蘑菇AV

With a booming economy and a flourishing middle class, Indonesia has become an intense battleground for leading ecommerce players, including Shopee, Tokopedia, and TikTok Shop.

But the social platform has gained traction and notoriety domestically thanks to an influx of overseas 鈥淭颈办罢辞办 refugees鈥� from the temporary ban in the US. China鈥檚 ecommerce players pivot to Asia-Pacific. As trade tension with the US rises, AliExpress, Shein, Temu, and TikTok Shop have accelerated their push into Asia-Pacific.

In Vietnam, 37% and 36%, respectively, of internet users ages 18 to 63 use TikTok Shop and Facebook for ecommerce, according to a Q4 2023 Decision Lab report. In addition, TikTok Shop retail ecommerce sales across the six major markets in Southeast Asia amounted to $16.3 billion in 2023, behind only Shopee ($55.1 billion) and Lazada ($18.8 billion), per Momentum Works.

Asia-Pacific is key to TikTok鈥檚 growth thanks to its expanding number of users, swelling middle class, and friendlier political environment. Which countries are leading the way, and how will TikTok continue its growth?

Additionally, a regulatory bombshell temporarily halted the operations of TikTok Shop (its parent company ByteDance has since acquired Tokopedia, a leading local ecommerce platform, where traffic is being rerouted).

TikTok looks strong in Asia as it faces bans elsewhere: Countries including Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand fuel the app's growth in its home region.

Temu isn鈥檛 the only Chinese ecommerce platform to fall afoul of Indonesian regulators: TikTok Shop was forced to shut down in the country temporarily last year, and the government is planning similar restrictions on Shein.

Elon Musk鈥檚 reign over Twitter stirs chaos and user losses in Asia-Pacific. The region is propping up Facebook user growth that is flagging in most of the world. And TikTok is looming large among marketers as its popularity skyrockets.

Amid global economic gloom, Asia-Pacific remains a region of digital opportunities in 2023, highlighted by the increasing momentum of the metaverse in China, surging retail sales in India, and burgeoning livestream commerce in Indonesia.