Sea Ltd (NYSE:SE)’s Shopee And Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) Vie For Higher Pie In The Ecommerce Space of Vietnam
The e-commerce space in Asia is heating up with many people opting for online shopping because of ongoing coronavirus. Prominent players in the e-commerce segment vying for higher market share include Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) and Shopee.
Aggressive marketing efforts of Shopee in Vietnam
Sea Ltd (NYSE:SE) owned Shopee is in the limelight among consumers in Vietnam because of low commissions and free deliveries. It became a well-known e-commerce platform and received monthly visits of 62 million in Vietnam in Q3 2020. It is an increase of 80% compared to a year earlier.
Shopee expands in Vietnam
Shopee eyes a larger share of the $100 billion digital economies in Asia and expanding its operations in Vietnam. Worth $100 billion, Sea is pumping in money gained from its gaming business in the US to spur its e-commerce operations. With economies starts to recover, Sea is forcing acquisitions and tie-ups to redraw the landscape this year and beyond.
Sea invested heavily in digital financial services and e-commerce space. Its revenues surged by 2.7 times to $618 million compared to the previous year. Shopee is the most visited e-commerce platform in Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Indonesia in Q3 2020.
Lazada, owned by Alibaba, is number one in Q3 2019 in Singapore, the Philippines, and Thailand. Its lead is taken over by Shopee in Q3 2020. SoftBank Group-backed Tokopedia is the most visited site in Indonesia.
Gojek and Grab pumped in money in digital finance businesses. Grab entered a pact with Alibaba in Vietnam. Both Gojek and Grab are valued at $10 billion and $14 billion. According to a study conducted by Bain & Company, Google, and Temasek Holdings, South East Asia is home to twelve start-ups, which are valued at $1 billion and more.
In Indonesia, the two e-commerce unicorns – Bukalapak and Tokopedia empowers several million domestic merchants comprising mom and pop shops to market their products online.
Given the changes brought by the covid-19 pandemic like work from home and travel curbs, Ride-hailing is hit hard and forced Gojek and Grab to cut their staff by 9% and 5% in mid-2020. However, the demand for food deliveries and e-commerce soared significantly and the same trend expects to continue.