[SINGAPORE] South-east Asia’s total e-commerce platform gross merchandise value (GMV) grew at a slower rate of 12 per cent year on year in 2024, as the leading platforms focused on a more rational and sustainable trajectory.
Despite decelerating from the 15.2 per cent growth in 2023, the e-commerce platform GMV rose to US$128.4 billion in 2024 from US$114.6 billion the year before, estimated consultancy firm Momentum Works in a report released on Thursday (Jun 26).
With infrastructure maturing, “efficiency, customer experience and service level have become a bigger focus for the ecosystem”, it added.
The GMV estimation covers transactions on only Shopee, Lazada, Tokopedia, TikTok Shop, Bukalapak, Tiki, Blibli, and Amazon.sg.
Despite the easing growth rate, most South-east Asian countries still achieved double-digit percentage increases year on year, with Thailand and Malaysia being the key drivers for the region’s e-commerce GMV expansion, stated the report.
Thailand recorded the highest GMV percentage increase, with a 21.7 per cent rise from US$19.3 billion in 2023 to US$23.5 billion the following year. Malaysia had the second-highest growth, going up 19.5 per cent from US$9.6 billion in 2023 to US$11.5 billion in 2024.
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Singapore, on the other hand, registered the second-lowest GMV growth rate of 12 per cent, increasing from US$4.4 billion in 2023 to US$4.9 billion in 2024.
Indonesia had the lowest GMV growth rate of only 5 per cent year on year, expanding from US$53.8 billion in 2023 to US$56.5 billion in 2024.
Despite the slowdown, Indonesia remains the largest market in South-east Asia by contributing 44 per cent of the region’s platform GMV in 2024, down from 52 per cent in 2022.
Consolidation in the market led to the moderation of growth in the meantime, noted Momentum Works.
E-commerce giant Shopee increased its regional market share to 52 per cent in 2024 from 48 per cent in the previous year. It had a market share of more than 50 per cent in all countries in South-east Asia, excluding Indonesia, where it had a 46 per cent share.
TikTok Shop held the second-highest market share by GMV in the region.
The report added that while TikTok Shop had gained market share, its top-line growth had moderated compared with previous years. This was attributed to a deliberate adjustment of strategy.
The report also noted the completed back-end integration of TikTok Shop and Tokopedia, which TikTok Shop had acquired in December 2023. “As a result, Tokopedia no longer needs to artificially boost GMV,” it said.
Lazada held the third-highest market share by GMV in the region, according to the report.
“After a major restructuring at the beginning of 2024, Lazada achieved positive Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) and stabilised its GMV and regional market share.”
Collectively, the top three regional platforms – Shopee, Lazada and TikTok Shop (excluding Tokopedia) – had a more than 90 per cent market share in all markets, except Indonesia.
The competition among South-east Asia’s top platforms shifted from “a race to the bottom” to a co-existence that is focused on return on investment, noted Momentum Works.
It added that the region’s e-commerce parcel volume is not that far behind the United States’.
In 2024, South-east Asia shipped an average of 43.6 million parcels daily, close to the 61.3 million shipped daily by the US and significantly more than India, which ships approximately 15 million parcels a day.
“While still far behind China’s 478 million, the region’s e-commerce sector is already operating at a significant scale.”
The report also noted that, in 2024, transactions worth approximately US$16.8 billion in GMV were carried out in South-east Asia outside of major platforms. This was the first time Momentum Works tracked non-platform e-commerce.
These included transactions that happened on open-loop social platforms such as Facebook, brand.com, multi-brand retailer sites, as well as orders placed via chat platforms such as WhatsApp.
The total e-commerce GMV reached in the region was approximately US$145.2 billion, after accounting for non-platform GMV.
“Platform GMV is still decisively the majority of e-commerce in South-east Asia,” noted Momentum Works.
