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Southeast Asia's E-Commerce Race Enters Its Second Half—and TikTok Is Betting $980 Mi - lendzion - 09-19-2026
TikTok is making its largest infrastructure commitment in Southeast Asia to date. According to STAR Market Daily, the ByteDance-owned platform plans to build a logistics network called "Swift Logistics" in Vietnam, with a total investment of $980 million. The project is being executed by Tokgistic Pte. Ltd., a Singapore-registered ByteDance subsidiary that has already received an investment certificate from authorities in Ho Chi Minh City.
The announcement lands alongside another notable figure: by the first half of 2026, nearly 10,000 Tmall brands had joined Lazada's "One-Click Easy Go Global" program. In June alone, the program's transaction volume exceeded 400 million RMB, maintaining double-digit quarter-over-quarter growth—all within a year of its September 2025 launch.
Platforms are pouring capital into infrastructure. Brands are entering in droves. Multiple sources interviewed by STAR Market Daily shared a similar assessment: Southeast Asian e-commerce is shifting from a "land-grab" phase of rapid expansion into one of "intensive cultivation" built on refined operations.
A Region Rewriting Its E-Commerce Story
Momentum Works' 2026 Southeast Asia E-commerce Report projects regional e-commerce transaction volume to reach $157.6 billion in 2025—a 22.8% year-over-year increase and nearly triple the 2020 figure. Yet in a region of 680 million people, more than 70% of whom are young or middle-aged, e-commerce penetration remains only half that of China.
"Although e-commerce penetration in Southeast Asia is only half that of China, the associated costs have dropped significantly," said Li Jianggan, founder of Momentum Works. He noted that sustained investment from Chinese platforms, capital, and brands over recent years has driven local e-commerce infrastructure and ecosystem development. Combined with geographic proximity and familiarity with operational logic, Southeast Asia has become a key market for a growing number of Chinese brands going global.
Brands are experiencing the shift firsthand. Bao Jianhao, General Manager of E-commerce at Chow Tai Fook, told STAR Market Daily that the company's sales volume in Southeast Asia surged more than 17-fold year-over-year during this August's major promotional event. Chow Tai Fook began expanding into the region a decade ago; as of the end of June 2026, it had established over 20 retail outlets across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines.
"Online channels allow the influence of a limited number of physical stores to extend across the entire country," Bao said, highlighting that while 88% of jewelry purchases take place offline, more than 80% of those offline transactions are driven by prior online engagement.
Beyond growth, consumption upgrading is underway. Liu Wei, Lazada's General Manager of Cross-border Business and Vietnam Operations, said his early impression—that Southeast Asian consumers prioritized price above all—has changed as brand merchants and Chinese brands grew on the platform. "For data cables, 'functional' is no longer enough—fast charging is a must. For cosmetics, the priority has moved from low prices to strong brand identity," he said.
A report jointly released by DBS Group and Cube Asia shows authorized brand stores' share of regional e-commerce sales rose from 12% in 2020 to 30% in 2025, with a projected increase to 55% by 2030. Branded goods' online transaction volume stood at approximately $40 billion in 2025 and is expected to reach $150 billion by 2030.
Content and Shelf-Based Commerce: Two Paths Converging
Momentum Works data shows content-driven e-commerce now accounts for 37% of platform GMV in Southeast Asia—up from just 20% two years ago. At current growth rates, the content e-commerce market is projected to reach $77.9 billion by 2026.
Shopee and TikTok Shop once represented two distinct shopping models: the former relied on a "consumer-seeking-product" approach built on search, price comparison, and promotions; the latter used a "product-seeking-consumer" model driven by short videos and live streaming. Now these paths are converging.
In Q2 2025, over 20% of Shopee's physical product orders originated from live streams and short videos. More than 7 million YouTube videos featured Shopee product links—a quarter-over-quarter increase of over 60%—while orders driven by YouTube content more than doubled year-over-year.
