Lazada/Shopee Vietnam station data performance in March; Shopee was protested by other platforms for "choose one of two"; the worsening epidemic may affect the Ramadan promotion

Recently, according to media reports such as Bloomberg and AFP, in order to reduce the movement of people during Ramadan and aggravate the spread of the epidemic, Indonesia and Malaysia, the largest Muslim countries in Southeast Asia, have successively introduced policies to restrict travel, and those who violate the ban may even be fined.

Ramadan, also known as the Muslim New Year, is a month from sunrise to sunset. Except for the sick, travelers, infants, pregnant women, nursing mothers, women who are menstruating, and soldiers in combat, adult Muslims must strictly fast, not eating, not drinking, not smoking, not drinking, and not having sex. People do not eat until the sun sets, and then they have fun or visit relatives and friends, as happy as the New Year.

During Ramadan in 2020, data from the Shopee platform showed that on the peak day of the promotion, the number of cross-border orders in the Indonesian market increased by more than 4 times . The increase in orders of cross-border sellers in categories such as household goods, Muslim fashion, and maternal and child products exceeded the overall market. The number of orders from Chinese cross-border sellers in the Indonesian market also increased by more than 4 times before the promotion.

Specifically, the number of orders from Shopee cross-border sellers in the Muslim fashion category in the Indonesian market has increased by more than 15 times, with Muslim accessories and prayer supplies being the most popular subcategories;

The volume of cross-border orders for household goods in the Indonesian market increased by more than 6 times compared to normal days, and the Malaysian market grew simultaneously, especially the volume of cross-border orders for kitchenware increased by more than 3 times compared to the previous period;

The volume of cross-border orders for maternal and infant products in the Indonesian market has increased to nearly five times that of normal days. In the Malaysian market, the volume of cross-border orders for baby toys during Ramadan has increased to nearly three times compared to before Ramadan.

In addition, traditional strong categories such as mobile phones and accessories, beauty products, fashion accessories, and women's clothing still remain at the top of the cross-border hot-selling list during Ramadan, while Bluetooth headsets that are indispensable for working from home, pajamas and home clothes for home, and eye makeup products under the mask economy are all on the list of emerging hot-selling products during Ramadan.

According to foreign media reports, last year, at a meeting held by the Indonesian E-Commerce Association, Shopee was condemned by other e-commerce platforms for implementing a "choose one of two" policy for sellers.

In fact, in the field of e-commerce, it is not uncommon for platforms and suppliers (sellers) to sign exclusive agreements. Tokopedia, Lazada and other platforms have launched them to restrict sellers from appearing on other platforms within a certain period of time.

However, sources said that what makes Shopee different from them is that it requires suppliers (sellers) to directly close their stores on other e-commerce platforms.

For example, on the eve of last year’s 99 promotion, Shopee sent messages to sellers via WhatsApp, allowing them to receive huge subsidies as long as they closed their Lazada stores during the 99 period.

Although subsidies are very attractive to small sellers, many sellers are reluctant to close stores on other platforms. After all, they do not want to rely too much on a single platform.

Shopee declined to comment on the report.

With the continuous improvement of Vietnam's business environment and the government's increasing attention to the digital economy, this country close to China is gaining more and more attention from cross-border sellers.

Today, let’s take a look at the Lazada/Shopee platform performance data for March for reference.

(1) Website ranking

(2) Visits and share

(3) Traffic source (access method)

(4) Social traffic

(5) Traffic source (region)

(6) Others