Top 5 Online Markets in Southeast Asia (2024)
Jayson 01 Aug 2024 09:00EN
Southeast Asia is a region that was once home to less developed countries and is now experiencing explosive growth. This means that the e-commerce story here over the past few years has been filled with upheavals and rapidly rising stars.
In this article, we’ll outline some of the general trends in each regional market, analyze the top five most visited e-commerce marketplace websites in Southeast Asia, look at their traffic numbers, and see if sellers can sell on these platforms at the same time.
Singapore-based Shopee is a chain of e-commerce sites, each focused on its own market, with 11 major sites in Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and Latin America. Although Shopee has not gained significant traction in the West, with the exception of Brazil (where it launched in 2019), it is still a shopping empire in Southeast Asia.
Shopee offers its own supply and logistics solutions for sellers, as well as language-specific customer service. Another unique feature of Shopee is an escrow service called "Shopee Guarantee," which provides payment security for sellers and buyers.
In addition to e-commerce, Shopee's parent company Sea (formerly Garena) is a leader in digital financial services and digital entertainment in Southeast Asia. Sea owns the region's top-grossing mobile game "Free Fire." Sea is backed by (and partially owned by) China's Tencent. Tencent's support for Shopee has sparked a "proxy war" with mainland rival Alibaba, as Alibaba has injected funds into the platform's regional competitor Lazada.
Shopee's e-commerce market is mobile-centric first. When asked what factors have contributed to their growth in Southeast Asia, Agatha Soh, regional marketing head for Southeast Asia at Shopee, said: “A mobile-first approach helps attract online consumers who bypass the desktop and go straight from offline shopping to mobile.”
Another Southeast Asian multinational e-commerce giant is Lazada. For much of the past decade, Lazada has dominated Southeast Asian e-commerce. Recently, Tencent-backed Shopee overtook Lazada as the largest online marketplace, and Lazada still has a strong presence in the region.
Lazada was launched in 2012 and operates in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. The platform has over 155,000 local and international sellers, and 3,000 brands, serving 560 million consumers in the region.
With over 300 million SKUs, Lazada offers a wide range of products. Categories include consumer electronics, homewares, toys, fashion, sports equipment, and groceries. They focus on customer experience, offer multiple payment options (including cash on delivery (COD)), and handle returns through their own first- and last-mile delivery arm supported by over 100 logistics partners.
After Alibaba acquired a stake in Lazada in 2016, the Lazada platform architecture quickly moved closer to Alibaba's ecosystem in the mainland - Lazmall complements Tmall, and the cross-border suite is equivalent to Tmall Global.
Lazada has received seven injections from Alibaba, totaling approximately US$5.8 billion. Alibaba's shareholding ratio currently reaches 83%, almost completely controlling Lazada, which also proves Lazada's potential and importance in cross-border e-commerce in Southeast Asia.
Homegrown e-commerce platform Tokopedia has taken a dominant position in Indonesia’s massive market. Founded in 2011 by two Indonesian entrepreneurs from a small city in Indonesia, the company aims to correct imbalances and democratize commerce across Indonesia. The name of their startup comes from the Indonesian word “Toko,” which means “shop” and “encyclopedia.” Over the years, Tokopedia has grown and attracted investments from several global venture capital firms, and more recently from China’s Alibaba and Japan’s SoftBank.
In addition to being a mainstream player in Indonesia’s e-commerce market, Tokopedia is also known for its lively marketing events, which include celebrations with international and local pop stars. Guest celebrities include well-known bands such as SM*SH and BTS.
Tokopedia’s annual GMV is estimated at $14-15 billion. Tokopedia and Shopee are now two major players and fierce competitors in Indonesia’s e-commerce market. In December 2023, TikTok acquired a 75% stake in Tokopedia after the Indonesian government banned social media platforms from directly engaging in e-commerce.
Yet Another Indonesian platform, Blibli has a reputation for highlighting local Indonesian brands on its marketplace. It also notably runs all its logistics efforts in-house to ensure two-day delivery. In 2019, Blibli made a special effort to stand out from the rest of the pack. It became Indonesia’s first eCommerce site to integrate video streaming. Blibli Play offers on-demand sports streaming as well as integrations with the eCommerce platform.
Orami mainly deals in maternal and infant, baby, home and personal care products, and also provides related products such as food and nutrition, toys and accessories. Indonesia has a highly young population structure and the maternal and infant market has great potential.
Can Sellers Sell on these platforms at the same time?
The answer is Yes, here we recommand you use "BigSeller", BigSeller is a free Southeast Asian e-commerce ERP system that provides e-commerce sellers with one-stop e-commerce solutions such as collection and relocation, product listing, order processing, inventory management, financial data, automated operations, and overselling prevention, helping sellers achieve multi-channel sales growth in a more efficient way.
Click Here to Register BigSeller For Free!👈
In this article, we’ll outline some of the general trends in each regional market, analyze the top five most visited e-commerce marketplace websites in Southeast Asia, look at their traffic numbers, and see if sellers can sell on these platforms at the same time.
