Lazada, Shopee, and Qoo10 are a few of the leading e commerce platforms in Southeast Asia.
In this article, these 3 e commerce giants face off in the ultimate showdown: Lazada vs Shopee, and Lazada vs Qoo10. We will dive into the benefits for buyers and sellers you can make an informed decision for your online shopping or business ventures.
TL:DR
- Lazada, Shopee, and Qoo10 are the leading e-commerce platforms in Southeast Asia, especially in Singapore.
- Differ in terms of payment methods, shipping fees, seller benefits, customer service, and product categories.
- Lazada offers more payment options, faster shipping, and better seller support than Qoo10.
- Shopee offers more payment options, lower shipping fees, and higher seller incentives than Lazada.
- Qoo10 offers more product variety, lower commission fees, and flexible pricing than Lazada and Shopee.
Lazada vs Shopee
Lazada and Shopee are the two most popular e commerce sites in Singapore and across the region. Among free shopping platforms, Shopee was the most downloaded app in Southeast Asia in 2022, followed by Lazada.
Payment
Payment methods accepted by both Lazada and Shopee include credit/debit cards, PayLah!, and PayNow. Shopee supports a few more payment methods than Lazada, including eGIRO, Google Pay, and corporate billing.
Both platforms have digital wallets, Lazada Wallet and ShopeePay, which store money via top-ups or refunds. ShopeePay offers additional benefits, including monthly giveaways and coins cashback. LazCoins and Shopee Coins are the platforms’ unique currencies, which can be earned from various activities on the apps.
There is also the option to pay in installments. Lazada’s Installment Payment Plan lets you pay for your purchases over periods of 6 to 12 months, for a minimum checkout amount of SGD $200 on personal credit cards.
Shopee’s SPayLater lets you pay on a monthly basis for up to 3 months with no fee charged. You can also extend your repayment period to 6 or 12 months, for additional fees of 5% and 7% respectively.
Shipment
Shipping time
For all online shopping platforms, shipping time varies depending on where the seller is based, shipping providers, and other external factors.
When you purchase from a local seller on Lazada, shipping time averages 2-4 working days. For purchases from an overseas seller, you could receive your order anytime between 5-20 days after the product is shipped.
For deliveries arranged by Shopee Supported Logistics, shipping takes 1-3 working days. Overseas Shopee orders take between 9-25 days after shipment has been arranged.
Shipping cost
Shipping costs on both platforms are inclusive of 8% local GST rates.
On Lazada, buyers pay a standard fee of $1.50 for most shipping methods. Exceptions include tracked postal ($1), instant delivery by Grab ($2), and scheduled delivery within a 6-hour pick-up ($4.99).
Shopee’s shipping fees vary depending on the tier size of the parcel and selected courier. Rates for buyers range between $1.51 for small parcels of <1kg, to $9.41 for large parcels of 20-30kg.
Order Tracking
Lazada provides tracking numbers in order details, which you can key into the delivery tracking page. However, orders that are shipped via Singpost Postal Mail are not trackable once the package has been shipped.
All orders shipped by Shopee Supported Logistics have tracking numbers and can be tracked via the Shopee App. For external logistics providers, buyers can contact sellers directly to check on their order status.
Logistics Infrastructure
Both Lazada’s and Shopee’s logistics providers include Ninja Van, Singapore Post, and J&T Express. Lazada additionally works with CJ Logistics, and Shopee with uParcel.
Lazada Logistics Singapore is open to Lazmall sellers. Sellers simply drop off their products at Lazada Logistics’ fulfillment centres, that will store the products and manage packaging, deliveries, and returns of orders. Sellers retain full control of prices and inventory levels.
All Shopee sellers can join Shopee Supported Logistics. The key difference between this and Lazada Logistics is that Shopee sellers are responsible for packaging orders. They can then arrange shipments directly via the seller centre, with the option of either pick-up or drop-off, and Shopee’s logistics partners will handle the deliveries.
