Looking only at the three-platform traffic comparison chart for September 2026, one clear signal emerges: TikTok Shop is no longer just a “chaser” in Southeast Asia; it has truly entered the first tier in multiple core markets.

According to the chart, in September 2026, TikTok Shop recorded 142.8207 million visits in Indonesia, 127.9047 million in Vietnam, 58.5453 million in Malaysia, 67.4949 million in the Philippines, 52.5789 million in Thailand, and 12.6786 million in Singapore, totaling about 462.0231 million across the six markets. Over the same period, Shopee totaled about 473.94 million and Lazada about 66.60 million.

In other words, TikTok Shop’s overall traffic has reached about 97.5% of Shopee’s, and the gap is already very small.

More notably, TikTok Shop has already surpassed Shopee in four of the six markets.

Specifically, TikTok Shop reached 142.8207 million in Indonesia, higher than Shopee’s 136.20 million; 127.9047 million in Vietnam, higher than Shopee’s 118.50 million; 58.5453 million in Malaysia, higher than Shopee’s 48.39 million; and 67.4949 million in the Philippines, slightly higher than Shopee’s 67.39 million. Shopee still clearly leads mainly in Thailand and Singapore.

Content commerce continues to break through

If you put this September comparison chart together with market trends over the past year, it becomes clear that TikTok Shop’s rise is not an isolated event.

A Momentum Works report released in April 2026 showed that Southeast Asia’s platform e-commerce GMV reached $157.6 billion in 2025, up 22.8% year on year. The three major platforms—Shopee, Lazada, and TikTok Shop (including Tokopedia)—accounted for about 98.8% of the market.

More importantly, content commerce contributed $49.7 billion in GMV in 2025, accounting for 32% of total platform e-commerce GMV, and the gap between TikTok Shop and Shopee continues to narrow.

This means the competitive logic of Southeast Asian e-commerce is no longer just a battle between traditional shelf-based e-commerce platforms; it is now a competition between content distribution capability and transaction conversion capability. Users do not first open a platform to search for products. Instead, they are inspired by short videos, live streams, and creator content before placing orders. Whoever can convert content traffic into transactions more efficiently is more likely to capture new market growth.

Shopee is still strong, but the pressure in September is more obvious

Of course, this does not mean Shopee has fallen behind. Shopee remains one of the strongest platforms in Southeast Asia, and the official figures are still solid. Sea disclosed in March 2026 that Shopee’s full-year GMV reached $127.4 billion in 2025, and its 2026 target is still about 25% year-on-year growth while maintaining profitability.

But according to the August–September comparison chart you provided, Shopee’s traffic declined in all six markets: Malaysia -4.2%, Singapore -7.4%, Thailand -10.8%, the Philippines -5.2%, Indonesia -5.5%, and Vietnam -9.7%. Lazada also showed clear divergence, with growth in Vietnam and Singapore but declines in Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia.

Against this backdrop, TikTok Shop was still able to surpass Shopee in four markets in September, indicating that what it has gained is not just short-term campaign traffic but a shift in user habits.

Sellers need to sharpen their cost awareness at the same time

However, rising traffic does not necessarily mean sellers are making more money.

On one hand, TikTok Shop’s traffic advantage is indeed becoming increasingly obvious; on the other hand, platform monetization is also accelerating.

Therefore, sellers should not focus only on whether traffic exists, but on whether traffic can be converted into profit. If a product is suitable for short-video presentation, live-stream conversion, and creator-driven sales, TikTok Shop indeed offers greater opportunities. However, without content production capabilities, paid traffic capabilities, and local fulfillment capabilities, traffic growth may not truly translate into earnings.

Based on the September data, one conclusion is becoming increasingly clear: in Southeast Asia, TikTok Shop is no longer a supplemental channel but one of the core channels.

Especially in Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines, if sellers still treat TikTok Shop as a platform they “just casually run,” they may miss the most important wave of incremental growth.

Conversely, Shopee remains the foundational platform, especially in Thailand and Singapore, where it still holds a strong advantage. Lazada, by contrast, still has opportunities in certain markets and categories, but its overall presence is clearly weaker than the other two.

So what really deserves attention next is not whether TikTok Shop will keep growing, but whether sellers have the ability to capture this continuously growing content traffic.

Whoever can successfully integrate content, creators, paid traffic, fulfillment, and profit models will be more likely to gain an early advantage in the next phase of Southeast Asian e-commerce competition.

Seller’s Home Review

TikTok Shop’s traffic is closing in on Shopee, and content commerce has become the main growth engine in Southeast Asia. Sellers should accelerate their short-video and live-streaming efforts to seize traffic dividends in the four countries and avoid missing the window of opportunity.

Source: Cross-border Southeast Asia
Original link: https://www.amz123.com/t/JQI5EIBZ