Introduction
Scroll through your phone in Jakarta, Manila, Bangkok, or Ho Chi Minh City at 9 p.m. and you'll probably see the same thing: live shows selling everything from lipstick to rice cookers, with thousands of viewers commenting, asking questions, and racing to tap "Buy Now."
Live selling and ecommerce in SEA are no longer side experiments, they're becoming the default way people discover and shop online. As brands, if we treat live commerce as just another campaign channel, we'll miss its real power: it blends entertainment, social proof, and instant purchase into one continuous experience.
In this guide, we'll unpack why live selling is exploding in Southeast Asia, which platforms matter most, what formats actually convert, and how we can operationalize live commerce as a scalable growth engine, not just a one-off stunt.
Southeast Asia is one of the most dynamic digital regions in the world. Across Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore, we're seeing:
For many users, social platforms are the internet. People discover brands on Facebook, chat on WhatsApp or LINE, follow creators on TikTok and Instagram, and shop on marketplaces like Shopee or Lazada, all on the same device, often in the same session. That always-on, social-first environment is exactly where live commerce thrives.
Most SEA consumers went online via smartphones, not desktops. That means vertical video, short-form content, and chat-based engagement feel natural. We're not asking users to change behavior: we're plugging into what they already do.
At the same time, trust is a big factor. Concerns around product quality, shipping reliability, and payment security are still common, especially outside tier-1 cities. Live selling helps bridge that gap:
In other words, live selling turns a cold product page into a warm, human interaction.
If we zoom out, live selling in SEA is really a digital evolution of something very familiar: wet markets, night markets, and bazaars. Street vendors calling out deals, demonstrating products, joking with regulars, that's essentially a live commerce script.
The difference now is scale and data. Instead of a few dozen passersby, we may have tens of thousands of concurrent viewers. Instead of guessing what works, we can see which hooks, prices, and bundles convert in real time.
This cultural familiarity with bargaining, showmanship, and "try-before-you-buy" makes Southeast Asia uniquely fertile ground for live selling and ecommerce to blend into a powerful growth channel.
The backbone of live selling and ecommerce in SEA is still the big marketplaces. Lazada, Shopee, Tokopedia, and others have invested heavily in native live features because they see how live boosts GMV and retention.
For brands and sellers, these platforms offer:
Shopee Live and LazLive, for example, make it easy to run flash vouchers, limited-time discounts, and add-to-cart incentives directly in the stream. Tokopedia in Indonesia leans on strong local partnerships and creator ecosystems to drive massive live-sale moments.
While marketplaces handle the transaction layer, social platforms own attention. TikTok Shop (where live selling is tightly integrated with product links), Facebook Live, Instagram Live, and YouTube Live are critical for discovery and community.
TikTok in particular has changed the game in SEA by making content, commerce, and payment feel almost seamless. A viral short-form video can funnel viewers straight into a live show, where they buy on impulse.
Facebook and Instagram remain vital, especially for:
Across SEA, we're also seeing niche and local platforms emerge, some focused on specific categories (beauty, fashion, collectibles, agriculture), others serving particular languages or countries.
Examples include:
These players may not yet match marketplaces for volume, but they often deliver higher brand control, better data access, and closer integration into our existing ecommerce stack.
The most consistently effective live selling content in SEA is demonstration-led. Viewers don't just want to see a static product, they want to see how it works in their context.
Examples that convert well:
We should think of these not as infomercials, but as mini-shows. Education first, transaction second. When viewers feel they've learned something useful, they're more willing to buy and more likely to return.
Southeast Asia shoppers love a good deal, and live streams amplify urgency. Formats that tap into FOMO work very well:
The key is to balance hype with clarity. We need crystal-clear rules (how to order, how many units left, what time the deal ends) to avoid confusion and complaints after the show.
Creators and KOLs are central to live selling and ecommerce in SEA. Their communities already trust their taste, so when they host a live, viewers are predisposed to listen, and buy.
We can structure this in a few ways:
The strongest results often come when the host genuinely uses and likes the products. Over-scripted, obviously sponsored lives tend to underperform compared to authentic, relationship-driven streams.
We don't need to launch everywhere at once. Instead, we should:
This lets us build a habit for viewers and gather data fast.
Not every SKU is right for live selling. We want products that are:
We should:
Great live selling looks spontaneous, but behind it is structure.
We recommend:
Traffic without conversion is just a vanity metric. To turn viewers into buyers, we can:
Post-show, we should retarget viewers with reminders and complementary products to maximize lifetime value, not just one-time sales.
We don't need a TV studio to start, but basics matter. Poor audio or dark video kills engagement fast.
At minimum, we should invest in:
As we scale, multi-camera setups, stream decks, and graphic overlays can help us look more professional and keep viewers engaged longer.
Operations can make or break live selling and ecommerce in SEA. A viral show is great, until we oversell and can't fulfill.
Best practices include:
Real-time customer support via chat or social DMs during and after the show helps resolve issues early and protects our ratings.
Cash-on-delivery (COD) is still significant in several SEA markets, but it can drive cancellations and fraud if unmanaged.
We should:
Strong payment and fraud controls allow us to scale live selling without eroding margins or burning operations teams.
Southeast Asia is not one market: it's a mosaic. Language, humor, and shopping habits vary widely between, say, Thailand and Vietnam.
To localize effectively, we should:
Localized overlays (prices in local currency, localized vouchers, local festivals) also help live selling feel native rather than imported.
Most major platforms in SEA require KYC (Know Your Customer) for merchants and have strict rules on:
On top of that, countries have their own consumer protection and advertising rules. We should work closely with legal and platform reps to ensure our live content, claims, and promotions are compliant.
Cross-border live selling and ecommerce in SEA is an attractive growth lever: we can sell from, say, Malaysia to Singapore or from China into multiple SEA markets via local partners.
But we need to manage:
Cross-border works best when we're transparent about delivery times and fees, and when we reserve live-exclusive offers that make the wait feel worthwhile.
If we want live selling to be a core growth channel, we have to manage it by numbers, not just vibes.
Key metrics include:
We should benchmark each show against our own history rather than chasing arbitrary "big" numbers.
Live selling is a perfect playground for rapid experimentation. We can A/B test:
Once we find a winning pattern, a specific host + category + time slot + offer structure, we double down and turn it into a recurring franchise.
The next phase of live selling and ecommerce in SEA will be more personalized, data-driven, and always-on.
We're already seeing:
Over time, we can imagine hybrid formats where a human host drives emotion and trust, while AI quietly optimizes offers, recommends products, and handles routine questions in the background.
Live selling and ecommerce in SEA have moved from trend to infrastructure. For shoppers, it combines the energy of night markets with the convenience of one-tap checkout. For us, as brands and sellers, it's a chance to turn transactions into ongoing relationships.
If we choose our markets and platforms carefully, design live-ready products and pricing, invest in hosts and operations, and treat each show as an experiment to be measured and improved, live commerce can become one of our most powerful growth levers in Southeast Asia.
The opportunity is wide open. The brands that win will be the ones that show up consistently, listen closely to their communities, and treat every live, not as a broadcast, but as a conversation.