Essentials driving Shopee’s order growth
MANILA, Philippines – Household essentials powered Shopee’s 19-percent order growth during its 3.3 sale in the Philippines, with shoppers buying cooking staples, diapers and snacks, even as fashion items dominated search traffic.
Data released by the e-commerce platform showed that while the top search terms during the campaign were all fashion-related, the strongest demand at checkout came from household essentials, baby care, accessories, snacks and beauty products.
“Filipinos searched for sandals. They bought canola oil,” Shopee said.
Among Shopee Mall stores, top purchases included a cooking staple, a compact cardholder, a lip tint, packaged snacks and a long-wear lipstick. Baby diapers were also among the most purchased items from local sellers.
Shopee said the figures reflected how shoppers “browse with aspiration but buy with clear priorities.”
Beauty products
Beauty products stood out as the only nonessential category to consistently appear among top purchases. Lip tints, long-wear lipsticks and setting sprays ranked among the most purchased products during the campaign.
Fashion, meanwhile, remained “one of the strongest drivers of search activity” during the sale, although women’s accessories emerged as the top-converting fashion subcategory, suggesting that shoppers were more likely to complete purchases on smaller, more practical items.
Shopee also reported strong growth in live commerce during the campaign, with checkouts rising 84 percent compared with a regular business day. Canola oil, diapers and beauty products were among the most purchased during livestream sessions.
“Across search behavior, checkout data, and Shopee Live, the pattern is consistent: Filipino shoppers come to Shopee to explore broadly and act on what matters most to them, Shopee said.
“Filipino shoppers in 2026 are not impulsive. They arrive with a list, and they mostly stick to it,” it added.
Owned by New York-listed Sea Limited, Shopee is one of the leading e-commerce platforms in Southeast Asia, Taiwan and Brazil. It launched in the Philippines in 2015 and has since captured 46.9 percent of the regional online shopping market in 2024, according to Momentum Works. INQ
