Great post! Competing in a market that prioritizes price over quality is difficult, and with Bytedance tightening its grip on the region, it is going to be an even more interesting battle. My main concern is the increasing flight of capital from China to Southeast Asia, which means heavier competition for SEA because it has to fight Lazada (Alibaba) and Tiktokshop (Bytedance) even harder.
I do have to wonder how much of Shopee's and Lazada's SE Asia business will be eaten by Temu - at least for those who are willing to take the chance of ordering from China and waiting for it to arrive... My ANNOYANCE with Shopee is that you pay up to RM5 for delivery from EACH seller (below a certain amount) e.g. if your order has stuff from 3 difference sellers, you get hit with 3 delivery fees... I mainly use them b/c I can pay with cash at 7-Eleven etc.
Great article! Not many insiders own 17% of a company of the size of Sea.
Thank you, and yes, I agree, it's rare.
I included your post in my Monday links collection post: https://emergingmarketskeptic.substack.com/p/emerging-markets-week-august-5-2024
I also wrote about my experiences ordering from Shopee in Malaysia some months ago: Can Temu Take on Amazon.com & the Rest of the World? https://emergingmarketskeptic.substack.com/p/can-temu-take-on-amazon-and-the-rest-of-world
Great post! Competing in a market that prioritizes price over quality is difficult, and with Bytedance tightening its grip on the region, it is going to be an even more interesting battle. My main concern is the increasing flight of capital from China to Southeast Asia, which means heavier competition for SEA because it has to fight Lazada (Alibaba) and Tiktokshop (Bytedance) even harder.
I use Shopee in Malaysia and Temu (expanded to Malaysia and now Thailand) or Amazon in the USA which I wrote about some months ago (Can Temu Take on Amazon.com & the Rest of the World? https://emergingmarketskeptic.substack.com/p/can-temu-take-on-amazon-and-the-rest-of-world )
I do have to wonder how much of Shopee's and Lazada's SE Asia business will be eaten by Temu - at least for those who are willing to take the chance of ordering from China and waiting for it to arrive... My ANNOYANCE with Shopee is that you pay up to RM5 for delivery from EACH seller (below a certain amount) e.g. if your order has stuff from 3 difference sellers, you get hit with 3 delivery fees... I mainly use them b/c I can pay with cash at 7-Eleven etc.
ALSO FYI (I also included in my Monday link post: https://emergingmarketskeptic.substack.com/p/emerging-markets-week-august-5-2024 ):
1) In Depth: ‘Exorbitant’ Fines Land Temu in Hot Water With Chinese Merchants (Caixin) $ https://www.caixinglobal.com/2024-07-31/in-depth-exorbitant-fines-land-temu-in-hot-water-with-chinese-merchants-102222062.html
2) Hundreds of China merchants join protest against Temu fines (IOL) https://www.iol.co.za/business-report/companies/hundreds-of-china-merchants-join-protest-against-temu-fines-f7308a92-60e9-45f7-969f-e806fc51fc76