Since launching late last year, Shopee has experienced significant growth in Southeast Asia and Taiwan, as illustrated by Feng’s chart.

Source: Shopee. Feng shows off the Shopee e-commerce platform on a screen replicating what is on his phone.

Shopee, the e-commerce branch of Garena, unveiled two new initiatives at its inaugural Biannual Press Conference: Shopee Free Shipping (currently in beta) and Shopee University. These programs represent the start of a comprehensive growth strategy for the mobile-first social marketplace, focused on improving user experience for both buyers and sellers and fostering a strong Shopee community.

Chris Feng, CEO of Shopee and Head of Mobile Business for Southeast Asia and Taiwan at Garena, revealed the company’s goal to build a more comprehensive and robust customer-to-customer (C2C) social marketplace. This will empower individuals to buy and sell on the platform. This ambition follows Garena’s recently announced US$170 million Series D funding round, intended to solidify its regional market leadership across its digital content, payment, and e-commerce platforms, including Shopee.

“Since its official launch, Shopee has grown tremendously. Our sellers, buyers, product listings, and orders are now in the millions. To sustain this momentum, we’re investing further in our ecosystem. We’re focused on innovation and initiatives like Shopee Free Shipping, which empowers individuals, particularly aspiring entrepreneurs. By eliminating shipping costs, we remove barriers to entry. This elevates mobile commerce standards and strengthens our leading market position, bringing us closer to becoming Southeast Asia’s preferred mobile commerce destination,” Feng stated.

Shopee boasts impressive numbers: 10 million downloads, 12 million product listings, and 1.2 million social media followers across the region. Notably, Singapore contributes significantly with 500,000 downloads, 300,000 listings, and 600,000 social media followers – all achieved in a few short months.

Ander Orcasitas, Managing Director of Shopee Singapore, explained, “Shopee University is designed to equip individuals with the skills to flourish in the Shopee ecosystem and enhance their e-commerce management skills. This new curriculum, built on the best practices of Shopee’s top sellers, imparts invaluable knowledge to other sellers. We’re excited about the potential of these in-depth courses, covering Shopee’s extensive features, online marketing, and photography, to benefit our sellers.”

Shopee free shipping goes into beta. Registration is open.

Shopee Free Shipping (beta)

Building on Shopee’s free-to-use platform, Shopee Free Shipping further simplifies participation. During the beta phase, Shopee will reimburse shipping costs for registered sellers, allowing them to extend these savings to buyers.

Shopee University

Shopee University aims to empower sellers with essential e-commerce business skills while fostering a supportive community for shared experiences. “We’re cultivating a vibrant ecosystem where sellers can learn and grow together," Feng shared.

Based on the successful practices of Shopee’s top sellers, the updated curriculum delves deeper into topics such as online marketing and photography. These biweekly classes are open to the public and Shopee sellers, with registration and information accessible in-app.

Shopee prioritizes user-friendliness. Sellers can list products effortlessly using their mobile phones – capturing a photo, adding product details and pricing, uploading the listing, and sharing it with friends. Setting up shop takes less than 30 seconds. To ensure secure transactions, payments are held in escrow by Shopee and released to the seller only upon buyer confirmation of satisfactory item receipt. Notably, there are no listing fees or commissions for sellers.

Since its official launch, Shopee’s platform has undergone enhancements, including:

A summary of key product innovations introduced since the launch: improvements in social features, discovery - being able to find items that would be of interest to the buyer - and more help for sellers.

More social features

• A Live Chat feature enables direct person-to-person communication.
• Hashtag support in search allows users to easily find trending items and deals. (Trending hashtags of the day included #koreanfashion, #nyx, and #flyknit.)
• Real-time updates from followed sellers and Shopee recommendations are available on the home page.

Improved discovery

• The Daily Discover feature recommends items based on past browsing and purchase history.
• A two-tier Category feature streamlines product search and discovery.
• New Search Filters allow users to browse products by discounts and free shipping options.

Assisting sellers

• The Product Boosting feature enables sellers to push their products to the top of relevant categories.
• Featured Sellers provides increased visibility for selected sellers across diverse categories, with a convenient one-click follow-all function for buyers.
• The Chat Response function indicates seller responsiveness based on response frequency and timeliness.
• Product Variation allows sellers to manage multiple variations of a product (e.g., different sizes and colors) within a single listing.

Seller management console

• The Seller Centre simplifies product and order management and enhances customer support for sellers. Designed for web use, this feature enables batch actions for greater efficiency.

Logistics

• Integrated Logistics now includes expanded support from Shopee Singapore’s third-party logistics provider, Ninja Van.

Top sellers on Shopee share their experiences: from left, Wong, Lee and Foo.

Lee Yi Hui of HushSG, one of Shopee’s top sellers who focuses solely on e-commerce, shared his experience. Initially hesitant to use Shopee, he decided to try it as the platform evolved. “It’s been very effective,” he remarked. “We’ve steadily listed more products and generate significant revenue through Shopee.”

Brydan Foo of GameProSG, specializing in PC gaming peripherals and laptops targeting a niche market, highlighted how Shopee helped him reach a wider audience. “Shopee treats us like partners, not just sellers,” he added. “They’ve taught me a lot about e-commerce, which is why Shopee is my preferred platform.”

Lee emphasized Shopee’s user-friendliness for new sellers. “There’s minimal paperwork. You can start selling quickly – just take well-lit photos of your products and upload them. For larger inventories, bulk product uploading is a lifesaver. Many platforms still require manual listing, which is a major pain point,” he explained.

He also praised Shopee’s active community. “Shopee boasts the most reviews. The community is incredibly engaged and provides valuable feedback after purchases,” he noted.

Valerie Wong of ReverendRabbit, a menswear retailer, lauded Shopee’s seller-focused initiatives. “The opportunities for sellers to connect create a supportive ecosystem,” she said. “You don’t feel alone. A larger seller base attracts more shoppers to the platform.”

All three sellers emphasized Shopee’s responsiveness to feedback.

Interested?

Register for Shopee Free Shipping

Hashtag: #shopeeSG

*‘Garena’ refers to Garena Interactive Holding.

**Shopee officially launched in Singapore in November 2015.

***Shopee is a free-to-use platform with no hidden costs.

****Shipping costs apply to normal mail and are capped at S$2 per shipment.