While shipping fees still apply to Lazada sellers under the programme, Shopee Supported Logistics absolves these for its sellers. This is as long as the shipping fee is no more than the estimated amount based on the shipping information input by the seller.
Active User Base
In Singapore, Shopee is currently the more popular e commerce option than Lazada. In February 2023, Shopee Singapore received 13.6 million visits, compared to 5.8 million for Lazada Singapore.
Both platforms have similar audience demographics, with the majority being between 25 to 34 years of age. Shopee has a slightly younger active user base, with 23.75% of users between the ages of 18 to 34. Meanwhile, 22.43% of Lazada’s active users are between the ages of 35 to 44.
Price & Quality
Shopee tends to offer lower prices and more discount options than Lazada. Shopee’s Lowest Price Guarantee lets you claim the difference in coins if you find a cheaper option for the same product on a different platform.
Product prices and quality differ by seller, so comparing and reading reviews on both sites is your best bet. Preferred Sellers on both platforms. Lazada’s and Shopee’s Malls may also offer higher quality products than the Marketplace.
Benefits for Sellers
A. Selling Fees
It’s free to register and use a seller account on Lazada and Shopee.
Lazada charges its marketplace sellers a 2% commission rate. Lazmall sellers are charged a 3-5% commission rate, along with a 2% transaction rate. Shopee seller fees include a 2% transaction fee, a 2-5% service fee, and 2% commission fee for each sale.
Rates on both platforms are subject to local GST rates.
B. Marketing and Promotion Tools
Both platforms hold marketing and product campaigns, such as Shopee Flash Deals.
Lazada offers a range of marketing tools such as LazLive, a live streaming feature, and Seller Picks, which boosts a seller’s best items to potential buyers. It also offers 4 seller promotion tools:
- Flexi Combo: Provide tiering discounts and free items or samples.
- Seller Voucher: Provide discounts on products when a customer fulfills the criteria.
- Free Shipping: Absorbs shipping costs when a customer fulfills the criteria.
- Bundles: Provides discounts for the purchase of multiple products or free items, such as 1-for-1 offers.
Shopee sellers can run ads on the platform via a pay-per-click advertising model, with a minimum bid price of $0.02 per click.
Shopee enhanced Shopee Live in an effort to allow sellers to reach and engage their customers more. The In-app Games are also designed to address the growing consumption of mobile video content. Those who participated in Shopee Live and Games experienced a 75% increase in sales.
C. Inventory Management
With Lazada Logistics, Lazmall sellers can use its Business Management System (BMS) that provides visibility of sales orders and stock movement. Through plug & play or API integration, they can also connect an order management system to the BMS.
My Inventory is a tool on Shopee’s Seller Centre that helps you to monitor and manage your inventory easily. This lets you maintain a steady supply of stocks to support the growth of your business and prevent disruptions to your sales.
The inventory dashboard provides a real-time overview of your stocks for different SKUs, so that you can tell at one glance what needs to be replenished.
D. Sales Analytics and Reporting
If you have access to Lazada’s Sponsored Solutions, data insights will be made available to you:
- Storewide Overview: Your store’s overall traffic and performance insights.
- Solution Overview: Key metrics from all Lazada Marketing Solutions.
- Audience Insights: Demographics and purchasing habits of your store visitors and buyers.
- Budget insights: ROI analysis of product and marketing campaigns.
- Product insights: Top-performing products and products that can benefit from more promotion.
- Creative Insights: Stores with the most clicks and conversions.
On Shopee, the Traffic tab in Business Insights lets you know the overall performance of your shop and product detail pages by measuring the Views and Visitor Statistics.
The overview section shows you the Views and Visitor statistics of your shop and product detail pages.
The statistics are further categorised based on the views/visits from the Shopee App, PC, or All.
Do remember to select the Data Period to view and analyse your shop’s performance across different time periods.
