Cambodia’s online marketplace Smile Shop gets boost from venture investor
Cambodian e-marketplace Smile Shop, dubbed the leading business-to-consumer e-commerce platform in the country, is receiving a major boost from a new partnership with Chinese venture capital firm Jin Sha Group, The Phnom Penh Post reported.
Plans are to expand the platform and lift it into new commercial dimensions by offering local products to a global audience.
The partnership was officially unveiled on August 20 and signed on the same day by Smile Shop co-founder and CEO Jack Lee and Jin Sha Group chairman Liu Yang.
Lee said the added capital will fuel the company’s expansion into a “super e-commerce platform.”
The company plans to invest more heavily in fintech, supply chain infrastructure, logistics and marketing for Cambodian products to address an international audience, as well as to improve customer service to turn Smile Shop into “the most customer-centric platform,” he added.
“Impressive performance”
“We are delighted to bring on board Jin Sha Group, which believes in our vision and wants to be part of this journey,” Lee said.
Jin Sha Group’s Liu noted that Smile Shop has been “performing impressively” at a larger scale during the Covid-19 pandemic, playing an “important role” in the e-commerce ecosystem in Cambodia.
Revenue in the Cambodian e-commerce market is projected to reach $251 million in 2021 and expected to show a compound annual growth rate of 8.94 per cent from 2021 to 2025 to attain a market volume of $354 million in 2025, according to the annual e-Conomy SEA report by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company.
E-commerce business ballooning in Southeast Asia
The gross merchandise volume of e-commerce in Southeast Asia was expected to hit $62 billion last year, up 63.2 per cent from $38 billion in 2019, and could balloon to $172 billion in 2025, according to the same study.
The Smile Shop app was launched in October 2018 to great reception and has become a prominent e-commerce platform in the country, leaving a remarkable imprint on the Cambodian retail and cross-border trading industries.
Cambodian e-marketplace Smile Shop, dubbed the leading business-to-consumer e-commerce platform in the country, is receiving a major boost from a new partnership with Chinese venture capital firm Jin Sha Group, The Phnom Penh Post reported. Plans are to expand the platform and lift it into new commercial dimensions by offering local products to a global audience. The partnership was officially unveiled on August 20 and signed on the same day by Smile Shop co-founder and CEO Jack Lee and Jin Sha Group chairman Liu Yang. Lee said the added capital will fuel the company’s expansion into a “super e-commerce platform.”...
Cambodian e-marketplace Smile Shop, dubbed the leading business-to-consumer e-commerce platform in the country, is receiving a major boost from a new partnership with Chinese venture capital firm Jin Sha Group, The Phnom Penh Post reported.
Plans are to expand the platform and lift it into new commercial dimensions by offering local products to a global audience.
The partnership was officially unveiled on August 20 and signed on the same day by Smile Shop co-founder and CEO Jack Lee and Jin Sha Group chairman Liu Yang.
Lee said the added capital will fuel the company’s expansion into a “super e-commerce platform.”
The company plans to invest more heavily in fintech, supply chain infrastructure, logistics and marketing for Cambodian products to address an international audience, as well as to improve customer service to turn Smile Shop into “the most customer-centric platform,” he added.
“Impressive performance”
“We are delighted to bring on board Jin Sha Group, which believes in our vision and wants to be part of this journey,” Lee said.
Jin Sha Group’s Liu noted that Smile Shop has been “performing impressively” at a larger scale during the Covid-19 pandemic, playing an “important role” in the e-commerce ecosystem in Cambodia.
Revenue in the Cambodian e-commerce market is projected to reach $251 million in 2021 and expected to show a compound annual growth rate of 8.94 per cent from 2021 to 2025 to attain a market volume of $354 million in 2025, according to the annual e-Conomy SEA report by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company.
E-commerce business ballooning in Southeast Asia
The gross merchandise volume of e-commerce in Southeast Asia was expected to hit $62 billion last year, up 63.2 per cent from $38 billion in 2019, and could balloon to $172 billion in 2025, according to the same study.
The Smile Shop app was launched in October 2018 to great reception and has become a prominent e-commerce platform in the country, leaving a remarkable imprint on the Cambodian retail and cross-border trading industries.