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Shopee and Visa Inks Five-Year Partnership to Boost the Digital Economy

Shopee, e-commerce platform, and Visa announced a five-year regional strategic partnership intended to encourage greater participation in South East Asia’s digital economy.

They added that this partnership is part of Shopee’s mission to better the lives of individuals and businesses through technology, which increasingly includes digital payments.

As part of the regional agreement, the two entities will partner to incentivise MSMEs to digitalise their business on Shopee and adopt digital payments through Visa. They will provide MSMEs with marketing and campaign support to drive awareness, traffic and sales to online stores.

Shopee said it will be able to provide shoppers and merchants with greater value, convenience, and security through Visa, making it easier to do business and increase sales. Visa will tap into Shopee’s extensive user base to expand its presence with South East Asia MSMEs and online shoppers.

Terence Pang, Chief Operating Officer, Shopee, said:

Terence Pang

“Shopee continually strengthens our ecosystem to be an enabler for MSMEs to leverage technology to grow their business. We are looking forward to working closely with Visa to leverage their extensive and secure network to make it easier for sellers to digitalise, particularly those in tier-two cities and rural areas. Our shoppers will also benefit with a more convenient and rewarding experience that will encourage purchases and spur the growth of the economy.”

Over the next few months, Shopee and Visa will also launch co-branded credit cards across selected markets in partnership with local banks. It will offer shoppers integrated and seamless 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 overwhelming response in the first few days of launch.

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

Neil Mumm, Head of Merchant Sales & Acquiring, Asia Pacific, Visa, said:

Neil Mumm

“When a small business goes digital, they’re plugged into a much broader commerce landscape. Visa is working to help any business, regardless of their size or location, better attract and serve more local and global customers by getting enabled to accept digital payments in a safe and secure manner. Our expanded partnership with Shopee is one of the exciting ways Visa is supporting small businesses as they recover and look towards future growth.”

South East Asia is on track to becoming the fourth-largest economy by 2030, with an increasing percentage of GDP driven by the digital economy. The South East Asia internet economy is expected to reach $300 billion by 2025 with e-commerce being the biggest sector and driver of growth. The South East Asian e-commerce market is estimated to be worth $150 billion by 2025, up from $38 billion in 20181.

An increasingly tech-savvy population, rising middle class and the shift towards online services will further fuel the e-commerce industry. In 2015, 49 million people bought or sold items online, and by 2019, that number tripled to 150 million.

With more than 70% of the region’s adult population being unbanked or underbanked, adopting digital payments will enable them to participate in the digital economy.

Featured image: (L-R) Terence Pang, Chief Operating Officer, Shopee and Neil Mumm, Head of Merchant Sales & Acquiring, Asia Pacific, Visa