Southeast Asia’s e-commerce market continued expanding rapidly in 2025. Growth was accompanied by increasing dominance of a few large platforms. Competitive dynamics are shifting from expansion to control over margins and logistics. Content-driven commerce is becoming a core growth driver. The industry is entering a more mature and consolidated phase.
Key Facts & Background
- Southeast Asia’s platform e-commerce GMV reached US$157.6 billion in 2025, growing 22.8% year-on-year and nearly tripling since 2020.
- Including non-platform channels, total e-commerce GMV reached approximately US$185.5 billion, with platforms accounting for 85% of the market.
- The market has consolidated into three dominant platforms—Shopee, Lazada, and TikTok Shop (including Tokopedia)—which control around 98.8% of platform GMV.
- Shopee leads with about 53% market share, while TikTok Shop is rapidly closing the gap and Lazada is gaining traction in key markets.
- Indonesia remains the largest market with roughly 37% share, but growth slowed to around 2.2%, compared with faster expansion in Thailand (51.8%) and Malaysia (47.6%).
- Content commerce generated US$49.7 billion GMV in 2025, accounting for 32% of platform GMV, up from 20% in 2024.
- The report notes that much of current affordability is still driven by subsidies and vouchers, rather than structural cost efficiency.
Source: Ecommerce in Southeast Asia 2026 dari Momentum Works
Insights
The data indicates that Southeast Asia’s e-commerce sector is transitioning from a high-growth expansion phase into a more consolidated and competitive structure. The dominance of three platforms controlling nearly all GMV suggests increasing barriers to entry, where scale, logistics infrastructure, and ecosystem control become decisive advantages. The rise of content commerce, accounting for nearly one-third of platform GMV, reflects a shift toward integrated social-commerce models that combine entertainment, discovery, and transactions. This evolution suggests that future competition will depend less on geographic expansion and more on user engagement, fulfillment efficiency, and monetization strategies.
However, the growth narrative is accompanied by structural limitations. Heavy reliance on subsidies and vouchers indicates that price competitiveness is not yet fully supported by underlying cost efficiencies, raising questions about long-term profitability. Market concentration may also reduce competitive diversity, potentially limiting innovation and increasing dependence on a few dominant platforms. Slower growth in Indonesia, despite its size, highlights uneven regional dynamics and market maturity differences. The broader implication is that Southeast Asia e-commerce growth remains strong, but sustainability will depend on improving unit economics, balancing platform power, and adapting to a more mature and regulated digital economy.