Comparing 2 Big E-Commerce Platforms in Thailand Shopee VS Lazada
Due to advancements in technologies, the convenience that online shopping provides, and the Covid-19 pandemic that forces everyone to avoid going out and physical contact, Thai E-Commerce market has grown more than 35% in 2020 and has had 220,000 million value.
Shopee and Lazada are one of the biggest E-Commerce platforms in Thailand. They expose buyers to various products, national and international. Also, users can be both buyers and sellers. They can sell and buy things easily on its guaranteed platform that ensures more safety than buying directly from sellers. And that’s why these two platforms have been growing exponentially.
Lazada is originally German web e-commerce, founded by Rocket Internet. They entered Thai market in 2012, then got acquired by Alibaba in 2016. Lazada mobile application was developed in 2013 and became more popular than its web platform.
Shopee is a Singaporean company. Its parent company is SEA Group, owner of a famous online gaming platform, Garena. Tencent, Chinese technology company, also owns a huge portion of SEA Group shares. Unlike Lazada, Shopee mainly focuses on developing its mobile application. It entered Thai market in 2015, three years after Lazada.
These two platforms’ functions and features are almost identical. They are the biggest rival of each other. So, today, Sertis collected data to make a comparison of these two platforms. Let’s see the difference and find out which one suits your needs.
เรามาเริ่มดูกันที่ข้อมูลทั่วไปของทั้งสองแพลตฟอร์มกันก่อน แม้จะเปิดตัวมาช้ากว่า แต่ Shopee ดูเหมือนจะได้รับความนิยมแซงหน้า Lazada ไปแล้ว โดยมีส่วนแบ่งการตลาดอยู่ที่ 54 เปอร์เซ็นต์ ในขณะที่ Lazada มีส่วนแบ่งการตลาดอยู่ที่ 46 เปอร์เซ็นต์ เรียกได้ว่าสูสีพอสมควร ส่วนยอดดาวน์โหลดในทั้ง App Store และ Play Store Shopee ครองอันดับ 1 ไปโดยปริยาย
Even though Shopee entered Thai market after Lazada, it became more popular. Shopee's market share is 54%, while Lazada's is 46%. Shopee’s rank in both App Store and Play Store is No. 1 while Lazada ranks in second place.
Transaction fees and commission in the platforms should be considered by both buyers and sellers, because they affect the product prices. Shopee has 2-5% ) transaction fee (depending on payment methods and 3-7% commission (depending on product categories), while Lazada has 2% transaction fee and 3-5% commission.
The top-selling products on each platform allow users to know where their product suits and also allow buyers to know where they can find most of the products they want. For 2019, top-selling products in Shopee were fashion products, toys, and mommy and baby products. Fashion products, especially women’s wear, acquired most sales in Shopee because its users are 58% percent women. Also, it has Chinese wholesalers selling clothes at great prices. For Lazada, its top-selling products were electronics, toys, and fashion products because 57% of its users are men. Besides, people mostly buy in LazMall, Lazada’s guaranteed virtual mall, which sells big electronics brands. They also have a lot of promotions and allow paying by installments.
However, in 2020, top-selling products changed according to the situation. Top-selling products in Shopee were home appliances, smartphones, and gadgets, which might be due to the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown. People stayed more at home and did fewer outside activities. For Lazada, its top-selling products didn’t change much. They were smartphones, electronics, and fashion products. The rank might depend on the promotions of each category.
Flash Sale เป็นอีกอย่างที่ทำให้เราติดใจการช้อปออนไลน์อย่างมาก และกระตุ้นให้เราเสียเงินกันง่ายและรวดเร็วอีกด้วย โดย Flash Sale คือการนำสินค้ามาลดราคาตามเวลาที่กำหนดเท่านั้น ทำให้คนต้องตัดสินใจซื้ออย่างรวดเร็ว โดย Shopee จะมี Flash Sale บ่อยกว่าคือทุก 4 ชั่วโมง ในขณะที่ Lazada มี Flash Sale วันละ 4 รอบ ตารางเวลาจะแตกต่างกันไปในแต่ละวัน
Next, we are looking at the function and user experience of each platform. Users’ comments said that Shopee is better with its suggestion system. It can suggest more products that are both diverse and match our interest. Lazada, on the other hand, is faster and has a more neat and clean interface.
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There are various payment method choices on each platform, e.g., ATM transfer, mobile banking, and debit and credit card. They also have their own Lazada Wallet and Shoppe Pay which users can top up in their wallets and get better discounts. What recently made Shoppe more interesting is its SPayLater service, which provides the same service as a credit card. Users only need identification and financial statements. They can get a maximum credit of 30,000 baht. It helps buyers without credit cards to make installments easier. It also reduces the fees that Shopee has to pay credit card companies and banks.
Another powerful attraction that makes people more likely to shop online is free-shipping codes. Shopee and Lazada frequently give the codes to users. Shopee has various codes for different payment methods and minimum spending amounts, but users can use free-shipping codes only once a day and twice a week. Lazada only has codes with and without minimum spending amounts, but there is no limit to how often users can use the codes.
Flash Sale is another factor that motivates users to decide fast by selling products with special prices in a limited time. Shopee has flash sales every 4 hours while Lazada has flash sales 4 times a day.
Let’s go through the revenue and popularity of these two platforms. Their revenue has been continually increasing since 2017, the year when e-commerce in Thailand started booming. Lazada gains more revenue than Shopee because it entered Thai market and started charging commission from sellers earlier, while Shopee has just begun charging commission in 2019.
For the popularity, the graph shows that Shopee’s popularity eventually surpassed Lazada’s in 2020. Experts believe that it might be because Shopee focuses on developing mobile applications which are more user-friendly. Shopee also separately develops applications to suit users in different countries, while Lazada makes one form of application accessible to all countries.