E-marketplace Shopee has set an ambitious target to grow beyond e-commerce by offering upgraded services, in a bid to compete with the fast-growing TikTok Shop in live-stream sales.
The platform is increasing its commission fee from 4-7.49% at present to 5-8.56% from April, similar to TikTok, which has announced higher fixed fees, rising from 4% to 4.00-5.35% in the same month.
"We aim to make the platform more than e-commerce by uplifting users' experiences and creating more engagement for every user's daily life," said Suchaya Paleewong, director of marketing at Shopee (Thailand).
The company launched a live feature four years ago, and in the fourth quarter of last year it introduced a short-form video function that lets users generate content.
"We decided to include video in our platform as consumer product reviews via video," said Ms Suchaya.
According to research by social media analytics company Wisesight, two out of three shoppers view products and services via short video.
Ms Suchaya said the live feature enabled real-time interactions that saw a three-fold increase in the number of viewers, accelerating sales growth by 10 times in 2023 compared to the previous year.
Live commerce can accelerate conversion rates, with Unilever having seen orders increase by 1,000% during a live session compared with a normal day.
According to Wunderman Thompson, a marketing communications agency, Thailand is the third-largest market using live-stream commerce for online purchasing, only behind China and India.
Karan Ambani, director of commercial, said that after operating in Thailand for eight years, the company will focus on sustainable growth and enhance its core capability to create a better engagement with users.
By focusing on fundamental solutions to provide smooth and safe shopping, the company will shorten the delivery duration from three to two days, or same-day delivery in the future, which is now being piloted.
Meanwhile, it will push the affiliate marketing solution through verified key opinion leaders, along with enhancing live and video sales.
Mr Karan said online retail still has ample room to grow considering the current share of only 15% of the total retail market in Thailand. In the US and China, the comparable figures are 20-30%.
According to the e-Conomy Southeast Asian report in 2023, Thailand's e-commerce gross merchandise value will reach US$30 billion in 2025, up from $22 billion in 2023, with a compound average growth of 16%, before reaching $60 billion in 2030.
Mr Karan said the higher commission fees will be reinvested to improve services for users and help facilitate sellers.
Ms Suchaya said with the enhanced experiences, Shopee will reach new users and stimulate transactions from existing users. More than half of Shopee users are Gen Z, or aged under 30.