopee.

Founder and CEO Forrest Li recently highlighted SPX as one of Shopee’s key advantages at Sea Group’s latest earnings call, where the company announced its first full year of positive adjusted EBITDA. The group stated that the in-house logistics arm provides “geographic reach, faster delivery speed, and cost leadership.”

Indonesia is J&T’s second-largest market after China, with 4 million packages delivered daily across the archipelago. Prior to raising US$450 million in its 2023 IPO, the company had secured billions of US dollars in VC funding.

See also: Indonesian 3PLs say Shopee antitrust fix falls short, urge action