The metric trend section lets you select the different Traffic metrics to view each of their Trend Chart over time. You can select up to 4 metrics at once to assess any correlation between their trends.
E. Dropshipping & Integration with External Systems
Both Shopee and Lazada support integration with external systems.
While dropshipping is allowed on Lazada and Shopee, neither platform provides official support for dropshipping services.
Furthermore, Lazada’s dropshipping policy states that sellers may not offer dropshipping services that contribute to a poor customer experience. Similarly, Shopee also removes certain third-party partner platforms in order to uphold the quality of goods and services.
Benefits for Buyers
Although Lazada is the leading e commerce platform in Southeast Asia, Shopee customers are more concentrated in Singapore.
A. User Reviews and Ratings
Users commend both platforms for their ease of use and range of affordable products.
The consensus among user reviews seem to be that Shopee provides better customer support to its users, with more discount and voucher options than Lazada. However, Lazada offers better logistics and more efficient delivery on orders.
B. Payment Security
In-platform transactions on Lazada and Shopee are secure, as validated by Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs.
Lazada’s Payment Protection Policy protects you from unauthorised transactions made on your account using Lazada Wallet or your saved credit/debit cards. If notified within 60 days from the time the transaction appears, Lazada will compensate you the amount.
All payments on Shopee’s platform are protected by Shopee Guarantee, which withholds payment to sellers until delivery is confirmed by the buyer. Shopee is also password-protected, with one-time passwords for additional verification for certain purposes. If you use ShopeePay, transactions are PIN-protected.
C. Return and Refund Policy
Non-LazMall items can be returned 7 days from date of delivery, and LazMall items 15 days from date of delivery. Shopee customers can apply for a return or refund before the end of the Shopee Guarantee Period, which is the 3-day window after delivery of an order.
Returns and refunds on Lazada must be agreed on by the seller, though you can submit a dispute if your request is rejected. Returns and refunds on Shopee are approved by Shopee itself, and are non-disputable.
There are several valid reasons for return requests, such as damaged items or if item does not match the description. Change of mind is not a valid reason for Shopee returns, and only for selected item categories on Lazada.
Shopee returns must be dropped off to a designated location by the buyer. Meanwhile, Lazada returns can be picked up or dropped off as arranged.
Lazada vs Qoo10
Payment
Payment methods accepted by both Lazada and Qoo10 include credit cards and PayLah!.
Like Lazada’s LazCoin, Qoo10 also offers unique payment options. Q*Coins are Qoo10 own currency, which you can purchase and top-up to enjoy savings on the platform. Registered buyers can earn QPoints simply by clicking “confirm delivery”, and affiliates can earn Q-money to use for their purchases.
Additional payment methods supported by Qoo10 include:
- Paypal
- GrabPay
- NETSPay/NETS QR
- E-nets
- AliPay
- WeChat Pay
- AXS
- 7-Eleven (convenience store payment)
- Direct bank transfer (by cash deposit or I-banking)
Similar to Lazada’s Installment Payment Plan, Qoo10 offers Rely, which splits your purchase amount into 3 monthly interest-free payments.
Shipment
Shipping time
Local shipping on Qoo10 takes between 2 to 5 working days. International delivery takes between 5 to 30 working days.
There are also the options of QX Next Day Delivery, and QX Quick Delivery, which delivers within 3 hours from check out.
Shipping cost
Qoo10 charges separate shipping costs for every store you buy from. However, if every item in your cart is QPrime-qualified from Singapore, buyers pay a flat shipping fee of $3.99. Shipping is free for orders above $50.
Order Tracking
Both Lazada and Qoo10 provide tracking numbers which you can use to check on the delivery status of your order online.
Logistics Infrastructure
Qoo10: Qprime and Qxpress
With Qprime, they lower the costs and reduce the roadblocks in the way of the products people want, especially from overseas.
Sellers sending out Qprime-qualified items enjoy lower dispatch costs starting from S$1.99 – half the usual cost of S$3.99 – enabling them to move more of their inventory at significantly lower costs.
