Is Shopee build as a Social Commerce? How about PDD and TikTok Shop?

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I don't agree that Shopees fundamentally built on social commerce or shopatainment. Even if it has some of those elements now, they are still relatively recent additions, mainly through Shopee Live and Shopee Video.

I don't think Shopee bundling in some stupid games makes it shopatainment. That is just a user-retention tactic.

Shopee's talk about social commerce and shopatainment feels more like marketing than reality, although they do capture a lot more buying intent on Facebook or IG because of the things they sell. But I don't think that makes it a social commerce company. Shopee is still a search-based eCommerce platform.

Compared with more traditional platforms, it usually has a lot more variety and a lot more shops to pick from. Users naturally spend more time on it simply because there is more variety to go through, and some people may find it entertaining when browsing through the shops.

It's not because Shopee was built for discovery. The discovery features still suck, and most Shopee users understand that clearly. (Although it has improved a decent amount in recent years.)

On the other hand, Pinduoduo is a real social commerce company. Its entire distribution strategy is built around that, and beyond the social element, the pricing makes it extremely addictive. Shopee is nowhere close to the $PDD experience.

TikTok Shop, meanwhile, is a true shopatainment company because people actually feel entertained while using it. These two companies' user experiences are drastically different from Shopee's. Everyone who has used them can feel the difference immediately.

Shopee is just a search-based eCommerce company that happens to have more sellers and products, and now also some built-in content features. That's all. Its foundation is neither social commerce nor shopatainment.