How is TikTok Shop different from Shopee and Lazada?

A few days ago, we launched a poll on your burning questions about TikTok Shop. Many of you have asked the question “How is TikTok Shop different from Shopee and Lazada?”

The question is simple yet fundamental. Established brands, investors, logistics and other ecosystem stakeholders need to decide how much marketing, operational and distribution resources to invest in each platform; startups and new brands need to decide whether TikTok Shop offers a shortcut for growth – and everyone needs to build the capabilities or find reliable partners if TikTok Shop is here to stay. 

In Momentum Works Live Commerce in Southeast Asia report last year, we decoded how the consumer discovery journeys of Alibaba’s Taobao and TikTok’s cousin Douyin differ: 

As competition intensifies, platforms are encroaching on each other’s territory, in China but in Southeast Asia as well. 

TikTok Shop in Southeast Asia already offers a “Shop” tab which functions like Lazada’s and Shopee’s marketplace model, which we will decode in our upcoming “The TikTok Shop playbook” report:

Will these two different models co-exist and be synergistic to create a winning proposition for TikTok Shop against Shopee, Lazada and potentially Temu? Do stay tuned for the “The TikTok Shop playbook” report.

We have also addressed these points in our “Off the record: ecommerce in Southeast Asia” online briefing. You can access the presentation deck here.