E-commerce platform Shopee confident of sustaining strong growth
SINGAPORE: Shopee, the leading e-commerce platform in South-east Asia and Taiwan, is confident of recording sustained growth in transactions on its platform following its strong performance in the first half of the year.
Shopee, a wholly owned subsidiary of Us-listed SEA Ltd, saw gross orders jumping 92.7% to 246.3 million in the second quarter of this year (2Q19) compared to 127.8 million a year ago.
Its gross merchandise value also surged 72.7% to Us$3.8bil in 2Q19 from Us$2.2bil a year ago.
Despite the increasing competition among e-commerce players, Shopee’s chief executive officer Chris Feng expects the strong growth trend to continue this year.
“We have seen sustained growth momentum as we continue to scale and gain market share.
“The growth trend will continue this year as we outline our vision to build an engaging and social online shopping experience,” he told reporters during a press conference at its Singapore headquarters.
Last year, Shopee’s adjusted revenue rose to Us$290.7mil from only Us$17.7mil in 2017. As of June 30, 2019, total downloads on the Shopee platform were more than 200 million, while its active sellers were more than seven million.
Last month, Shopee launched its new regional headquarters in Singapore, which accommodates around 3,000 employees, reaffirming its commitment to invest in the region.
Given that e-commerce is still at its early stages, Feng pointed out that there needs to be more educational efforts for both sellers and buyers to sell and buy products online.
“The company would continue to work on building more engagement and trust between sellers and buyers, going forward,” said Feng.
Shopee is ranked number one in the shopping category by average monthly active users and by downloads across the Google Play and IOS App Stores in both South-east Asia and Taiwan in 2Q19, according to App Apnie, a go-to source for mobile app market data and analytics.
Overall, a report by Googletemasek-bain stated that e-commerce is the biggest sector in Southeast Asia’s digital economy. It is set to hit Us$153bil by 2025, four times its value in 2019.
Meanwhile, Proctor & Gamble associate director of e-business for Asia-pacific, the Middle East and Africa Dong Hyun said consumers are demanding in the South-east Asian market compared to other markets, as they are looking beyond a simple transaction.
“Consumers in South-east Asia are not looking just for a simple transaction. They are looking for more engaging content and entertainment as well,” he noted.