Shopee is a Singaporean e-commerce platform headquartered under Sea Group, which is a global consumer internet company founded in 2015 by Forrest Li. Shopee first launched in Singapore in 2015, and since expanded its reach to Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Brazil. It serves users in Southeast Asia and Taiwan to buy and sell products online. Shopee presents an expansive range of products, a social community for exploration, and smooth and satisfactory services. Due to the mobile and social element built within the concept, Shopee was described as one of the "5 disruptive ecommerce startups we saw in 2015" by Tech In Asia.
History
In 2015, Shopee launched in Singapore as a social-first, mobile-centric marketplace where users can browse, shop and sell on the go. Integrated with logistical and payment support, the asset-light platform aims to make online shopping easy and secure for both sellers and buyers. Soon after, the app-based platform launched a website to rival other fast growing e-commerce websites in the region like Lazada, Tokopedia and AliExpress. To differentiate itself, Shopee offers online shopping security through its own escrow service called "Shopee Guarantee", where it withholds payment to sellers until buyers have received their orders. On 3 September 2019, Shopee officially opened its new six-storey regional headquarters at Singapore Science Park. The new building has of space, which can accommodate 3,000 employees and is six times larger than the previous headquarters at Ascent Building. By doing so, it strengthens its push into the digital economy.
Business model
Shopee first started as primarily a consumer-to-consumer marketplace but has since moved into both a C2C and business-to-consumer hybrid model. Shopee partners with over 70 courier service providers across its markets to provide logistical support for its users. In Singapore, it collaborated with logistics startup, NinjaVan, for item pickup and delivery. Other delivery partners in the region include Pos Malaysia and Pos Indonesia.
Market share
As of 2019, the platform recorded 200 million downloads. Shopee also saw gross orders jumping 92.7% to 246.3 million in Q2 2019, 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. According to iPrice's 21 2019 e-commerce report, Shopee was the top Shopping App by Monthly Active Users, Total Downloads and Websites with the Most Visits, ahead of its competitors, Lazada and Tokopedia. These GMV claims have also led to backlash by Alibaba-backed competitor, Lazada. The former CEO, Max Bittner asserted that GMV numbers can be easily inflated "by subsidy schemes and history shows that GMV falls away as unhealthy subsidies are removed." Nonetheless, in Malaysia, Shopee became the 3rd most visited e-commerce portal in Q4 2017, replacing Lelong and "overtook Lazada to rank as the best app on both Google Play and iOS App stores." Similarly among consumers in Indonesia, a survey conducted in December 2017 by TheAsianParent revealed that "for Indonesian mothers, Shopee is a first choice shopping platform, followed by Tokopedia, Lazada and Instagram."
New launches
In 2016, Shopee launched an initiative called "Shopee University", a series of workshops and tutorials to aid local entrepreneurs and businesses in setting up their online businesses in the Philippines. In 2017, Shopee launched Shopee Mall with 200 brands in Singapore. The dedicated portal features thousands of products sold by leading brands and retailers in the region. Shopee Mall was created to offer a more diverse online shopping experience, and to better cater to larger brands looking to pursue an omni-channel approach. In 2018, Shopee launched the China Marketplace portal that offers shoppers easy access to products from Chinese merchants, without any shipping and agent fees in Singapore. This portal directly competes with Lazada's Taobao Collection option.
Brand ambassadors
In 2018, Shopee appointed Blackpink as its first-ever regional brand ambassador, as part of its partnership with YG Group. Bambam of Got7 was also appointed as the brand ambassador in Thailand in October of the same year. In 2019, Shopee secured a partnership with global football iconCristiano Ronaldo as its regional brand ambassador. The partnership was announced in line with Shopee's signature annual shopping event, 9.9 Super Shopping Day.
In 2015, Shopee was awarded the Singapore Startup Of The Year in the second edition of Vulcan Awards, presented by Singaporean digital publisher, Vulcan Post.
Controversies
In June 2019, #ShopeeScam trended on Twitter worldwide after Shopee Philippines allegedly scammed Filipino fans of South Korean girl group Blackpink. Shopee Philippines released a promotion that offered passes to a Meet and Greet event for the 568 Top Spenders in their online store. However, several fans reported receiving notifications that they won tickets but Shopee retracting them later on. Others posted screenshots that showed Shopee changing their contest mechanics the day before the event. Shopee is now under investigation by the Department of Trade and Industry.
