(Bloomberg) -- Sea Ltd.’s online-retail arm Shopee struck a pact with Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube in Indonesia, betting the video platform will help it attract more shoppers and stay ahead of rivals TikTok and Lazada in its biggest market.
YouTube is expanding its shopping features to the nation of about 280 million, with Shopee as the first partner, the companies said Wednesday in a statement. Content creators can promote and tag products in their YouTube videos, and viewers can click on a link to complete a purchase on Shopee. The creators will earn a commission, the companies said, without disclosing other financial details of the pact.
Sea’s biggest unit Shopee is adding partnerships and features as competition intensifies in the broader Southeast Asian market that’s rapidly shifting to spending online. For YouTube, the region represents a new potential growth area for a shopping push the company has already started in the US.
Investors are watching closely if Sea’s Shopee can keep its leadership position in Southeast Asia’s e-commerce market, with ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Lazada among the main challengers. Newer contenders like Shein and PDD Holdings Inc.’s Temu are also targeting the region.
YouTube intends to add other partners in Indonesia and plans to expand the shopping effort to Thailand and Vietnam in the coming weeks. In the US, its partners include Shopify Inc.
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