Selling over 4 million US dollars! TikTok Southeast Asia has another hit product

With the turbulent e-commerce era, major sellers have been struggling to survive and are beginning to look for new ways out for their brands. Some sellers still choose to focus on the domestic market, while others have already focused their attention on overseas markets.

Data shows that in the first half of 2024, TikTok's global downloads grew rapidly, with an average monthly download of 81.73 million times, an increase of 6.6% over the same period last year. Among them, Southeast Asia, South Asia and Latin America are the regions with the most new downloads. In addition, as of the end of last year, the number of TikTok sellers worldwide has exceeded 15 million, with more than 6 million sellers added last year alone.

Based on its huge development potential, TikTok has become the preferred platform for more and more sellers on the road to going overseas.

Thanks to TikTok, its overseas sales have skyrocketed

Recently, the news that the domestic brand Seaways successfully expanded to Southeast Asia with the help of TikTok has attracted widespread attention in the cross-border circle.

According to FastMoss data, Seaways' total sales on TikTok Thailand reached 36.8582 million baht (about 1.1085 million U.S. dollars). On TikTok Malaysia, Seaways opened multiple stores with total sales of about 13.64 million ringgit (about 3.1372 million U.S. dollars). In addition, its performance on TikTok Philippines and Vietnam was also particularly impressive, with total GMV of 590,600 pesos (about 10,200 U.S. dollars) and 11.2758 million Vietnamese dong (about 4,803.94 U.S. dollars) respectively.

Among them, dishwasher detergent, dishwashing liquid and dishwashing beads are the three best-selling products in Seaways stores, with total sales exceeding 350,000 units, and are widely popular among consumers in the Southeast Asian household cleaning products market.

Public information shows that Seaways is affiliated to Guangdong Shuiweishi Biotechnology Co., Ltd. At the beginning of its establishment, it positioned itself as a new domestic brand of cleaning and daily chemical products, focusing on the fields of tableware washing, home appliance cleaning, household cleaning, fabric washing and care, etc., and mainly operates a full range of cleaning products such as dishwasher-specific detergent powder, washing machine tub cleaners, bathroom cleaners, and mildew removers.

Seaways provides users with comprehensive household cleaning solutions through a rich product line , thus gaining a certain degree of popularity in the domestic market. However, as the domestic market gradually becomes saturated and competition from major brands intensifies, Seaways knows that the old-fashioned business methods will not work, so it decisively begins to explore overseas markets.

In 2018, Seaways officially set sail to Southeast Asia.

In the early stage, after a series of market research, it was found that consumers in Malaysia, Thailand and other places pay much attention to indoor cleaning. However, the cleaning effect of such products in the local area is not ideal, so Seaways seized this opportunity and launched bathroom cleaner. It is understood that this product adopts a nozzle design, which is easy to operate and has rich foam, and can easily achieve the effect of cleaning dirt.

This bathroom cleaner quickly became a hit in the Southeast Asian market after it was launched. In addition, only three months after the Seaways brand was launched on TikTok, its total product sales successfully ranked among the top three in the same category in the market.

Many brands are taking off in Southeast Asia

It is worth mentioning that in addition to Seaways, there are many other products including kitchen, personal care, household cleaning, etc., which have also achieved hot sales in the Southeast Asian market.

Take a multi-functional blender from Swiss Thomas for example. It has multiple functions such as chopping, mixing, cutting and grinding. It can not only grind coffee beans, but also crush spices and nuts, cut meat, process fruit and vegetable salads, etc., which greatly meets the needs of Southeast Asian consumers.

On TikTok, Swiss Thomas and influencers posted tutorial videos that went viral, driving a rapid increase in product sales. Data shows that from August to September, the product sold 19,000 units, ranking first in the same category on TikTok Malaysia.

The well-known mouthwash Metoo is also a typical representative. According to data, it was founded in 2021 and is a brand focusing on oral care. In the early days, Metoo found that Indonesian consumers' demand for oral care was much higher than that of developed countries in Europe and the United States. In addition, there were almost no oral care brands sold online in the local area, so it decisively launched the TikTok Indonesia site.

Since its launch, the total sales of Metoo store products have reached nearly 2.7 million units, with annual sales of up to 100 million yuan, ranking first in sales among TikTok's online mouthwash brands. Currently, the brand has more than 900,000 followers on its official TikTok account.

There is also the smart home cleaning brand HAN RIVER. When it first went overseas, it chose Indonesia, the largest market in Southeast Asia, and opened stores on different channels such as Shopee, Lazada, and TikTok.

Data from Kalodata shows that its automatic vacuum cleaner ranks No. 1 in the same category in TikTok Indonesia, and from August 19 to September 17, a total of 26,200 units of the product were sold, with total sales of up to 2.34 million yuan.

Beauty products are also particularly popular in the Southeast Asian market. According to agency forecasts, by the end of 2024, the size of the Southeast Asian beauty and personal care market is expected to reach US$34.21 billion (approximately RMB 241.83 billion), and the compound annual growth rate from 2024 to 2028 will be approximately 3.3%-4%. In addition, according to recent market research in Southeast Asia, the demand for autumn and winter shoes and bags in the region will begin to rise in October and reach its peak in January of the following year.

For sellers who want to enter the Southeast Asian market, the above categories may be worth learning from.

With explosive potential, major e-commerce platforms are rushing to seize this blue ocean market

In general, the continuous flow of products that have achieved explosive sales in the Southeast Asian market in recent years is actually closely related to the strong growth trend of this market.

Data shows that in 2023, the size of Southeast Asia's e-commerce market will be approximately US$139 billion. In the global retail e-commerce market growth ranking, the region far exceeds the average growth rate of 8.9%, ranking first with a growth rate of 18.6%. In the next few years, this market will continue to grow, and it is expected that by 2025, its e-commerce scale will increase significantly to US$186 billion. Among them, Indonesia's e-commerce market size is far ahead, and Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam are also performing well.

In this blue ocean market, TikTok Shop has achieved rapid development. According to LatePost, as of the end of August 2024, the GMV of TikTok Shop in Southeast Asia (excluding Tokopedia) has exceeded US$15 billion, and it is expected that by the end of the year, this figure will exceed the US$19 billion mark.

In addition to TikTok, other e-commerce platforms are also competing to seize the Southeast Asian market.

Among them is the old e-commerce platform Lazada. In 2023, Lazada's market share in Southeast Asia reached 16.4%, ranking second after Shopee.

At the same time, Temu is also making a full-scale attack on Southeast Asia. In August last year, Temu officially launched its site in the Philippines, and in September, it entered Malaysia. In July this year, it opened a site in Thailand, and at the beginning of this month, it added two new sites in Vietnam and Brunei. So far, the platform's operations in Southeast Asia have covered 5 markets.

It is foreseeable that the Southeast Asian market will continue to flourish in the future, presenting unlimited opportunities for major cross-border e-commerce platforms and sellers. However, with the influx of more and more platforms, competition and challenges will also follow.