Singapore-based Sea Limited, which runs Garena, Shopee and AirPay, is one of the biggest tech investment stories of 2020. In the first quarter of 2020, the company was trading in the $40 price range. It is now around $180, with a market capitalization approaching $100B. It has been a rocketship for investors this year. But […]
In this podcast, Jeffrey Towson discusses whether Shopee, backed by Tencent, can beat Lazada, backed by Alibaba, in the Southeast Asian e-commerce market. He considers factors such as market share, investment, and strategy. For example, Shopee has a larger market share in Indonesia, while Lazada has a larger market share in Thailand.
Much of our discussion about digital platforms (Alibaba, Tencent, etc.) has been about their business models. And all their strengths, which are formidable. But I haven’t talked much about the experiences of the user groups on these platforms. What does this mean for merchants and brands selling on Alibaba? For restaurants on Meituan? For content […]
I like audience builders as platform. They have interesting complexities and variations. They are more interesting than marketplaces and payment platforms. Plus, audience builder platforms are combining with e-commerce quite nicely. Spotify, TikTok, and China Literature are all audience builders I like. But they are really different, even though they all basically connect content creators […]
This past week, I’ve been talking about TikTok and Alibaba’s Tudou-Youku as examples of “audience builder” digital platforms. These are +2 sided platform that connect content creators (who want an audience and other things) with viewers (who want entertainment or other types of content.) And I’ve argued that audience builders are actually more fluid and […]
Jeffrey Towson, a China tech expert, believes that TikTok’s success is due to its addictiveness, ease of use, and highly shareable content. He also credits the app’s ability to tap into China’s growing digital consumer network.