OCTOBER 1, 2020 — Shopee, the leading e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia and Taiwan, and Visa, the world’s leader in digital payments, today announced a five-year regional strategic partnership that will encourage greater participation in Southeast Asia’s digital economy, a key component of accelerating the region’s overall economic growth. Shopee users will also benefit by paying with an ease of mind using Visa and enjoying additional promotions and rewards. This partnership is part of Shopee’s mission to better individuals and businesses’ lives through technology, which increasingly includes digital payments.
As part of the regional agreement, Shopee and Visa will partner to:
- Incentivize MSMEs to digitalize their business on Shopee and adopt digital payments through Visa
- Provide MSMEs with marketing and campaign support to drive awareness, traffic, and sales to online stores
- Launch co-branded credit cards in collaboration with local banks
- Offer fast, easy, and secure Visa payments to all Shopee users.
- Create unique experiences for Shopee users through Visa’s exclusive sponsorship platforms
Shopee will provide shoppers and merchants with greater value, convenience, and security through Visa, making it easier to do business and increase sales. Visa will tap on Shopee’s extensive user base to expand its presence with Southeast Asia MSMEs and online shoppers.
Terence Pang, Chief Operating Officer, Shopee, said, “Shopee continually strengthens our ecosystem to be an enabler for MSMEs to leverage technology to grow their business. We are looking forward to working closely with Visa to leverage their extensive and secure network to make it easier for sellers to digitalize, particularly in tier-two cities and rural areas. Our shoppers will also benefit from a more convenient and rewarding experience that will encourage purchases and spur the economy’s growth. We’re committed to being in Southeast Asia for Southeast Asia to unlock the transformative power of technology.”
Neil Mumm, Head of Merchant Sales & Acquiring, Asia Pacific, Visa, said, “When a small business goes digital, they’re plugged into a much broader commerce landscape. Visa is working to help any business, regardless of their size or location, better attract and serve more local and global customers by getting enabled to accept digital payments in a safe and secure manner. This is especially important in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, as consumers and businesses increasingly adopt touchless payments and online shopping. Visa is looking forward to working with Shopee to extend access to the digital economy for small businesses across Southeast Asia. Our expanded partnership with Shopee is one of the exciting ways Visa is supporting small businesses as they recover and look towards future growth.”
Over the next few months, Shopee and Visa will also launch co-branded credit cards across selected markets in partnership with local banks. It will offer shoppers integrated and seamless rewards and allow Visa to reach more local consumers. In Malaysia, the Maybank Shopee Credit Card was launched in June 2020 and was received well by Malaysians with an overwhelming response in the first few days of launch.
The partnership will also see Shopee deepen its relationship with CyberSource, Visa’s full-service payment management platform, to support transaction processing and fraud detection and ensure a smooth and frictionless online shopping experience.
Southeast Asia is on track to become the fourth-largest economy by 2030, with an increasing percentage of GDP driven by the digital economy. The Southeast Asia internet economy is expected to reach $300 billion by 2025 with e-commerce being the biggest sector and driver of growth. The Southeast Asian e-commerce market is estimated to be worth $150 billion by 2025, up from $38 billion in 2018[1].
An increasingly tech-savvy population, rising middle class and the accelerated shift towards online services will further fuel the e-commerce industry. In 2015, 49 million people bought or sold items online, and by 2019, that number tripled to 150 million. With more than 70% of the region’s adult population being unbanked or underbanked[2], adopting digital payments will enable them to participate in the digital economy.
As the market leader, Shopee will continue to leverage its key strengths to help buyers, sellers and brand partners make buying and selling online accessible for all. Shopee has experienced strong growth in Q1 2020. According to App Annie, in Southeast Asia and Taiwan, Shopee emerged as the top in the Shopping category by average monthly active users and downloads, and also the total time spent in-app on Android.
[1] “Internet economy.” https://www.blog.google/documents/47/SEA_Internet_Economy_Report_2019.pdf. Accessed 29 Jul. 2020.
[2] “Fulfilling Southeast Asia’s Digital Financial Services Promise ….” 30 Oct. 2019, https://www.bain.com/insights/fulfilling-southeast-asias-digital-financial-services-promise/. Accessed 29 Jul. 2020.
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