THE practice of live selling online is rising in Southeast Asia (SEA), according to tech-enabled logistics company Ninja Van Philippines.

According to the company’s white paper titled “Live-Selling in SEA,” nearly 1 in 3 surveyed sellers have tried live selling although selling is still an emerging industry.

“Of those who are already live selling, 9 in 10 prefer to do it themselves, and only 1 in 10 tap influencers to do the live selling for them,” the report explained. “Moreover, Filipino sellers are among the most prolific live sellers, with 47 percent doing it daily — against a 31-percent regional average.”

The white paper shared related insights collected from over 1,000 Ninja Van’s e-commerce sellers across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. It added that live selling is one of the up-andcoming e-commerce trends in Southeast Asia.

On a related note, more Filipinos than their regional counterparts also believe that live selling brings in new businesses, with 74 percent saying that attracting new customers is a top driver for conducting it.

A secondary driver is to increase profits, with 52 percent of Filipino sellers saying live selling is more profitable than just posting items on online marketplaces and apps.

“Live selling is an interesting marketing tactic for e-commerce sellers,” Winston Seow, Ninja Van Group chief marketing and enablement officer, stated. “It is the only tactic that can fast-track shoppers’ purchase journeys from awareness straight to conversion. Live selling also gives e-commerce sellers the ability to build relationships at scale with their shoppers, both new and existing.”

Filipino sellers can spend up to 14 hours weekly conducting live selling sessions, versus a regional average of up to six hours. Most of the early adopters of live selling are from low-involvement product categories such as fashion, beauty and personal care, food and beverages, as well as home and living.

“While Shopee (27 percent), Facebook (25 percent) and TikTok (22 percent) are ranked as the top three live selling channels, the close margins signal that the champion has yet to emerge in SEA,” the white paper stated. “This could be explained by the fact that on average, the surveyed SEA e-commerce sellers use two channels for live selling, presumably to maximize their outreach to live shoppers.”

Overall, the white paper said that live selling in Southeast Asia reaffirms Ninja Van Group’s commitment to understanding the ever-changing landscape as it plans to conduct its first-ever live seller accelerator program.