YouTube and Shopee have partnered to launch an online shopping service in Indonesia, with plans to expand across Southeast Asia. This collaboration allows users to purchase items showcased on YouTube via links to Shopee, a move that intensifies competition with TikTok’s growing e-commerce ambitions. The service, dubbed YouTube Shopping, will soon be available in Thailand and Vietnam, and it builds on YouTube’s similar initiatives already active in South Korea and the U.S.
The motivation behind launching in Indonesia, according to YouTube’s Asia-Pacific director Ajay Vidyasagar, lies in the country’s energetic growth in online shopping. While Vidyasagar highlighted the significance of the partnership with Shopee, he refrained from sharing specific details about its scale. He also hinted that YouTube may partner with other e-commerce platforms in the future as the service rolls out in phases.
The e-commerce landscape in Southeast Asia is seeing fierce competition, with TikTok’s e-commerce platform, TikTok Shop, becoming a formidable player. In 2023, TikTok Shop recorded $16.3 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) in Southeast Asia, quadrupling its performance from the previous year, according to Momentum Works. Shopee remains the largest platform in the region, but with a fast-growing market of nearly 700 million people, this new YouTube-Shopee partnership could further shake up the competitive dynamics.
Southeast Asia’s e-commerce sector, which generated $114.6 billion in GMV in 2023 across its eight largest platforms, has grown by 15% from 2022. With this expanding market, collaborations like the one between YouTube and Shopee are expected to play a critical role in shaping the future of online shopping in the region.
