Shopee Leads as Southeast Asia's Most-Visited E-Commerce Platform
Jakarta. Singapore-based Shopee has taken the reign as the most visited e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia, according to a report by iPrice, a price comparison provider for online shopping that also conducts market research.
In a report titled "The Biggest E-Commerce Website and Apps in Southeast Asia, Q1 2019," a copy of which was made available to the Jakarta Globe on Sunday, it said Shopee had a total average of 184.4 million visits on desktop and mobile in the first quarter of this year. This was 5 percent more than the corresponding period last year.
The report categorized the data by total average visits obtained by each platform in each month in the first quarter.
Lazada
Lazada, another Singapore-based e-commerce platform, is in second place, but saw a 12 percent decline in total average visits, at 179.7 million visitors in the quarter.
Indonesian e-commerce platforms Tokopedia and Bukalapak ranked third and fourth in the region, respectively, although they were only available in Indonesia. Shopee and Lazada are available in multiple Southeast Asian countries.
Tokopedia
Tokopedia remains Indonesia's most prominent e-commerce player, currently controlling the biggest market share. Existing investors recently injected $1 billion into the company, making it the country's most valuable startup.
Southeast Asia's Top-Ranking E-Commerce Apps
iPrice also compiled a list, seen in the image below, of the top-ranking mobile e-commerce apps in the region by country.
Chinese and American E-Commerce Platforms Remain Popular
iPrice also included Chinese and American e-commerce platforms AliExpress, Amazon, eBay, TaoBao and Alibaba.com, which remain popular in Southeast Asia and are actively used in the region.
Takeaways From the iPrice Report
The Southeast Asian internet economy hit an inflection point in 2018 when it achieved $72 billion in gross merchandise value, according to an earlier report by Google and Singapore-based Temasek. The e-commerce sector, which is part of the internet economy, has seen the fastest growth, recording $23 billion in gross merchandise value last year and expected to top $100 billion by 2025.
The iPrice report says in its executive summary that "as the most dynamic sector of the internet economy, e-commerce is also expected to become more saturated in the coming years – experiencing a decrease in compound annual growth rate from 62 percent [2015-2018] to 34 percent [2015-2025] in less than six years."
"With the bulk of users in Southeast Asia spending most of their time on mobile phones, we see more and more e-commerce players becoming a 'mobile-first' platform, or in some cases 'mobile-only' – prioritizing growth in the usage of their apps."
"Added to the swift adoption of mobile devices, improved communication infrastructure and affordability of broadband services, e-commerce will see the addition of more players, seeking to gain a significant part of the market share."
Southeast Asia saw an influx of investment in e-commerce, such as the Alibaba Group having pumped an additional $2 billion into Lazada last year.
Meanwhile, local e-commerce firms such as Tokopedia, Tiki and Bukalapak "are raising the bar to stay abreast with the increased competition in the next five to 10 years," the report said.
"Nevertheless, our findings state a consistent message that the e-commerce sector still has much room for growth and that no clear winners have yet emerged. We also believe that the industry as a whole needs to invest more resources to establish standards, grow the industry together while gaining a deeper understanding of its users," iPrice said.
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