Currently, aside from China, known as the birthplace of numerous high-value e-commerce platforms, Southeast Asian countries are also attracting the attention of investors. Therefore, iPrice, an online price comparison platform in the region, has presented the Map of eCommerce, a research project that collects data on product views, app downloads, and social media followers each quarter. The analysis reveals ‘who the true top 3 e-commerce stores are in 6 Southeast Asian countries, namely Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Thailand’.

          Malaysia is an e-commerce market where golden investors and new e-commerce stores are establishing themselves, making it increasingly difficult to find locals walking around the capital, Kuala Lumpur.

          • LAZADA remains the expected go-to e-commerce store, averaging 28 million monthly product views. However, compared to the first quarter, the number of product views has decreased by 20 million (from 48 to 28 million). Conversely, the number of Facebook followers in this quarter increased by 3 million (from 22 to 25 million).

          • Shopee is the e-commerce store with the highest app downloads from both the App Store and Play Store in both the first and second quarters, averaging 3 million monthly product views, down by 1.4 million from the first quarter.

          • 11 Street is a South Korean e-commerce store that is not to be outdone, with an average of 4 million monthly product views and ranking first in Twitter followers (45,331). However, app downloads from the App Store have dropped to 4th place from 3rd (Zalora has moved up to 3rd place).

          Indonesia is currently the largest and most promising e-commerce market, likely due to its population being the highest in the region, resulting in e-commerce stores here averaging hundreds of millions of monthly visits.

          • Tokopedia is an Indonesian e-commerce store with an average of 111 million monthly product views, indicating that this country is a true nationalist that prefers to shop from local stores. In this quarter, Tokopedia has moved up from 2nd to 1st place in app downloads, ranking 2nd in the App Store and 3rd in the Play Store (previously 2nd in the first quarter).

          • Bukalapak is another local store well-known among Indonesians, averaging 85 million monthly product views, down about 8 million from the first quarter, but has moved up to 2nd place from 3rd in the first quarter, ranking 4th in app downloads from both the App Store and Play Store.

          • LAZADA is the e-commerce store recognized across the region, with the highest number of Facebook followers (25.2 million), but the average monthly product views have significantly decreased (from 50 to 5 million). However, app downloads from both the App Store and Play Store have improved from 4th to 3rd (App Store) and from 3rd to 2nd (Play Store) compared to the first quarter.

Vietnam is another emerging non-English speaking e-commerce market, with local stores dominating the market.

          • LAZADA is an international e-commerce store that has truly penetrated every country, averaging 32 million monthly product views in the second quarter (down 10 million from the first quarter), complemented by an increase of 3 million Facebook followers from the first quarter (from 22 to 25 million). In terms of app downloads, it ranks 2nd in both the App Store and Play Store.

          • The Gioi Di Dong is a Vietnamese e-commerce store that has maintained its 2nd place since the first quarter, averaging 6 million monthly product views in the second quarter (down from 9.5 million in the first quarter) but has moved up from 7th to 5th in app downloads in the App Store.

          • Shopee is another e-commerce store that has been in constant competition with LAZADA, with an increase in average monthly product views from 6 to 26.4 million, and also having the highest app downloads from both the App Store and Play Store.

          Philippines is a large e-commerce market filled with local e-commerce stores, although the top-ranking stores are mostly international.

          • LAZADA has an average of about 30 million monthly visits, maintaining the top position on popular social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

          • Shopee naturally follows LAZADA in any country, although the average monthly product views in this second quarter are not very high (down from 1 to 8.4 million), but it has consistently ranked highest in app downloads from both the App Store and Play Store since the first quarter.

          • ZALORA is not only a famous cosmetics brand but also ranks as a well-known e-commerce store among women. In the Philippines, ZALORA is a popular e-commerce store ranked 3rd, with an average of about 6 million monthly product views, despite a decrease of 1.4 million from the first quarter, and also ranks 3rd in app downloads from both the App Store and Play Store.

          Singapore is a small e-commerce market that may only occupy the space of a province in Thailand, but its e-commerce value potential is not small. This is evidenced by the famous e-commerce store LAZADA, which originated from this country.

          • Qoo10 is a well-known e-commerce store in both Malaysia and Singapore, but differs in popularity. In the Singapore market, Qoo10 has an average of about 10 million monthly product views (down about 4 million from the first quarter), while in Malaysia, the number of product views is only 900,000. In terms of app downloads from both the App Store and Play Store, it ranks 3rd.

          • LAZADA has an average of 5 million monthly product views. Although it originated from Singapore, Qoo10 had established brand loyalty before LAZADA. Nevertheless, this store has the highest app downloads from both Play Store and App Store.

          • Shopee is an e-commerce store that consistently ranks among the top 4 in every country. In this market, Shopee has an average of 8 million monthly product views and ranks 2nd in app downloads since the first quarter, with Facebook followers increasing from 9 million to 11.3 million within just one quarter.

          Thailand is primarily home to local e-commerce stores that are gaining popularity, often those that previously operated offline and have now expanded online to meet customer demands.

          • LAZADA is undeniably the first e-commerce store that comes to mind for Thais when considering online shopping, averaging 40 million monthly product views, with the highest app downloads from both the App Store and Play Store, complemented by the highest number of followers on LINE (20.4 million) and Facebook (25.2 million).

          • Shopee has an average of 15 million monthly product views, with nearly 300,000 Instagram followers, an increase of about 10,000 from the first quarter.

          • Chilindo is a Thai e-commerce store that operates on a bidding model, currently averaging 5 million monthly product views (down about 7 million from the first quarter), ranking 3rd in app downloads from both the App Store and Play Store.

          The Map of eCommerce research indicates that LAZADA is the most utilized e-commerce store in Southeast Asia (SEA), including Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. In Singapore, Qoo10 is the most popular e-commerce store, having been established 2 years before LAZADA. Finally, in Indonesia, Tokopedia has the highest user base, marking it as the first local store to reach the top position, clearly reflecting the nationalism of this country.

Research Methodology

          The Map of eCommerce is a research project by iPrice Group that compiles stores with at least 100,000 monthly visitors or 100,000 social media followers. These stores exclude ticket sales, finance, funds, coupons, food delivery services, insurance, shipping services, meta search websites, classifieds, and advertisements. The ranking data is divided into three categories: average monthly visitors (source: SimilarWeb), average monthly shopping app downloads (source: App Annie), and social media followers (source: Facebook, LINE & Instagram). The Facebook follower count is derived from the specific fan pages of each country, except for regional online stores where country-level data is not publicly disclosed, and employee numbers (source: LinkedIn). Data marked (n/a) indicates the absence of employee numbers.

Written and analyzed by: Kanitha Sasukul iPrice

Thanks to the information from ipricethailand.com