With Southeast Asia (SEA) being home to 4 out of 10 countries worldwide with the most number of active Tiktok users, and 5 out of 10 countries with the highest retail e-commerce sales growth globally, SEA is projected to be Tiktok Shop’s most promising region according to the e-commerce logistics provider, LOCAD.

This presents a great opportunity for direct-to-consumer e-commerce brands in the region who
wish to expand their sales channels to combat stiff competition and marketplace saturation. However, LOCAD warns that logistical challenges coupled with other factors native to SEA may hamper the region from fulfilling its potential. Running the numbers LOCAD, an e-commerce logistics and fulfillment provider that has recently announced its Tiktok Shop integration, arrived at this projection by analyzing the trends of digital retail sales growth and the Tiktok user base volume of countries across the world.

Tiktok Shop integration in the LOCAD Control Tower

Based on the April 2022 numbers published in TikTok’s self-service advertising tools, 4 out of the top 10 countries with the most active Tiktok users are in Southeast Asia, namely Indonesia at 2nd place, Vietnam at 6th, followed by the Philippines at 7th, and Thailand coming in at 8th.

No other major region in the world has more than two countries on the list. Furthermore, the combined
active Tiktok users of these Southeast Asian countries amount to 265 million — far larger than the U.S. which takes the top spot of the list with 152 million users. It is worth noting that the figures are based on TikTok’s potential advertising reach for users aged 18 and above.

These same countries also appear in eMarketer’s report on the top ten countries with the highest retail e-commerce sales growth. In this list, the Philippines leads the pack as it takes the top spot, with Indonesia tailing behind at number 3, followed by Vietnam at number 5, and Thailand at number 8. Malaysia is also included in this list taking the 7th spot. With five out of ten countries on this list, Southeast Asia outpaces other global regions in digital retail sales growth.

LOCAD’s analysis of the strong growth of e-commerce sales and the large Tiktok user base in countries such as the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Malaysia, exhibits how Southeast Asia is shaping up to be Tiktok Shop’s most promising region. Fulfilling SEA’s potential Tiktok seems to be saying close attention to Southeast Asia as TikTok Shop has launched in more countries in the region such as Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines, following the pilot in Indonesia last year.

“Southeast Asia is such a promising region for brands who want to grow through multichannel selling,” says LOCAD CEO and Cofounder Constantin Robertz, “And with Tiktok joining the mix, budding merchants and established brands need to start looking for a scalable fulfillment and shipping solution to help them manage the growing volume of inventory and orders.”

Robertz shares how LOCAD’s unified tech platform and a wide network of warehouses and logistics partners in SEA countries such as the Philippines, Thailand, and Singapore, can help brands automate the storing, packing, and shipping of orders across sales channels such as Tiktok Shop.

“We at LOCAD want to empower e-commerce brands in Southeast Asia by providing them with the technology and infrastructure to unify the management of their products’ fulfillment journey,” shares Robertz, “And now with our integration with Tiktok Shop, we are excited to bring world-class fulfillment solution to brands who want to take part in realizing Southeast Asia as Tiktok Shop’s most promising region.”