How similar are Latin America and Southeast Asia?

Image credit: Timmy Loen

Southeast Asia and Latin America may literally be on opposite sides of the globe but the two regions share many similarities, as this infographic shows. That’s especially true from the perspective of a tech company seeking its next mountain to conquer.

Shopee, the Singapore-headquartered ecommerce giant, has been busy in Latin America. And while it has pulled back from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico, it has remained committed to Brazil despite its cost-cutting drive. Being the largest ecommerce market in the neighborhood probably has something to do with it.

Simon Huang, our chief analyst, has taken a deeper look at how Shopee’s expansion in Brazil is going. He has found that while the ecommerce giant remains unprofitable in the country, its numbers appear to be trending in the right direction.