Shopee is one of the leading mobile e-commerce marketplaces in Southeast Asia and Taiwan. The countries they operate to include Indonesia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore.
Luckily for me, I was able to witness Shopee’s success from the beginning as a startup company with less than a hundred employees to becoming one of the leading mobile e-commerce marketplaces in Southeast Asia.
Are you interested in starting a Shopee store? Read on to find out how.
Getting Started On Shopee
The first step to building a successful business is to decide what types of goods you’ll sell-remember to choose what sells well and what you’re passionate about!
Once you’re all set with your products, you can easily start selling on Shopee through your computer or smartphone, as long as there’s an internet connection and you’ve set a bank account for receiving payments. No matter where you are, you can manage your business.
Becoming an online seller on Shopee is simple even for newbies like college students, fresh graduates, or work-from-home parents.
Popular Products to Sell on Shopee
To succeed in e-commerce you need three things: in-demand products to sell, the skills to market them, and the drive to succeed.
Here are the top niches that you can test on Shopee first.
Women’s Fashion
It’s no secret how all women are practically shopaholics-as long as you keep up to date on what the influencers are wearing, or you’re confident with your own fashion sense, you’d get customers in no time. Who can say no to skirts, shoes, and dresses, anyway?
Men’s Fashion
The good thing about Shopee is that goods are delivered straight to the customers’ home, which is essentially appealing to all the men out there. Give them a variety of the latest fashion-forward products from the simplest tees to Kanye-like fashion, and you’ll be sold out in no time.
Toys, Kids & Babies
Kids and babies grow so fast that their parents always need to buy them new things-from socks, pyjamas to plain shirts, as long as they’re affordable, they’ll be a hit.
Mobile and Gadgets
Almost no one can live without their phone nowadays, and everyone wants the latest gadgets! Since there’s always new technology going around, you’ll never run out of things to sell or customers for that matter!
Home and Living
Affordable and durable products for your home are hard to find, but this niche is definitely popular with all the ladies out there, and especially the condo dwellers! They are always looking for something new to fill the space in their homes.
Beauty and Personal Care
With the advent of Korean dramas, skincare and beauty products are also in a sudden boom! Bb creams, lotions, and oils are just a few of the products that are always in demand.
Pet Accessories
Dog and cat lovers out there are abundant! Collars, clothes, dog food, you name it, customers will be adding to their carts faster than you can say sold!
How to Start a Shopee Store
Step 1: Before you start selling, make sure you register on the Shopee Seller sign up form.
Step 2: Tap “My Shop” under the Me tab, then tap “Add New Product”
Step 3: Upload quality photos of the item that you want to sell.
Step 4: Fill in the product details such as Product name, Product description, Category, Price, Stock, Variation, Weight, Condition, Wholesale (optional), and Shipping Fee.
Don’t forget to add hashtags to make your items easily searchable. Tap “Submit” and your product is now listed on Shopee.
What is Shopee University?
Shopee launched Shopee University in 2016 that offers workshops and tutorials to more than 5000 sellers on their platform.
Shopee University is a series of fun and educational meetups for sellers who are keen to learn more about how to be a successful mobile commerce entrepreneur on Shopee.
In this program, sellers learn various marketing tips and tricks to promote their store and boost their sales.
Shopee Free Shipping
One of Shopee’s best features that beats all other online selling platforms in south-east Asia is that they offer Free shipping.
When I say free shipping, that means, neither the buyer nor the seller pays for it. Shopee does.
Obviously, in the Filipino market, free shipping attracts more customers. The more customers Shopee attracts, the more potential customers will buy from your online shop, that will eventually lead to even more sales. So if you’re looking for the perfect time to gain leverage as a seller, the time to start selling on Shopee is now.
By starting now, while the online selling platform is seller-friendly, you can already establish your store as one of the best, and gain excellent customer reviews to help you in the years of competition to come.
How can you provide Free Shipping?
Free shipping can be enabled by providing a valid Pickup Address.
If the indicated pick up address is serviceable for Shopee’s Free Shipping Promo, the seller should receive a notification in-app within seven days with instructions on how to activate Free Shipping.
Shopee Fees
Shopee doesn’t charge new online sellers a registration fee.
Unlike Shopee’s top competitors, Lazada and Zalora who charge around 1.80%-8.90% and 15-25% (as of the date of this writing), Shopee Philippines only charges a 1.5% transaction fee of the total payment you receive from your buyers.
This is why items from Shopee are super cheap compared to Lazada and Zalora, even if most of them are coming from the same suppliers.
Conclusion
As you can see, starting an online business through Shopee shouldn’t be a complicated process. Start your entrepreneurial journey now!