Shopee and Lazada: selling in Southeast Asia
Two large marketplace groups serve several Southeast Asian countries, each with its own storefront, language, currency and logistics. Here is how to approach them without spreading yourself too thin.
Shopee and Lazada are two of the best-known marketplace groups in Southeast Asia. Each runs separate storefronts for several countries in the region, and each of those storefronts has its own language, currency, delivery partners and rules. Treating the region as one market is the most common way to get started badly.
Pick one country first
Choose a single country and learn it properly before adding another. Check on each platform whether a foreign or cross-border seller can open a store there today, and under what conditions. Eligibility, programs and requirements change, so verify them on the platforms themselves rather than relying on a blog post, including this one.
Expect a mobile, chat-driven buyer
- Mobile first: most shoppers browse on a phone, so titles, images and the first lines of a description must read well on a small screen.
- Chat is central: buyers often ask questions before ordering, so plan who answers, in which language and how fast.
- Local habits: delivery options and payment habits, including cash on delivery, differ from country to country. Check what applies where you plan to sell.
- Campaign days: platform-wide promotions drive a large share of sales, so prepare stock and prices ahead of them.
Keep one source of data behind several storefronts
Even with a single country, you will probably maintain translated titles, local prices and separate stock rules. Add a second country or a second platform and the same product lives in several places. Keep one master record, derive each storefront from it, and set price and stock rules per storefront instead of editing listings one by one.
Future Point keeps one catalogue with multilingual product data, publishes it to several marketplaces, applies price and stock rules, and follows orders, tracking and warehouse in one place. The live demo on this site shows how that looks in practice.