Shopee, the juggernaut that fended off Amazon

To open the ShopeeiShopeeSingapore-based Shopee, a subsidiary of Sea Ltd., is a major e-commerce platform that operates across Southeast Asia.READ MORE app is to enter a whirlwind of promotions. The signature orange clashes with red banners blaring discounts; streaming previews lure the user into live shopping; various stores offer similar products, and compete intensely to reduce prices or delivery fees.

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For Shopee, the formula has worked. It’s the most visited e-commerce platform in Indonesia, the fourth most-populous country in the world. It has also conquered the majority of Southeast Asia, becoming a huge player in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, and even as far as Taiwan and Brazil. (According to McKinsey, Shopee is particularly popular for its apparel and beauty products.) The app had already launched by the time Amazon attempted to enter Southeast Asia in 2017, and along with Alibaba-backed Lazada, has managed to box out the U.S. e-commerce giant from the region. 

Shopee was created in 2015 by Forrest Li’s Sea Group, the New York Stock Exchange-listed Singaporean internet giant. Sea Group’s other core businesses are game development — under the Garena unit — and finance, with brands like SeaMoney and SeaBank Indonesia. But Shopee is the main act, contributing about two-thirds of Sea Group’s income. 

This past year has been difficult for Sea. But there are bright spots. In the last couple of months, sellers have been racking up record transactions on Shopee Live, its livestreaming platform — a sales method that began with Chinese e-commerce and is beginning to catch on in Southeast Asia. On August 18, a store owned by famous Indonesian celebrity Rafi Ahmad made an eye-watering 5 billion rupiah ($326,243) in revenue in 10 minutes.