Shopee and Visa sign five-year partnership for digital growth opportunities

Shopee, the leading e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia and Taiwan, and Visa, the global leader in digital payments, today announced a five-year regional strategic partnership that will foster greater engagement in Southeast Asia’s digital economy, a key component. to accelerate the overall economic growth of the region. Shopee users will also benefit by paying with peace of mind with Visa and enjoying additional promotions and rewards. This partnership is part of Shopee’s mission to improve the lives of individuals and businesses through technology, increasingly including digital payments.

As part of the regional agreement, Shopee and Visa will partner to:

• Encourage MSMEs to digitize their business in Shopee and adopt digital payments through Visa
• Provide MSMEs with marketing support and campaigns to generate awareness, traffic and sales to online stores.
• Launch co-branded credit cards in collaboration with local banks
• Offer fast, easy and secure Visa payments to all Shopee users.
• Create unique experiences for Shopee users through Visa’s exclusive sponsorship platforms

Shopee will provide buyers and merchants with greater value, convenience and security through Visa, which will facilitate business activity and increase sales. Visa will leverage Shopee’s broad user base to expand its presence with Southeast Asian MSMEs and online shoppers.

Terence Pang, COO of Shopee, said: “Shopee continually strengthens our ecosystem to be an enabler for MSMEs to take advantage of technology to grow their business. We look forward to working closely with Visa to take advantage of its extensive and secure network to facilitate vendor digitization, particularly in tier two cities and rural areas. Our shoppers will also benefit from a more convenient and rewarding experience that will encourage shopping and stimulate growth in the economy. We are committed to being in Southeast Asia for Southeast Asia to unlock the transformative power of technology. “

Neil Mumm, Director of Business Sales and Acquisitions, Asia Pacific, Visa, said: “When a small business goes digital, it is connected to a much larger business landscape. Visa is working to help any business, regardless of size or location, better attract and serve more local and global customers by enabling it to accept digital payments in a secure manner. This is especially important in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, as consumers and businesses increasingly adopt contactless payments and online shopping. Visa looks forward to working with Shopee to expand access to the digital economy to small businesses in Southeast Asia. Our expanded partnership with Shopee is one of the exciting ways Visa supports small businesses in their recovery and looks to future growth. ”

Over the next few months, Shopee and Visa will also launch co-branded credit cards in select markets in partnership with local banks. It will offer shoppers seamless and integrated rewards and allow Visa to reach more local consumers. In Malaysia, the Maybank Shopee credit card was launched in June 2020 and was well received by Malaysians with an overwhelming response in the first days of launch.

The partnership will also see Shopee deepen its relationship with CyberSource, Visa’s full-service payment management platform, to support transaction processing and fraud detection and ensure a smooth and frictionless online shopping experience.

Southeast Asia is on track to become the fourth largest economy by 2030, with an increasing percentage of GDP driven by the digital economy. The Internet economy of Southeast Asia is expected to reach $ 300 billion by 2025, with e-commerce being the largest sector and driver of growth. The Southeast Asian e-commerce market is estimated to be worth $ 150 billion by 2025, up from $ 38 billion in 2018.

An increasingly tech-savvy population, the rise of the middle class, and the accelerating shift toward online services will further drive the e-commerce industry. In 2015, 49 million people bought or sold items online, and by 2019, that number tripled to 150 million. Given that more than 70% of the region’s adult population is unbanked or unbanked, the adoption of digital payments will allow them to participate in the digital economy.

As a market leader, Shopee will continue to leverage its key strengths to help buyers, sellers and brand partners make online buying and selling accessible to all. Shopee has seen strong growth in the first quarter of 2020. According to App Annie, in Southeast Asia and Taiwan, Shopee emerged first in the category of Purchases by active users and average monthly downloads, and also by total time spent on the application on Android.