Shopee
Shopee Pte. Ltd., under the trade name "Shopee," is a Singaporean multinational technology company specialising in e-commerce. It is a subsidiary company of Sea Limited. It was launched in 2015 in Singapore, before its global expansion.[3]
Shopee
5 February 2015
Queenstown, Singapore
5 Science Park Drive, Shopee Building, Singapore 118265
Forrest Li (Founder)
Chris Feng (CEO)[1]
Shopee Japan Co., Ltd[2]
Since 2021, Shopee was considered the largest e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia with 343 million monthly visitors . It also serves consumers and sellers across countries in East Asia and Latin America who wish to purchase and sell their goods online.[4][5]
History[edit]
In February 2015, Shopee launched in Singapore as a mobile-centric marketplace where users can browse, shop and sell products.[6] The asset-light platform is integrated with logistical and payment support, and claims to make online shopping easy and secure for both buyers and sellers.[7][8]
The app-based platform launched a website to compete with other e-commerce companies such as Coupang, Lazada, Tokopedia and AliExpress. To differentiate itself, Shopee offers online shopping security through its own escrow service called Shopee Guarantee,[9] which can be used to withhold payments from sellers until buyers have received their orders.[10]
On 3 September 2019, Shopee officially opened its six-storey regional headquarters at Singapore Science Park. The new building spans 244,000 square feet (22,700 m2) of space, which can accommodate 3,000 employees and is six times larger than Shopee's previous headquarters at Ascent Building. The building was leased by WeWork before it was relinquished to Shopee.[11][12]
Shopee has yet to turn profitable despite increasing its gross profit margin year-on-year in the first half of 2022 which is attributed to faster growth in transaction-based fees and advertising income. Coupled with rising inflation and interest rates as well as setbacks in its internationalisation plans, Shopee laid off staff across multiple markets in June 2022, including employees from Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam. ShopeePay and ShopeeFood were also reported to be facing cuts.[13]
On 15 September 2022, Sea's CEO, Forrest Li sent a memo to all employees that outlined cost-cutting measures to be taken by the company to achieve "self-sufficiency". The measures include restrictions on business expenses, and Shopee's top executives will also temporarily forgo compensation.[14] Another round of job cuts was also announced, which affected employees in Singapore, Indonesia, and China.[15]
Business model[edit]
Shopee started as a consumer-to-consumer (C2C) marketplace but it pivoted into a C2C and business-to-consumer (B2C) hybrid model.[16] The company partners with over 70 courier service providers across markets it serves to provide logistical support for users.[17] In Singapore, Shopee collaborates with logistics startup Ninja Van for item pickup and delivery.[18] Other delivery partners in the region include Pos Malaysia and Pos Indonesia.[19][20] Shopee also partnered with Delhivery and Ecom Express for deliveries in India before it exited the domestic market.[21]
In its early phases of growth, Shopee offered subsidies and free shipping to its users although delivery services were still expensive in the areas it serves.[22]
New launches[edit]
In 2016, Shopee launched an initiative called Shopee University, a series of workshops and tutorials to aid local entrepreneurs and businesses in setting up their online businesses in the Philippines.[38]
In 2017, Shopee launched Shopee Mall with 200 brands in Singapore and the Philippines.The dedicated portal features thousands of products sold by leading brands and retailers in the region. Shopee Mall was created to offer a more diverse online shopping experience and to better cater to larger brands looking to pursue an omni-channel approach.[39][40]
In 2018, Shopee launched the China Marketplace portal that offers shoppers easy access to products from Chinese merchants, without any shipping and agent fees in Singapore and the Philippines. The portal competes with Lazada's Taobao Collection option.[41][42]
In 2021, Shopee launched a social media customer service arm in the Philippines, known as Shopee Cares PH.[43] The same year, Shopee launched a food delivery service in Indonesia called ShopeeFood, in partnership with over 500 merchants.[44]
On 10 August 2022, cloud-based e-commerce company ChannelAdvisor announced that it will integrate with Shopee to allow its users to reach new customers by "extending their multichannel commerce strategies to new markets in the Asia Pacific region, while leveraging the efficiencies of a centralised platform".[45]
Controversies[edit]
Meet-and-greet with Blackpink[edit]
In June 2019, #ShopeeScam trended on Twitter after Shopee released a promotion in the Philippines that offered passes to a meet-and-greet with Blackpink for the top 568 spenders in their online store.[71][72] Several fans reported receiving notifications that they had won tickets, but which were unilaterally retracted afterward by Shopee. Others posted screenshots that showed Shopee changing their contest mechanics the day before the event. Shopee was investigated by the Department of Trade and Industry for the incident.[73]
Underpaid couriers in Indonesia[edit]
In April 2021, Shopee faced allegations that it was underpaying its couriers in Indonesia after some riders claimed publicly that their pay per delivered package was reduced by the company to US$0.10 per package, down from US$0.34 in the previous year. Couriers that serve Shopee Express deliveries were also not paid basic monthly salaries, though there is a US$7.90 bonus if they can deliver 40 or more packages in a single workday. There is also no compensation for fuel or parking fees. Shopee responded to the allegations that it has a fair incentive scheme that is in line with Indonesia's market and regulations, and what they offer is "highly competitive" within the industry.[74]
Rescinded job offers[edit]
In late August 2022, a user of the Chinese social networking platform Maimai uploaded a post stating that he had relocated as part of a job offer from Shopee to work at the company's headquarters in Singapore. However, the offer was revoked after he disembarked from the plane in Singapore with his family. Multiple job offers were allegedly affected, as other users claimed they had similarly resigned from current positions and terminated housing contracts to join Shopee, only for their offers to be rescinded.[13][75][76]
Toni Gonzaga endorsement[edit]
On September 28, 2022, Shopee Philippines received backlash when rumors started spreading that the platform would introduce Toni Gonzaga as its brand ambassador a day after the company's reported massive layoff. This was confirmed the following day at a press conference. While various reasons were pointed for the backlash from the ethical issues with getting a highly-paid endorser to the endorsers' political activities, Gonzaga only appeared on the company's platform for a total of ten days before introducing another endorser for their 11.11 campaign, businessman and singer Jose Mari Chan.[77][78]