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Sellers' frustration over rising marketplace fees charged by dominant foreign players is driving the emergence of local alternatives, Paul Srivorakul, group chief executive of aCommerce, an end-to-end e-commerce enabler, told the Bangkok Post.However, for major brands, the question is not whether local platforms exist, but whether they can deliver meaningful traffic, gross merchandise value and return on investment.
"History shows how difficult it is to challenge dominant incumbents. We saw this with 11street, JD Central and even Amazon's limited footprint in parts of Southeast Asia," he said.
Competing against Shopee, Lazada and TikTok Shop is incredibly tough, especially as tech giants such as Google/YouTube, LINE and Meta aggressively expand into commerce and increasingly become partners of these major e-commerce operators.
While local platforms offer a viable refuge for small and medium enterprises or niche sellers, they may struggle to attract larger brands, given that their traffic and gross merchandise value potential are simply too small to justify the overheads involved for major brands.
