US platforms ramp up the competition

US social media platforms are expanding their presence in Thailand’s e-commerce sector to compete with the dominant players from China.
Alphabet’s YouTube has officially announced its collaboration with Shopee in Thailand in the area of affiliate marketing to enter the video commerce segment.
According to Bloomberg, Sea Ltd’s online retail arm Shopee recently struck a pact with YouTube in Indonesia, betting that the video platform would help it attract more shoppers and stay ahead of rivals TikTok and Lazada in the company’s biggest market.
Under the tie-up, content creators can promote and tag products in their YouTube videos, viewers can click on a link to complete a purchase on Shopee, while the creators will earn a commission.
In June this year Meta, the operator of Facebook, disclosed it has integrated shopping features within its Messenger service and collaborated with e-marketplace Shopee to use Shopee’s merchant product catalogues for Messenger to help Shopee merchants close sales on multiple platforms.
Meta and Shopee selected Thailand for the launch of the new shopping feature on Messenger.
Johanna Voolich, chief product officer of YouTube, said yesterday that YouTube offers an improved revenue stream to creators — particularly via YouTube Shopping’s affiliate programme — by partnering with Shopee, initially in Indonesia, while initiatives in Thailand and Vietnam would be launched over the coming weeks.
YouTube Shopping has already been launched in the US and South Korea.
Ms Voolich added that in the US, beauty and lifestyle creator “A Heated Mess” joined YouTube Shopping’s affiliate programme and saw her YouTube earnings jump by over 70% within the first three months.
“When we launched the YouTube Shopping affiliate programme in Korea in June, Park Esther, a fashion creator, effectively integrated YouTube Shopping to facilitate her viewers’ purchasing of tagged items and products in her shorts.”
“It made it easier for her audience to access and buy the products she recommends, and she saw 20,000 product clicks from YouTube Shopping in just a month after integration.”
“We know people already come to YouTube to shop. They research and compare products, learn about merchandise from their favourite creators, and watch shopping hauls. That’s why we’re investing here.”
She added that the company wants to make it easier for viewers to find products, and for creators to build their businesses. YouTube’s affiliate programme takes this connection to the next level.
“We’re very excited to be able to expand YouTube Shopping in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam and are looking forward to seeing the Indonesian and Southeast Asian creative community continue to thrive with it.”
“YouTube’s affiliate programme offers an integrated experience for creators and viewers, and competitive commission rates. We will share more when we bring the feature to the market,” said Ms Voolich.
“US platforms like YouTube are strong in video but Southeast Asia is quite unique in e-commerce for video commerce in which TikTok is quite strong,” said Pawoot Pongvitapanu, an e-commerce pioneer.
The US platforms need to partner with strong local e-commerce players in Southeast Asia such as Shopee to compete with TikTok to attract advertising to their platforms.
Under this partnership, YouTube can attract content creators who will be able to earn a commission fee from affiliate content and attract advertising opportunities from sellers.
Paul Srivorakul, chief executive of aCommerce, an e-commerce enabler, said this collaboration allows Shopee’s platform to leverage YouTube’s user base, creating a unique blend of video content and an e-commerce platform to compete with TikTokShop, which is growing in the region.
Thailand will get very competitive as Chinese platforms are so aggressive it has made US platforms up their game, hence Meta has decided to collaborate with Shopee and YouTube also with Shopee, he added.
Mr Paul said the government needs to think about how to protect local commerce with Chinese and US platforms competing to win in the Thai market.
Thailand needs a strategic aggressive export programme and global platform strategies, not just import and cross-border inbound to the country, he said.
He said the media, advertising, retail and logistic industries are all at risk with US and Chinese platforms dominating the local market.