Southeast Asia is home to a large population of social media users. According to a survey reported by Econsultancy, 84% of the respondents said that they would purchase more via social media over the next few years.

The increase in digital connectivity and the evolution of new technologies has bridged the gap that existed between e-commerce and social media - social commerce. SE Asia has further paved the way for social commerce to spread its wings across the region. Growing digital usage, greater adoption of social shopping technologies, and a global pandemic have accelerated social commerce in SE Asia.

MIA sheds light on an emerging trend - the remarkable rise of live-selling, or live-streaming featuring products. The number of live-sales among live-streams in SE Asia increased from 13% to 67%. 

Facebook, Instagram, and LINE remain the 3 biggest social commerce platforms for SE Asian merchants. With the rapidly growing popularity in SE Asia, TikTok also jumps into this battlefield. Last month, TikTok announced the roll-out of its global Shopify partnership was expanded to SE Asia, including Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia, which would allow merchants to create and run TikTok marketing campaigns directly from Shopify dashboard.

Some tech companies identified the market opportunities of social commerce. They started to help merchants and enterprises managing orders and customer relationships effectively. A Taiwanese startup IKala, for instance, offers an AI-based customer acquisition and engagement platform and will expand into the SE Asia market. IKala’s products are targeted towards e-commerce companies, and include KOL Radar, for influencer marketing, and Shoplus, a social commerce service focused on SE Asian markets.

For retailers, the opportunities of social commerce are apparent, but to truly succeed they must find ways to make the shopping experience live, interactive and seamless. Besides, tech companies should also keep up with the trends. With huge amounts of unstructured data being collected, there is a need for a proper social CRM and order management system to integrate all the information and identify key trends.

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