Shopee has become the dominant e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia. By the third quarter of 2020, it far outperformed all other platforms including Lazada, Zalora and eBay in monthly website visits and App/Play Store rankings.

So it makes sense for any online (or hybrid click-and-mortar) business, small or big, to build a presence on Shopee. But how can they set up their online store to stay competitive in the region’s most lucrative e-commerce platform?

1. Make the most of Shopee’s Seller Centre

If the platform has gained success from offering a great experience to shoppers, then it makes sense to make the most of its native tools.

Shopee’s Seller Centre offers 6 tools for different stages of the sales funnel that sellers can use to stay ahead in the game:

Create awareness using ‘My Ads’ and ‘My Campaigns’

If you have experience with search engine marketing (SEM), then you’d be glad to know that you can extend that knowledge to the Keyword Ads within Shopee.

Sellers can also bid to be featured on ‘Similar Products’ so that when shoppers surf around for products similar to what they offer, they have the opportunity to be seen and make an impression.

Drive conversions using ‘Flash Sale’ and ‘My Discount Promotions’

A Shopee Flash Sale (or Shocking Sale) features limited-time sales that show up on the site’s homepage, meant to spur impulse purchases. Sellers nominate their products to be displayed in a Flash Sale.

My Discount Promotion similarly allows sellers to apply limited-time discounts on select products in their catalog but without featuring them on the Shopee homepage. Both tools are great for sellers to create urgency for shoppers to spend.

Increase cross-selling with ‘My Vouchers’

What’s great about My Vouchers is that sellers can create their own. For instance, they can offer a 10% discount for a minimum spend of RM150.

This is especially useful for products that have complementary items such as electronics. Looking to get a laptop dongle that costs RM120? Consider adding a HDMI cable for or USB pendrive to make up another RM30 and get 10% off! With the sale of bigger items, these little things add up considerably.

Encourage consideration with ‘Top Picks from Shop’

This tool lets sellers curate 8 products from their store catalog to be featured as its top picks, encouraging shoppers to view when browsing a store.

Sellers can put their best foot forward to feature their best-selling items and also define what they want to be known for. When a shop is known for specific products, it’s easier to be considered by shoppers who are searching for them.

2. Focus on the look of your products

Looks sell. Optics are the only means to engage with shoppers online because they can’t use their other senses to gauge their liking of products. This is no different for Shopee.

Visual quality

There is a difference between professionally taken photos and those snapped on phones. Even if a seller is unable to take studio quality photos, clear and visually pleasing images still win out over blurry and lazily taken ones. They lend a sense of reliability to the seller.

Visual consistency

Clear guidelines on how product photos appear helps to create a sense of harmony within a store catalog to appear more organized and legitimate.

Official stores for brands do this well. Their product photos use the same type of background. Product angles, sizes, logos, and info blurbs are also consistent across photos.

3. Establish credibility with information and customer reviews

Building credibility through word of mouth is true for online shopping too, perhaps even more so given how intangible the experience often is. There’s nothing that gets a shopper’s guard up more than a product listing with no reviews and ratings.

While customer reviews are often beyond the control of sellers, sellers can control what shoppers see, which are product details and responsiveness to customers.

For product details, being helpful extends beyond well-written product specifications and descriptions – images and videos are effective ways to convey info too. Both formats can be used in a product’s display carousel that acts as its ‘display picture’.

As for responsiveness to customers, a good deal would occur behind the scenes while others would be seen by others. Leaving behind a note of thanks for each good review and a note of apology for each negative one is a simple but trusted way to let shoppers know that they can expect responsive service.

While that may be good for optics, it has to be followed up by good service when inquiries and complaints arise. It is prudent, however, to restrict communications to Shopee, as taking exchanges to modes of contact outside the platform may appear unprofessional.

The magic of Shopee

The cause for Shopee’s astronomical success has plenty to do with strong shopper engagement. While that consists of gamification and livestream events, it’s the easy in-app shopping experience that keeps shoppers coming back for more.

Competition may be increasing on the platform, but sellers can take advantage of Shopee’s features and interface to attract buyers and boost their sales.