South-east Asia e-commerce GMV grows to US$157.6 billion in 2025
Value of goods and services sold on such platforms up by double digits throughout the region, except Indonesia
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[SINGAPORE] The gross merchandise value (GMV) of e-commerce in South-east Asia grew more strongly in 2025 than in the year before, with consolidation creating a market of three players, said consultancy Momentum Works in a report on Tuesday (Apr 14).
The total monetary value of the goods or services sold on these players’ platforms grew 22.8 per cent in 2025 to US$157.6 billion, from US$128.4 billion in 2024.
The 2025 figure outpaced the 12 per cent growth booked in 2024.
Thailand and Malaysia led GMV growth in 2025. Thailand’s grew by 51.8 per cent to US$35.5 billion in 2025 from US$23.4 billion a year earlier; Malaysia’s rose 47.6 per cent to US$17 billion from US$11.5 billion.
All markets in the region clocked double-digit growth in GMV, except for Indonesia, which posted a 2.2 per cent growth to US$57.7 billion in 2025 from US$56.5 billion the year before. This was mainly due to the exit of Bukalapak in the physical-goods segment and the rationalisation of Tokopedia following its acquisition by TikTok Shop.
Shopee, TikTok Shop and Lazada are the key three players in South-east Asia, controlling 98.8 per cent of the e-commerce market.
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Beyond this trio, single-country or smaller players are struggling to stay relevant, with some pivoting from marketplaces to retailers and service providers.
Any potential disruptor looking to enter the market now would more likely be part of a well-funded, established giant rather than a small startup or platform.
Li Jianggan, founder of Momentum Works, said: “They either have a proven track record in larger markets, or a significant consumer leverage for the artificial intelligence era.”
Shopee maintained its lead in share of GMV, at US$83.2 billion. TikTok Shop is catching up, posting a US$45.6 billion share of GMV in 2025, up from US$22.6 billion in 2024.
The combined share of TikTok Shop and Tokopedia hit 65.7 per cent of Shopee’s GMV share in 2025, signifying that the gap is closing.
Content commerce – in the form of video, live clips and links to affiliates – is now a key part of e-commerce infrastructure, making up a third (32 per cent) of the total GMV in South-east Asia.
This has been heavily influenced by TikTok Shop and its expansion, as well as Shopee’s aggressive spending on Shopee Live, affiliate programmes and partnerships with external content platforms.
In the content commerce space, speed trumps creativity; it is where the ability to churn out content, get feedback and optimise what works matters.
E-commerce platforms now can track how a piece of content performs for sales and marketing, and algorithms can recommend the most relevant video content to users.
AI might disrupt content commerce in the future, in that it can churn out multiple videos quickly.
Li, noting that the “micro drama” industry in China has been severely hit by this, said: “The top platforms believe that AI has evolved to a significant level that much of the short drama content can be produced by AI or edited by AI.”
Micro dramas are melodramatic short-form video series lasting one to three minutes per episode, and optimised for viewing on mobile platforms.
While Lazada leans on the in-house AI capabilities of its parent company Alibaba, Shopee has resorted to partnering with Google on the AI front. How successful this partnership will be depends on how far Shopee goes to make the use of AI in e-commerce a priority, said Li.
“Shopee would do what is most rational given its positioning, strengths and limitations,” he added.
Grab is another tech giant also toying with e-commerce. It is pushing GrabMart into the space, expanding its product categories beyond groceries into beauty, pharmacy and alcohol.
Its approach has been different, relying on its partners for goods and its rider network for last-mile delivery – a fundamentally different approach from traditional e-commerce centralised warehouses and planned purchases.
Grab’s move into this segment could result in an expansion of its overall market by capturing high-frequency, needs-based purchases that were previously settled offline.
The company is unlikely to actively compete against existing e-commerce platforms, Li predicted.
“Rather, it would like to capitalise on its existing fulfilment infrastructure and customer base to provide additional e-commerce options to those who care about speed,” he added.
Amid the macroeconomic uncertainty, the question is whether GMV growth can be maintained for 2026.
Li said it depends on what moves the top platforms make. “From what we have seen in Q1 this year, the answer seems to be yes,” he added.
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