Niche categories are booming! Industry belt sellers discover new business opportunities in Southeast Asia

Data shows that in 2023, the GMV generated by TikTok Shop's own stores in Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, the United States and the United Kingdom markets was approximately US$13.8 billion, of which the GMV in the five Southeast Asian countries was US$11.86 billion and the GMV in the United Kingdom and the United States was US$1.95 billion.

In 2024, TikTok Shop will continue to grow strongly. Against this backdrop, many sellers want to take advantage of this fast train, but they lack channels and relevant experience.

Based on this pain point of sellers, TikTok Shop and Yien.com jointly organized this "Five Cities Tour" industrial belt investment promotion conference, in order to add further impetus to the sellers' overseas expansion.

The TikTok Shop "Five-City Tour" Industrial Belt Investment Promotion Conference was successfully concluded

On August 20, TikTok Shop's "Five Cities Tour" industrial belt investment promotion conference came to a successful conclusion in Chenghai. The event was hosted by TikTok Shop and organized by Yien.com.

After the event started, Darren, TikTok Shop's senior Southeast Asian cross-border investment manager, first analyzed the potential business opportunities in the Southeast Asian market.

Although the United States is still the largest overseas e-commerce market, it has entered a growth bottleneck period. In terms of growth potential, the Southeast Asian market is undoubtedly a better choice for sellers.

Data shows that in 2023, e-commerce retail sales in Southeast Asia will account for only 11% of total retail sales, while this figure has reached 46% in China, which is enough to show that the potential of e-commerce in Southeast Asia has not yet been fully developed.

Some institutions predict that the total scale of e-commerce in Southeast Asia will reach US$211 billion in 2025, a 34% increase from 2023. TikTok Shop has currently opened five major Southeast Asian sites including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines. It can be said that it has taken the lead in seizing the market opportunities for future development in Southeast Asia.

Compared with the traditional e-commerce model, the two operating modes consisting of TikTok Shop content field + shelf field can more efficiently connect to users. The two fields work together to help sellers accelerate conversion and increase GMV.

The content field includes live broadcasts and short videos, while the shelf field refers to the TikTok Shop mall, where merchants can direct users on the site to their own TikTok stores through product shopping ads. These major traffic entrances can help sellers quickly increase their volume after entering the platform, directly skipping the cold start phase of traditional e-commerce platforms.

In addition to several major traffic entrances, TikTok Shop also provides sellers with full support in many aspects such as marketing, logistics and cross-border payments.

Now, new merchants who join TikTok Shop can enjoy 10 major benefits, including 90 days of commission-free , to help new sellers expand overseas at a low cost. In addition, new merchants can open one store in each of the five countries with one set of information at one time; and they can apply for a second store in each country based on the one store.

At the event, many sellers have submitted their application materials, marking the first step towards booming sales.

The toy category has great potential, with the Southeast Asian market leading the growth

There is a saying that goes: Look to China for the world's toys, and look to Chenghai for Chinese toys. Guangdong is the largest toy production and export base in my country, and Chenghai District of Shantou City is the toy and gift capital of China.

According to customs data, Shantou's toy exports continue to maintain strong growth, and products are exported to countries and regions such as the United States, Japan, and South Korea.

Since the local event was held in Chenghai, it was natural that local toy industry sellers would participate. The second part of the conference naturally shared the opportunities of toy category in Southeast Asian content e-commerce.

Michelle Pan, Southeast Asia cross-border industry manager of TikTok Shop, was the keynote speaker of this session. She first introduced the global growth of TikTok to the sellers and emphasized the importance of the future e-commerce market in Southeast Asia.

As we all know, TikTok Shop, as an interest-based e-commerce platform, is often more suitable for products with entertainment attributes, and when it comes to entertainment, the toy category is naturally unavoidable.

Statistics show that the Southeast Asian toy market has exceeded 20 billion in size and is expected to continue to grow at an annual rate of 13% in the future. As a senior seller in the relevant industry belt, I believe that after entering the market, I will give full play to my advantages.

In terms of product selection, there are mainly trendy toys, DIY paintings, gift toys, outdoor toys and educational toys, etc. As a category with entertainment attributes, toy sellers have a natural advantage over other sellers, that is, the huge natural traffic brought by TikTok.

On the other hand, cooperation with influencers is also a great tool for merchants to quickly start. At present, TikTok Shop has derived different institutions related to influencers, including TSP, MCN and TAP. Merchants and influencers can choose to cooperate with different institutions according to their different needs.

After all, professionals do professional things. By cooperating with agencies, merchants no longer need to set up content operations and talent BD teams, which reduces the cost of employment. In addition, agencies can also help sellers quickly build influencers in batches and quickly replicate proven effective methodologies, saving sellers time costs.

There may be new opportunities for children's toys in the Vietnamese market

In the third session of the conference, He Yaohai, head of Haina Zhongpin, the official TSP&TAP agency of TikTok Shop, shared his unique insights into the Vietnamese market.

According to statistics from Vietnam Briefing, Vietnam's toy market has maintained continuous growth over the past five years. In 2023 alone, the market revenue reached US$951 million, of which plastic toys and other types of toys became the most profitable category, generating revenue of up to US$272 million.

And the Vietnamese toy market will continue to grow in the future. It is estimated that by 2024, the revenue of the Vietnamese toy market will reach US$1.004 billion, and between 2024 and 2028, the market is expected to maintain a compound annual growth rate of 4.86%.

In addition, Vietnamese influencers often come up with unique ideas when creating content. By continuously publishing interesting content, influencers establish a deep emotional connection with their fans. Therefore, when Vietnamese influencers recommend a brand or product, fans are more likely to trust it and have a desire to buy it, which increases the brand's conversion rate.

From the perspective of the entire Southeast Asian market, although Vietnam is not the largest e-commerce market, its potential in the toy category is not inferior to mainstream markets such as Indonesia. Small and medium-sized sellers also face relatively less competitive pressure when entering the Vietnamese market.

At the end of the conference, Candy Chen, the Guangzhou Key Account Director of Ant International Wanlihui, introduced the excellent cross-border payment solutions to the sellers. Wanlihui was founded in London, UK in 2004 and joined Ant Group in 2019. It cooperates with domestic licensed institutions and internationally renowned banks to provide safe, convenient and affordable one-stop cross-border payment and financial services for the majority of cross-border merchants.

From Wanlihui's perspective, the cross-border e-commerce industry has been undergoing tremendous changes in recent years. First, the top sellers with annual revenue exceeding 100 million are the fastest growing ones. Second, emerging markets are growing faster than mainstream markets such as Europe and the United States. In addition, sellers have gradually transformed from exporting products to exporting brands, and refined operations have gradually become a major trend.

In this era, sellers also need to keep pace with the times and choose markets and platforms with greater potential for future development, so that they can move faster and more steadily.

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