- Shopee drives Sea Group’s profitability in 2024, with high teens growth expected.
- Livestreaming a significant growth driver, improving unit economics and attracting new users.
- Garena incorporates AI to expand offerings, anticipating double-digit growth for Free Fire.
Sea Group, after achieving its first profitable year in 2023, anticipates remaining in the black for 2024, relying on Shopee to drive its success.
Forrest Li, chairman and group CEO, stated that Sea expects its e-commerce arm to grow in the high teens for the full year 2024.
Indonesia, where Shopee is the “clear market leader,” showed particularly strong numbers in Q4 2023, with the company gaining sizable market shares.
Livestreaming growth and competitive edge
Livestreaming has been a significant growth driver for Shopee in Indonesia, accounting for a larger percentage of total orders compared to the region.
Li highlighted that Shopee has been improving the unit economics for livestreaming, resulting in increased retention and repurchase rates while attracting new users.
Despite benefiting from Indonesia’s ban on rival TikTok Shop, Li believes Shopee’s success is attributed to its scale, local leadership, and time-tested infrastructure.
Garena’s positive outlook
Sea Group expects its digital entertainment arm, Garena, to keep pace with Shopee’s growth. Yanjun Wang, Sea’s group chief corporate officer, mentioned that Garena has been incorporating more AI technology into its development operations to expand its genre portfolio and content scope.
For Garena’s highest-earner, Free Fire, Sea anticipates double-digit growth year-on-year in 2024, both in terms of user base and bookings.
To read the original article in its entireety: https://www.techinasia.com/sea-group-eyes-profitable-2024-shopee-continues
