Southeast Asia is the new Singles’ Day battleground as lustre fades in China
Promotions from Chinese e-commerce platforms are infiltrating people’s lives across the region, where e-commerce is seeing explosive growth
On the bustling streets of Bangkok, TikTok Shop’s Singles’ Day shopping campaign is hard to miss, as large LED screens flash promotions in endless loops.
Promotions have been infiltrating people’s lives in other ways, as well. On the ride-hailing app Grab, TikTok Shop’s Double 11 logo appears prominently on the map interface. A promotional blitz from Lazada, which like the Post is owned by Alibaba Group Holding, has turned it into a top-trending topic in Thailand, while the microblogging platform X is full of in-feed ads trumpeting enticing discounts.
The world’s biggest online shopping festival, also known as Double 11 because of its original November 11 date, is finding fresh momentum in rapidly growing Southeast Asian markets 15 years after Alibaba’s Taobao started the event in China, where its allure is now fading.
Nattapong Koomuang, a 28-year-old Bangkok resident, recently bought skincare products worth 3,600 Thai baht on Shopee, the online marketplace run by Singapore-headquartered Sea Group. Discounts on the platform saved him around 20 per cent, and his package arrived on time as usual – a late delivery would earn the customer additional coupons.
“Discounts during Double 11 are typically better than other campaigns,” Koomuang said. “It’s easier for me to decide to purchase pricier products.”
He also occasionally shops on TikTok Shop, but his purchases there are more spontaneous, often triggered by content he finds interesting.
With a young population and growing internet access, Southeast Asia has emerged as one of the fastest-growing e-commerce markets globally, reaching US$139 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) last year, according to a report released by Google, Tesmasek and Bain & Company.
That has made the region a key battleground for international e-commerce giants, led by Shopee. ByteDance’s TikTok Shop and Alibaba’s Lazada have also become mainstream options, while PDD Holdings’ Temu entered the fray last year, competing alongside a host of local platforms.
While none of the platforms have disclosed the exact GMV figures for Singles’ Day, the impact of the sales bonanza is tangible.
More than 5 million Malaysians tuned in to TikTok Shop’s four-hour 11.11 Mega Live Showdown event on November 10, according to Malaysian news agency Bernama. The event generated around 80,000 live-stream orders. Meanwhile, Shopee Live sellers in Malaysia moved more than 2.5 million products within the first two hours of November 11, marking a sixfold increase from their typical sales.
In a WeChat post on November 13, Lazada described this year’s Singles’ Day as “the biggest business opportunity for merchants”, highlighting the brands and categories that saw significant growth in November. The platform introduced savings for reaching certain spending thresholds across the platform and free shipping to attract shoppers.
This year, Lazada reported its first ever profitable month in July, based on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation.
The rising interest in e-commerce is being felt by logistics providers, as well. Between November 1 and 11, J&T Express, the largest delivery company in Southeast Asia by volume, handled more than 15 million parcels per day in the region, up 73 per cent year on year, according to the company.
To meet demand, J&T Express began upgrading its operations months ahead of the shopping season. In Thailand, the company expanded sorting areas by roughly 19,000 square metres and added more than 13 automated systems to boost efficiency. It also deployed over 900 additional transport vehicles and hired more than 3,800 staff members to strengthen its sorting, delivery, and customer service capabilities.
“The e-commerce sector across Southeast Asia has rebounded this year, entering a steady growth phase,” said Li Jianggan, founder of Singapore-based consultancy Momentum Works. “This comes after the boom during the Covid-19 era, a subsequent contraction period, and the rapid growth of TikTok Shop as a disruptive player.”
Li attributed this growth, in part, to greater market efficiency. “For example, the cost per parcel has been consistently going down,” he said.
In China, meanwhile, enthusiasm around Singles’ Day is cooling amid a slowing economy. Sluggish consumer spending has also put deflationary pressure on prices.
E-commerce platforms largely stopped releasing sales figures for the event two years ago. This year, Alibaba’s Tmall chose not to splurge on the traditional gala, a high-profile affair that in the past featured performances by international stars such as Taylor Swift and Scarlett Johansson.
Since July, Beijing has repeatedly warned against “involution”, a term used to describe shrinking opportunities in a highly competitive environment, as it seeks to rein in the price wars that have gripped the e-commerce sector in recent years.
With a saturated market at home, Chinese firms have been pushing to expand overseas, leveraging the country’s vast supply chain to undercut rivals in other markets. But the platforms also face challenges navigating diverse cultures, market dynamics, regulations and local protectionism.
PDD’s Temu and fast-fashion giant Shein have come under increasing scrutiny in Vietnam, where authorities have warned consumers about buying from unregistered platforms. In October, Indonesia banned Temu after it tried multiple times to enter the market, citing the need to protect local micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and to curb influx of cheap imports.
“In each market, we must comply with laws and regulations while respecting local cultures and customs,” said Charles Hou Junyi, vice-president of J&T, in a recent interview with the Post in Thailand. While cross-border e-commerce platforms are key partners for J&T, he said the company is also diversifying into non-platform businesses.
