Shopee's new live streaming regulations have been implemented, causing a surge in orders from Southeast Asian sellers

Southeast Asian e-commerce giant Shopee recently launched a “big move” on its Malaysia site:

They have fully upgraded the original live streaming incentive program to the“Shopee Live Gold Program”.

This move has directly ignited local sellers’ enthusiasm for live selling. Merchants participating in the program revealed that the number of orders in their live rooms hassoared by up to 10 times, and even traditional small workshops have managed to counterattack and become “millionaire households” through live streaming.

Shopee upgrades Live Gold Program. Image source: Shopee

Low threshold for the Gold Program, sellers rush to get “certification badge”

According to the new rules, as long as the store has products for sale and the platform penalty points are below level 5, sellers can apply to join the Gold Program. Once approved, the system automatically activates it at 12:00 am every Wednesday, and a prominentgold badgeimmediately appears in the live room. This badge not only allows consumers to quickly identify “officially certified sellers,” but also becomes a key bargaining chip in the traffic competition.

What truly motivates sellers to stay up late and go live is the tangible subsidy policy. During the peak periods at 12:00 noon and 8:00 pm every day, the platform issues exclusive coupons,with discounts starting from 20% and going up to 80%.At the same time, sellers can also receive cashback rewards and instant discount coupons for each live session completed. A home goods seller did the math:“Going live for 2 hours during the evening peak, the cashback alone can cover half a month’s team salary.”

Gold Program discount details. Image source: Shopee

Stunning results in Indonesia, 82% of sellers choose Shopee first

This wave of live streaming offensive was already foreshadowed. In early 2023, Shopee piloted live streaming subsidies in Indonesia, and the dual approach of consumers grabbing coupons and sellers earning commissions produced immediate results. According to third-party agency IPSOS, that year82%of Indonesian local brands and SMEs made Shopee Live their main battleground.

Official financial reports confirm the power of live streaming: in 2023,15%of Shopee’s total orders came from live rooms, meaning that 1 out of every 7 parcels was sold via live streaming. This number is still growing. In 2024, just on the Malaysia site, live streaming views havesurged by 300%, with total views soaring to77 billion, a37-fold increaseover the same period last year.

Shopee Live business growth. Image source: bernama

Millions-level sellers emerge in batches, small workshops create counterattack legends

In Malaysia, local brands with sales exceeding 1 million ringgit (about 1.64 million RMB) saw their live streaming order volume increase 11-fold this year; and for top sellers reaching 5 million ringgit (about 8.19 million RMB),order volume also increased 10-fold.

A Nyonya cake shop that has been passed down for three generations, which last year only had a few dozen orders per day, has made daily orders exceeding 10,000 the norm after moving its kitchen into the live room this year. A more typical case is a bird’s nest brand, which demonstrated the hand-plucking process in the live room and, with the help of platform subsidies, managed to boost its monthly sales from 30,000 ringgit to 5 million ringgit.

Image source: Internet

Burning money for growth, a win-win-win business model

Although some question whether the crazy subsidies are sustainable, the data gives the answer.

In 2023, Indonesian SMEs saw their average profit increase by 35% through Shopee live streaming, and 28,000 new live streaming-related jobs were created in Malaysia. Consumers are also happy to stay in the live rooms, with 80% of respondents admitting that limited-time discounts during golden hours are the main reason they place orders.

In this game, the platform burns money for traffic, sellers earn real cash, and consumers get great deals. No matter how you look at it, it’s a win-win-win.  

At this rate, Southeast Asia’s live streaming rooms may come up with new tricks next year.