Shopee ‘til you drop-e
Get that coin: Agatha Soh, Shopee's head of Regional Marketing, shared some Shopee secrets.
MANILA, Philippines — Remember the good ‘ol days of Instagram shopping? Transactions were always lengthy back-and-forths across various social media platforms: The shop uploads a new collection, you comment “Mine!” (but not before rolling your eyes at all the “HM sis”), and then proceed to Viber the number in the bio with your order details.
To be an avid Instagram shopper in 2013 meant that you had a lot of patience for fluff and an eye for the authentic (who else would be crazy enough to deposit money into a stranger’s bank account?). It was also a pain to have to look at different Instagram profiles to compare prices and scout for designs.
At the time, all I wanted was a place that could integrate all the processes into one. (No joke. I remember telling a friend about the idea.) E-commerce platform Shopee was born out of this same need.
The platform (which works as an app and a website) was launched in Southeast Asia in 2015, introducing a customized online shopping experience per country. “Initially, when we entered Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, we were thinking that the biggest competitor had to be other e-commerce players,” says Agatha Soh, Shopee’s Head of Regional Marketing. “But we realized that it’s not. Our biggest competitor were the social media platforms.”
On Shopee, you can instantly chat with sellers, pick an item, and pay for it all with a few taps. It’s a seamless process that works so well. Plus, it offers the magic words that will make any online shopper weak in the knees. That’s right: Free shipping and Cash on Delivery. Don’t even get us started on the Shopee Guarantee, which protects buyers and sellers from bogus transactions (the feature allows Shopee to withhold the payment to the seller until the buyer confirms order receipt) and the Daily Prizes (a gameified rewards program where you can earn coins that can be used to pay for items).
Agatha mentions that about 90 percent of the platform’s mobile base has drawn a crowd of people in the 18-35 age bracket, most of whom are female (guilty as charged). Many of the OG Instagram shops are now on Shopee, too, which is probably why women’s fashion and health and beauty (skincare!) are the biggest categories they have right now, but mobile accessories like powerbanks and cables are also growing in popularity.
On the seller side, Agatha excitedly tells me that they’ll be focusing more on seller empowerment. This will come in the form of initiatives like Shopee University, which Agatha explains is “basically a series of tutorial sessions where we go around different areas in the Philippines to teach the sellers how to sell better.”
The future of e-commerce is looking bright, and we’re excited to see what’s to come. In the meantime, you gon’ bet we’ll be tapping that Daily Prize chest to get that (virtual) coin.