Active User Base
In February 2023, Qoo10 Singapore saw 1.8 million visits compared to Lazada’s 5.8 million.
The majority of active users on both platforms are between the ages of 18 to 44. There are also more male users than female users.
Price & Quality
Qoo10 offers lower prices and more discounts than Lazada. Still, this should be compared across various product listings and sellers.
Lazada is known for having better electronic items, while Qoo10 is better for fashion and beauty.
Benefits for Sellers
A. Selling Fees
While it’s free to register as a Lazada seller, Qoo10 charges an initial registration fee of SGD $100. Selling fees for Qoo10 range from 6% to 12%.
Lazada charges its marketplace sellers a commission fee of 2.16%, inclusive of 8% local GST rates.
B. Marketing and Promotion Tools
- Multiply your sales through the use of multi-Qoo10 promotions
- Understand how using Qspecial increases traffic (Keyword, Shopping Talk, Live Square & creating Sub-themes)
- Special Discount, Time Sale, Daily Deals
QSM (Qoo10 Sales Manager) – Promotions
- Practical hands-on session with QSM promotional tools:
- Plus Display
- Special Deals Displays: Timesale/Daily Deals
- Qspecial Premium
- Premium Search Banner
C. Inventory Management
Qxpress Warehouse Management System (QWMS) provides warehousing, product packaging, delivery, inventory management, and customer service features.
D. Sales Analytics and Reporting
QSM, Qoo10’s sales manager, lets you check sales analytics for the most popular items in the last 7 days.
E. Dropshipping & Integration with External Systems
Both Lazada and Qoo10 support integration with external systems.
Dropshipping is allowed on Lazada and Qoo10, but no official support is provided to sellers.
Benefits for Buyers
A. User Reviews and Ratings
Lazada has a better rating in terms of easy-to-use interface.
Certain users have commented that Qoo10 tends to put up price information with hidden fees.
B. Payment Security
Qoo10 provides an in-platform secure escrow payment service for all transactions. All payments made within the platform are collected and temporarily held by Qoo10 until the order is successfully fulfilled. Qoo10 will only release the money to the seller after the buyer has confirmed the receipt of the item.
C. Return and Refund Policy
Qoo10 customers can request for a return within 7 days from date of receipt. Cancellations are also allowed before orders are shipped.
Recap and Seller Tips
We have compared the three popular e-commerce platforms in Singapore – Lazada, Shopee, and Qoo10, discussing their advantages, disadvantages, and unique offerings.
While each platform caters to different customer needs and preferences, it is crucial to consider factors such as pricing, product variety, and customer support before making a choice.
If you’re a seller looking to maximize your potential on these platforms, don’t miss our post, where we share valuable insights and tips on how to sell on Lazada and how to sell on Shopee.
FAQ
Which is better Shopee or Lazada?
If you prefer a platform with a larger variety of products and frequent flash sales, Shopee might be more suitable. If you prioritize a more established platform with a stronger focus on branded products and official stores, Lazada could be a better choice.
Is Lazada or Shopee bigger?
Shopee is considered the bigger platform in terms of active users and app downloads across Southeast Asia, having surpassed Lazada in recent years. However, Lazada remains a strong competitor with a significant regional market share.
What are the disadvantages of Lazada?
Some disadvantages of Lazada include occasional issues with product quality due to third-party sellers, longer delivery times compared to local retailers, limited customer support for certain transactions, and occasional price discrepancies, which could be higher than those found on other platforms or in-store.
Which is cheaper Lazada or Shoppe?
It is difficult to provide a definitive answer as to which platform, Lazada or Shopee, is cheaper because prices vary depending on the product, seller, and ongoing promotions. However, Shopee is often perceived to have more frequent flash sales and discounts, making it possible to find better deals, whereas Lazada tends to have more official stores and branded products, which could be priced higher.
