Intelligence
Evergreen SEA commerce reference.
Short, direct answers to the questions SEA ecommerce operators actually have. 26 pieces across 3 pillars.
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Lazada's Philippines GMV fell 34% in 2025. TikTok Shop overtook it for second place the same year
Lazada's Philippine GMV fell an estimated 34% in 2025 as TikTok Shop grew 53% and took second place among the three largest marketplaces.
E-commerce
10TikTok Shop can deactivate a shop at exactly 0 points. Shopee and Lazada never publish that number
Shopee, TikTok Shop, and Lazada each score seller standing differently. Only one of the three publishes its exact deactivation threshold.
Shopee's GMV grew 30% last quarter. Its own profit metric fell 16%
Shopee's Q1 2026 GMV grew 30.2% year on year. Adjusted EBITDA fell 15.6% in the same earnings release, the same quarter, opposite directions.
Singapore's GST threshold is S$1 million. The Philippines' VAT threshold is ₱3 million, a much lower bar in real terms
GST and VAT registration thresholds for Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines, plus the rate that follows each one.
Per-order contribution margin math for SEA marketplace sellers
The formula that tells you whether an order actually made money, once platform commission, transaction fees, and ad spend are subtracted.
Lazada Singapore raises commission 3 percentage points, effective 9 February 2026
Lazada's third commission increase in two years pushes general-category Marketplace rates to 10%, unless the seller joins the SPA programme.
Shopee adds a 5% Technical Support Fee across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam
Shopee's new Technical Support Fee lands across four SEA markets in February 2026, deducted automatically from completed order revenue.
TikTok Shop Singapore revises commission and transaction fee calculations, effective 1 April 2026
TikTok Shop SG changes category commission rates and widens the transaction fee base to include platform discounts, starting 1 April 2026.
The margin metric most SEA sellers skip
Revenue and GMV growth can mask a shrinking contribution margin per order. Here is the one measurement that catches it early, and how to run it weekly.
AI tools actually worth using for SEA ecommerce operators in 2026
Not a list of everything. A shortlist across three jobs that actually change an operator's week, with current pricing.
Hero SKU strategy for multi-platform ecommerce in SEA
Platform algorithms reward concentration over a spread catalog. Here is how to identify, position, and scale a hero SKU across marketplaces at once.
Marketing
8TikTok Shop's LIVE GMV Max formula divides GMV by ad spend only. The host fee isn't in it
TikTok's own liveroom ROI formula counts ad spend against GMV. The livestream's other real cost, the host or creator fee, has no published rate anywhere.
Paid reach resets to zero the moment ad spend stops. An owned customer base does not
A framework for sequencing owned-audience infrastructure before scaling paid acquisition, measured as a monthly revenue share, not a lifetime value projection.
Singapore's creator commerce market looked flat for three years, then tripled in 2025
Singapore social commerce GMV reportedly reached USD 5.6 billion in 2025 after years of slow growth, changing what a creator programme should look like now.
Creator commerce in Southeast Asia runs at six different speeds, not one
Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore have each reached a different stage in creator commerce. One brief does not fit all six.
A weekly measurement cadence that catches problems early
Monthly reporting finds problems after the budget is already spent. Here is the weekly rhythm operators use instead, and the three numbers it actually needs.
What is affiliate attribution lag and why does it distort your ROAS?
Affiliate commissions settle two to four weeks behind platform ad spend. Cutting the channel off a same-week comparison is the wrong call. Here is the math.
How to calculate blended ROAS across multiple platforms
Running a marketplace, live commerce, paid social, and affiliate at once? Averaging four ROAS numbers produces a figure that means very little.
What a TikTok Live creator brief looks like for SEA brands
Most briefs get ignored. Here is the format that gives creators what they need to sell a product on live, without scripting them into a worse result.
Platform Growth
8Lazada's Philippines GMV fell 34% in 2025. TikTok Shop overtook it for second place the same year
Lazada's Philippine GMV fell an estimated 34% in 2025 as TikTok Shop grew 53% and took second place among the three largest marketplaces.
Malaysia's ecommerce market grew 47.6% in 2025. Most entry plans still treat it like the fourth-fastest market
Malaysia posted 47.6% ecommerce growth in 2025. Platform structure and certification timelines have moved faster than most entry plans account for.
Singapore captured 87% of ASEAN's fintech funding in 2025 while its own payments network went live
Singapore took 87% of a shrinking ASEAN fintech funding pool in 2025 and stood up SPaN, a national payments entity now central to regional settlement.
Singapore and Malaysia hold 8% of ASEAN's population and a third of its online retail sales
Singapore and Malaysia hold roughly 8% of ASEAN's population but around a third of its online retail sales, a gap that should reset entry sequencing.
Singapore is the base market every other SEA entry plan gets tested against
A two-tier framework for sequencing entry across six SEA markets, ranked by execution accessibility rather than headline market size.
Vietnam's ecommerce market runs on two platforms. Indonesia is heading the same way
Shopee and TikTok Shop control 97% of Vietnam's ecommerce GMV. Indonesia's top platforms are closing in on the same concentration level.
Reading platform algorithm changes as growth signals, not noise
Most teams treat an algorithm update as something to survive. Here is how to read what a platform is rewarding before competitors do.
Shopee vs TikTok Shop: where to focus your budget in 2026
TikTok Shop's Southeast Asia GMV doubled to $45.6B in 2025. Shopee still held 52% of regional platform GMV in 2024. Here is how to allocate across both.