TikTok Shop has been catching up in parallel. In August 2025, the platform revealed that nearly 60% of its Malaysian users preferred live-stream shopping, with live-stream sales growing 48% year-over-year and accounting for nearly one-third of total platform sales. It also rolled out a standalone "Shopping Center" in Thailand and "Shop Mall" in markets like Singapore, filling gaps in search functionality, marketplace features, brand flagship stores, and after-sales services to capture proactive search intent.
In 2025, Shopee, TikTok Shop (including Tokopedia), and Lazada collectively accounted for 98.8% of platform-based e-commerce GMV, with Shopee ranking first at a 53% share. That concentration makes catch-up efforts essential.
"These three platforms dominate the market, but that doesn't mean the competition is over," Wu Jian, Operations Director at Vietnam-based Panshi Investment Consulting, told STAR Market Daily. Once leading platforms have captured the bulk of the user base, growth increasingly depends on getting existing users to shop more frequently and spend more per transaction. Relying solely on content or shelf-based commerce makes it harder to cover the full shopping journey. "Whoever can best integrate 'discovery, search, purchase, and repurchase' is most likely to secure the next phase of growth."
TikTok's $980 Million Bet on Fulfillment
TikTok's investment targets its most glaring weakness. Official TikTok Shop data shows cross-border e-commerce GMV in Southeast Asia grew 125% year-over-year in 2025, with peak growth during major sales events surging 270%, while regional monthly active users surpassed 460 million. Yet rapid growth has been accompanied by persistent fulfillment shortcomings. Building its own logistics network marks TikTok's transition from a "traffic-driven platform" to an "end-to-end e-commerce platform."
For merchants and creators navigating this transition, establishing a credible, fully functional account presence is often the first practical step—whether for launching a storefront, running live-stream operations, or building brand equity in a new market. Marketplaces such as z2u.com have become a resource for sellers seeking Verified TikTok Accounts to support their entry and expansion across Southeast Asia, particularly in markets where TikTok Shop is simultaneously scaling fulfillment, search, and brand flagship capabilities.
Lazada Lowers the Barrier—As Compliance Rises
Lazada has chosen a different path, lowering entry barriers through its "One-Click Go Global" initiative launched in September 2025. Merchants need only supply goods to a domestic transit warehouse; the platform handles marketing, fulfillment, and after-sales service.
Wu Han, head of overseas channels at Mobi Garden, told STAR Market Daily that competition in Southeast Asia is intensifying—and while entry barriers drop, the market sees an influx of white-label competitors. Using Lazada's program, Mobi Garden entered five markets simultaneously. Supported by platform data insights, it pinpointed Vietnam as a key target; the country became its largest market within the first month, achieving tenfold growth in two months. The company is now using online sales data to reverse-engineer local consumer profiles and ramping up community-based operations integrating online and offline channels.
As Chinese brands accelerate overseas expansion, compliance hurdles are rising. Since 2026, Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia have rapidly introduced new e-commerce regulations focused on tax compliance, product controls, and platform liability. Thailand abolished its duty-free policy for low-value imports under 1,500 THB and signed tax-collection agreements with Lazada, Shopee, TikTok Shop, Temu, and Shein. Malaysia plans to bring social commerce platforms like TikTok under statutory regulatory oversight.
"The Southeast Asian market cannot be treated as a monolith," Li Jianggan cautioned. Chinese enterprises need to understand each country's specific business, regulatory, and competitive landscapes, collaborate with and empower local partners, and leverage platform resources—AI-driven product selection tools and major promotional events among them.
The Second Half of the Race
In Wu Jian's view, the "second half" of Southeast Asian e-commerce is no longer about traffic volume or low prices. Competition hinges on who can create a seamless closed loop—connecting product discovery, search, purchasing, and repeat buying—and who can truly embed their brand into local consumers' lives.
"The shift in Southeast Asia's e-commerce landscape has already begun, and this time, the players who remain in the game will be those willing to slow down and cultivate the market deeply," Wu Jian told STAR Market Daily.