Malaysia Fresh Food, Expansion of Online Sales

E-commerce Company 'Shopee' Enters Market
Live Streaming Communication as a Weapon

[Asia Economy Kuala Lumpur Hong Seong-a Guest Reporter] As the size of Malaysia's e-commerce market grows, fresh food is also being included in the online sales sector. Fresh food has been considered a more challenging area because it must be kept refrigerated from storage to distribution. However, as the e-commerce market expands, companies have begun to recognize fresh food as a 'blue ocean.' While non-food sectors have dominated e-commerce so far, the proportion of online sales of fresh food is expected to increase in the future.

According to local media such as The Edge Market on the 17th, e-commerce company Shopee recently announced its entry into the fresh food delivery business, including vegetables, seafood, and meat. Shopee, which started in Singapore in 2015, has expanded its presence to a total of eight countries, including ASEAN countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines, as well as Taiwan and Brazil.

Shopee holds the second position in the industry in Malaysia, following Lazada. Shopee has focused on the non-food sector until now. However, as competition intensifies, entering the fresh food sector has become inevitable. At the end of last year, Malaysia's e-commerce market size was about $3 billion, tripling compared to 2015, and it was judged that as the market grows, there could be situations where companies must endure cutthroat competition. Starting this year, Shopee began pilot operations of fresh food delivery services centered around the Kuala Lumpur metropolitan area. To this end, it plans to collaborate with local fresh food companies such as FreshTab and FishClub.

In addition to fresh food, Shopee started selling 'region-specific products' last month, focusing on East Malaysia, where Kota Kinabalu is located. The service in East Malaysia is named 'eSmart Sabah,' inspired by the fact that consumer preferences differ from the urbanized West Malaysia region. Accordingly, the area has strengthened the essentials and groceries sectors. Shopee also introduced a new live streaming service where sellers communicate with buyers and promote products directly via video, enabling real-time interaction between sellers and buyers. In particular, live streaming equipped with L'Or?al Malaysia's beauty camera significantly increased sales of makeup products.

As the e-commerce market grows and consumer demand becomes more segmented, Shopee plans to accelerate consumer behavior analysis. Especially with the increase in consumers purchasing food and beverage vouchers online, Shopee intends to analyze purchasing customers' consumption tendencies and reflect them in marketing. In addition to healthcare, Shopee plans to introduce products where mechanics visit customers to provide vehicle repair services.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.