Singapore's Sea Technology Group will increase investment in Shopee in all markets to cope with increasingly fierce competition from new competitors like TikTok.
In 2021, TikTok launched the online shopping service TikTok Shop, starting in Indonesia.
During the business results meeting on August 15, Sea Chairman and CEO Forrest Li said that the e-commerce picture is going through a period of diverse user interaction growth through livestreams, short videos, and affiliate marketing with influencers.
According to Mr. Li, it offers new opportunities to develop and grow.
Shopee was ahead of TikTok with its livestream feature in 2019. The company recently refreshed the feature to focus on merchandise categories like fashion, health, and beauty.
Business director Yanjun Wang said the company has an advantage in converting orders thanks to integrating logistics and payment services.
However, Mr. Li warned that investment will affect business results and may lead to losses for Shopee as well as the entire group in a certain period of time.
Competitive heat appears at a difficult time for Sea when investors demand a clear profit direction after many years of heavy losses.
In the second quarter of this year, Sea's net income reached 330 million USD, recovering from a loss of 931 million USD a year ago.
Shopee's adjusted EBITDA (profit before tax, depreciation and interest) reached 150 million USD, higher than the loss of 648 million USD in the same period last year.
(According to Nikkei)
