In the earnings call of Shopee parent Sea Group last week, founder Forrest Li mentioned the growth of instant delivery in Southeast Asia, specifically:
“In Indonesia, we saw growing demand from urban buyers for very fast deliveries, and a willingness to pay a premium for it. So, we rolled out same-day and instant delivery, with delivery times as fast as under two hours. The response was excellent: orders using these faster options in the Greater Jakarta area increased by more than 35% year-on-year in the third quarter.”
Quick commerce is heating up globally. China is burning billions in subsidies; India’s dark-store operators are commanding lofty valuations:
But Shopee’s approach is structurally different.
Instead of competing on “10 minutes” (India) or “30 minutes” (China), Shopee is accelerating fulfilment on its existing marketplace SKUs.
In many cases, when a consumer orders something from a seller on Shopee, Shopee sends a ShopeeFood rider, instead of a SPX Express driver, to fetch and deliver the parcel.
In other words, Shopee is not building a separate quick commerce business, yet. It is compressing delivery time using assets already scaled – especially ShopeeFood, which now delivers more daily orders than Gojek in Indonesia (see our report).
Different markets in Asia require different models. We expect these models to learn from each other—and ultimately raise consumers’ expectations for “instant” everywhere.
Brands and retailers: this shift is coming (literally) fast. Be ready.
P.S. The 1st Cohort of the Momentum Works Executive Immersion (MWX) kicks off next week. We have an exciting line up of topics and experts for in-depth discussions.
Registration for the 2nd Cohort – coming in January – will open soon. Stay tuned!
