As market heats up, Shopee launches its own university … kind of

• To improve product and ecosystem with Garena funding
• Launches seller-training, and ‘free’ shipping … kind of

 
C2C (consumer-to-consumer) marketplace operator Shopee believes it has what it takes to fend off rivals, and announced a slew of initiatives – including one it is calling the ‘Shopee University.’
 
It is certainly armed for the fight, with parent company Garena Interactive Holding Ltd having recently secured a US$170-million Series D round led by the Malaysian Government’s investment arm Khazanah Nasional Bhd, although it is not known how much of that money will filter down to Shopee itself.
 
In Asia Pacific, Shopee claims to have recorded 10 million downloads of its app, while its marketplace has 12 million product listings, according to chief executive officer Chris Feng.
 
“As of today, we have 50 messages passing through our systems and more than five orders every second,” he told a media briefing in Singapore on May 4.
 
Meanwhile, the company announced the Shopee University, which will train sellers to help them “sell better and faster,” he added.
 
Shopee University has three tiers – beginner, advanced and expert. Shopee staff will train sellers in the beginner and advanced tiers, while experienced sellers and professionals will coach the expert tier.
 
All classes are free to Shopee sellers, with the aim of helping them grow the business, according to Shopee Singapore managing director Ander Orcasitas.
 
The curriculum was developed based on the best practices of Shopee’s top sellers, he said in an official statement.
 
“We are very excited to be able to impart this valuable knowledge to other sellers within the community,” he added.
 
The training will deal in areas ranging from making use of Shopee’s features to online marketing and photography tips.
 
The company also announced it is offering ‘free’ shipping – of sorts – for Singapore sellers from now until the end of the month. The same offer has already been rolled out in Indonesia and Taiwan.
 
This offer is in beta currently and involves getting S$2 off for shipping via SingPost only, and not with Shopee’s logistics partner NinjaVan.
 
Imitation and focus
 
While Feng (pic) said he was happy with Shopee’s “high growth” in the region, there was no mention of monetising the platform any time soon.
 
When asked about its similarities with mobile C2C marketplace Carousell, he argued that Shopee was different in terms of both features and focus.
 
“I think we are very different – for example, Carousell doesn’t support payments or logistics, while we have spent a lot of time facilitating that,” said Feng.
 
“In essence, we focus on very different things,” he added.
 
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New Carousell international VP has big plans
 
 
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