The combination of social media and e-commerce, called social commerce, first gained popularity in China, but has also taken other Asian countries by storm. According to Bain & Co. reported by Bloomberg, social commerce already accounts for a good portion of e-commerce gross merchandise volume in several other countries within the region.
Shares ranged from about one-quarter in Indonesia to two-thirds in Vietnam. Analysts estimated that half of Thailand’s e-commerce GMV in 2020 included social commerce, as did 38% within the Philippines and 30% in Malaysia.
Social e-commerce can take many forms, from platforms specializing in group purchases, through social media networks integrating sales mechanisms, to smaller sellers communicating directly with customers using chat functions, personalizing their shopping experiences. According to the report, development is feasible because of young, tech-savvy populations in Southeast Asia. Time spent on social media can be above average within the region, making social commerce success much more feasible.
While China’s latest social commerce boom has been fueled by the ubiquity of WeChat and its lines of direct communication, business owners and sellers in Southeast Asia are chatting using local messaging or umbrella apps. Across the region, social commerce sales are estimated to account for 44 percent of the $109 billion e-commerce market.
After China’s recent group-buying revival expanded fresh produce solutions throughout the pandemic, countless social commerce startups in other countries are attempting to copy that success. As an example, the Philippines’ Resellee, which announced in late 2020 that it will receive latest financing of $1 million, allows sellers to make use of its social network to supply discounted prices to groups, thereby connecting producers and end consumers, including within the case of fresh products. Singapore’s WEBUY operates on an analogous system and has already expanded to Malaysia and Indonesia.
source: statesman
