Shopee owner Sea Ltd is top retailer in Southeast Asia: Euromonitor

Its sales reached $16.06b in 2021.

Sea Limited, which owns the e-commerce platform Shopee, is the top retailer in Southeast Asia with total sales of $16.06b in 2021, according to Euromonitor International.

In the Top 100 Retailers in Asia report, Sea Limited is followed by Tokopedia PT, which merged with Gojek to form GoTo Group in May 2021, with total sales of $12.88b, and Seven & I Holdings with $10.85b sales.

Alibaba Group Holding, which is the top retailer overall for entire Asia, came in fourth in Southeast Asia with $8.09b sales, followed by Sumber Alfaria Trijaya Tbk PT with $6.68b sales last year.

Other companies completing the top 10 were Salim Group ($6.24), Central Retail Corp. ($5.06b), SM Retail Inc. ($5b), Mobile World JSC ($4.8b), and Charoen Pokphand Group ($44.4).

“The retail industry in Southeast Asia is largely fragmented. Growth primarily comes from companies with a regional presence. There was minimal market consolidation last year as retailers focused on strategic readjustments,” Euromonitor said.

However, the retail performance in the region last year reflected the pace of channel shifts as e-commerce “outperformed” other distribution channels, noting that Shopee was the best-performing retailer in Southeast Asia.

The acceleration of e-commerce also reflects the demand for online shopping in the region, despite the opening of brick-and-mortar stores, it said.