1. Shopee
- Active in: ID, VN, TH, PH, MY, SG
- Monthly Visits (Web): 560M
Singapore-based Shopee is a chain of e-commerce sites, each focused on its own market, with 11 major sites in Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and Latin America. Although Shopee has not gained significant traction in the West, with the exception of Brazil (where it launched in 2019), it is still a shopping empire in Southeast Asia.
Shopee offers its own supply and logistics solutions for sellers, as well as language-specific customer service. Another unique feature of Shopee is an escrow service called "Shopee Guarantee," which provides payment security for sellers and buyers.
In addition to e-commerce, Shopee's parent company Sea (formerly Garena) is a leader in digital financial services and digital entertainment in Southeast Asia. Sea owns the region's top-grossing mobile game "Free Fire." Sea is backed by (and partially owned by) China's Tencent. Tencent's support for Shopee has sparked a "proxy war" with mainland rival Alibaba, as Alibaba has injected funds into the platform's regional competitor Lazada.
Shopee's e-commerce market is mobile-centric first. When asked what factors have contributed to their growth in Southeast Asia, Agatha Soh, regional marketing head for Southeast Asia at Shopee, said: “A mobile-first approach helps attract online consumers who bypass the desktop and go straight from offline shopping to mobile.”
2. Lazada
- Active in: ID, MY, SG, VN, TH, PH
- Monthly Visits (Web): 140M
Another Southeast Asian multinational e-commerce giant is Lazada. For much of the past decade, Lazada has dominated Southeast Asian e-commerce. Recently, Tencent-backed Shopee overtook Lazada as the largest online marketplace, and Lazada still has a strong presence in the region.
Lazada was launched in 2012 and operates in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. The platform has over 155,000 local and international sellers, and 3,000 brands, serving 560 million consumers in the region.
With over 300 million SKUs, Lazada offers a wide range of products. Categories include consumer electronics, homewares, toys, fashion, sports equipment, and groceries. They focus on customer experience, offer multiple payment options (including cash on delivery (COD)), and handle returns through their own first- and last-mile delivery arm supported by over 100 logistics partners.
After Alibaba acquired a stake in Lazada in 2016, the Lazada platform architecture quickly moved closer to Alibaba's ecosystem in the mainland - Lazmall complements Tmall, and the cross-border suite is equivalent to Tmall Global.
Lazada has received seven injections from Alibaba, totaling approximately US$5.8 billion. Alibaba's shareholding ratio currently reaches 83%, almost completely controlling Lazada, which also proves Lazada's potential and importance in cross-border e-commerce in Southeast Asia.
3. Tokopedia
- Active in: ID
- Monthly Visits (Web): 110M
Homegrown e-commerce platform Tokopedia has taken a dominant position in Indonesia’s massive market. Founded in 2011 by two Indonesian entrepreneurs from a small city in Indonesia, the company aims to correct imbalances and democratize commerce across Indonesia. The name of their startup comes from the Indonesian word “Toko,” which means “shop” and “encyclopedia.” Over the years, Tokopedia has grown and attracted investments from several global venture capital firms, and more recently from China’s Alibaba and Japan’s SoftBank.
In addition to being a mainstream player in Indonesia’s e-commerce market, Tokopedia is also known for its lively marketing events, which include celebrations with international and local pop stars. Guest celebrities include well-known bands such as SM*SH and BTS.
Tokopedia’s annual GMV is estimated at $14-15 billion. Tokopedia and Shopee are now two major players and fierce competitors in Indonesia’s e-commerce market. In December 2023, TikTok acquired a 75% stake in Tokopedia after the Indonesian government banned social media platforms from directly engaging in e-commerce.
4. Blibli
- Active in: ID
- Monthly Visits (Web): 27.2M
Yet Another Indonesian platform, Blibli has a reputation for highlighting local Indonesian brands on its marketplace. It also notably runs all its logistics efforts in-house to ensure two-day delivery. In 2019, Blibli made a special effort to stand out from the rest of the pack. It became Indonesia’s first eCommerce site to integrate video streaming. Blibli Play offers on-demand sports streaming as well as integrations with the eCommerce platform.
5. Orami
- Active in: ID
- Monthly Visits (Web): 21.72M
Orami mainly deals in maternal and infant, baby, home and personal care products, and also provides related products such as food and nutrition, toys and accessories. Indonesia has a highly young population structure and the maternal and infant market has great potential.
Can Sellers Sell on these platforms at the same time?
The answer is Yes, here we recommand you use "BigSeller", BigSeller is a free Southeast Asian e-commerce ERP system that provides e-commerce sellers with one-stop e-commerce solutions such as collection and relocation, product listing, order processing, inventory management, financial data, automated operations, and overselling prevention, helping sellers achieve multi-channel sales growth in a more efficient way.
Click Here to Register BigSeller For Free!👈
