Leading Marketplaces in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia has an exceptionally fast-growing market, especially for e-commerce. Having a young demographic and rapidly increasing internet penetration, online sales are projected to grow by 44.4% annually in this region. While traditionally B2C companies enjoyed the maximum prominence in the region, slowly B2B firms are also flourishing here.

The international b2b marketplace of Southeast Asia is characterized by their high degree of transparency, market visibility, and the plethora of business solutions they provide to buyers and sellers.

Here are some of the leading marketplaces in Southeast Asia:

Shopee: Owing to its mobile-first business strategy and large scale of operations, Shopee has become extremely popular in several Southeast Asian countries. This company provides sellers with their supply and logistics solutions, as well as guaranteed payment and language-specific customer service solutions. Shopee was established in Singapore in 2015 and is a pure-play marketplace. This means that all the products available at this marketplace are sold by third parties and not this company. Shopee ideally provides a shopping guarantee to buyers through an escrow service.

Lazada: Launched in the year 2012, Lazada operates across the countries of Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines. This platform has more than 155,000 local and international sellers. Lazada provides a LazGlobal program that is suited for international sellers who have no presence in the nation they want to sell goods to. In this situation, Lazada acts as an intermediary, and the relevant products are shipped to the warehouse of this company first and then delivered to the customers.

Tokopedia: This is another pure-play online marketplace that was founded in 2009. This is an Indonesia-based company, and the businesses of that country can sell on Tokopedia as Power Merchants or Regular Merchants. On the other hand, licensed brand distributors and trademark holders can open Official stores under the platform. Based on the product category, the sellers would be required to pay a security deposit and fees ranging from 2% to 15%, As Tokopedia does not have a cross-border selling program, any international company planning to sell through them must have a local distributor or office.

Blibli: This is a platform based in Indonesia that is focused on providing prominence to the brands of the country on the larger marketplace. This company is popular for running its entire logistics functions on an in-house basis to provide two-day deliveries to its end customers. In the year 2019, Blibli has made a special effort to stand out from the rest and become the very first online marketplace of Indonesia to integrate video streaming.

Bukalapak: It was established in 2020 and is a pure-play online marketplace. This company does not have a retail operation of its own and found early success hopping on a trend of foldable bicycles. Bukalapak partners with several small brick-and-mortar stores, subsequently facilitating online-to-offline commerce. This platform has more than 70 million active users.

Sendo: This is an e-commerce platform originating from Vietnam, and it majorly caters to its provincial consumer base. In the year of 2014, Sendo purchased and acquired its rival known as Mua. It currently enjoys great popularity on a local level.

Zalora: This is quite a prominent Southeast Asia-based online fashion retailer and marketplace. Zalora was established in 2012, and over the years, it has emerged as among the largest and fastest e-commerce platforms in the region that is based on fashion. Zalora has managed to expand quite a bit over the years, and now have their presence in Taiwan, Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore. Products from more than five hundred leading international and local brands and designers can be purchased through this platform.

Certain international trade regulations have to be followed by all B2B marketplaces operating in Southeast Asia. Surprisingly, most of the leading marketplaces of the region are the local ones, rather than the top giants like Amazon.