What is social commerce?
Social commerce is defined as a subset of E-commerce that involves the use of social networks to promote buying and selling products and services online. By using different tactics like storytelling, promotions, celebrity endorsements, encouraging customer feedback, brands are able to accumulate reputation and interest on social networks, which eventually leads to sales.Southeast Asia’s potential
Being one of the youngest and largest communities in the world, Southeast Asia is entering its prime of technology adoption. According to Google & Temasek’s 2019 report of the region’s internet economy, the total value has reached $100 billion in 2019 and is expected to triple to $300 billion by 2025, accounting for 8.5% of the region’s GDP.
Driving factors
The rise of technology
Out of 660 million people in Southeast Asia, nearly two-third are Internet users. And out of 416 million Internet users, 375 million are using social networking. In a world of affordable smartphones, 90% of these Internet users use mobile as their primary devices, which is the ideal landscape for mobile-focused E-commerce.
Social features

Celebrities and influencers
Back in the old days, only well-known celebrities cooperated with brands to help to promote products. But as customer demographics are becoming more and more specific will all kinds of different niches, brand endorsement has expanded to influencers who aren’t considered famous in an offline setting. Southeast Asia’s E-commerce sees big campaigns like Cristiano Ronaldo’s endorsement for Shopee, along with small ones with influencers that appeal to different customer bases. An influencer can be anyone who has a keen and enthusiastic audience and are able to affect others’ purchasing decisions based on their knowledge, authority, or relationship with said audience. And where would their endorsements be heard? Social media, of course.
Tagged E-commerce Insights, Social eCommerce