E-commerce is booming, especially in Malaysia and lets face it, there are only two main players in the local e-commerce market; Shopee and Lazada. The former has seemingly come from being a small timer just a few years ago to give Lazada a run for it’s money in 2019. Shopee’s recent announcement of it’s CNY campaign is just the start of what seems to be a stellar 2020.
In order to understand our forecast of a strong year for Shopee, lets first look back at how they did in 2019. Shopee’s Year-on-Year Gross Merchandise Value rose by 69.9%, from $US2.7 billion to $US4.6 billion and Gross Orders surged by 102.8%, from 158.5 million to 321.4 million. The brand is actually seeing its popularity grow across the world. It’s crazy to think that it was the 5th most downloaded App worldwide in the shopping category (according to AppAnnie).
One of the best decisions Shopee made was to include in-app games where users can win Shopee coins. This drove their engagement through the roof. As a result, the amount of time users spent on the App has doubled. At its peak, users stayed on the App for over 2 hours and 15 minutes, as they were entertained while they shopped and participated in games to win exciting prizes, vouchers and discounts.
Last but not least, Shopee made some pretty smart collaborations as well. Link-ups with the likes of Datuk Seri Siti Nurhaliza brought about the first ever Shopee X SIMPLYSITI Mini Concert. On top of that, Shopee shocked everyone (Including us) by somehow securing a partnership with Cristiano Ronaldo (Which also gave us the most hilarious commercial of 2019, and not in a good way).
Not content with allowing local entrepreneurs to stagnate, the company empowered the local community by promoting the Buy Malaysian Campaign (BMC). Prior to BMC on Shopee, only 196 orders were made for Buatan Malaysia products daily. This figure rose significantly to 845 orders daily, marking an uplift of 331%.
“We recorded stellar performance on all fronts of our business throughout the year, with robust shopping
activities during the second half of the year. This was supported by major shopping festivals such as 9.9, 11.11
and 12.12. Our volumes have been steadily increasing campaign to campaign. Hence, the appointment of Ninja
Van was imperative in order for us to ensure that our users are able to get their parcels on time,”Ian Ho, Regional Managing Director of Shopee.
The momentum is definitely on Shopee’s side. While Lazada may have been the biggest platform a couple of years ago, more and more consumers are starting to opt for Shopee. Is this the Cristiano Ronaldo effect? Could the only thing that is able to compete with Shopee be the only thing that is able to compete with Ronaldo?
Of course not. But who would’ve thought Ronaldo would even sign with Shopee? No one! I’m convinced that advertisement he did with them was horrible on purpose. I mean, hate it all you want but when Shopee is mentioned it, you can sure as hell replay the damn thing in your head, can you? I hate that it’s etched in my brain ughh!! Anyway, Lazada tying Lionel Messi down to a long term partnership could just be the thing to spice this up. Unlikely, but a man can dream right?
