Every year, 11.11 gets bigger. More vouchers, more free shipping, more countdowns. But talk to the merchants behind the listings and the mood is very different from the noise. To understand why, you have to go back to how Malaysia's marketplace war started.

How Shopee overtook Lazada

When Shopee arrived in 2015, Lazada was the established player. But Lazada never had a strong brand image of its own. Shopee came in as the underdog, coming for the kill, with one simple promise: the lowest prices, on Shopee.

Shopee could do this because it was willing to absorb a lot of the cost: free shipping, vouchers, cashback. Lazada had already been absorbing costs for years and needed to show it could make money. It was, after all, heading towards its sale to Alibaba, which took a controlling stake in 2016.

Then there was the branding. Shopee's jingle, the one you still hear on LRT trains today, was cringey. It also totally worked. It got into people's heads and stayed there.

Lazada went the other way. Its Super Party for its 7th birthday in 2019 starred Dua Lipa. It was a great show, but it was held in Jakarta and most Malaysians only caught it on a livestream. A concert is one night. A jingle is every day. One built memory, the other built a moment.

Then TikTok changed the rules

TikTok went from underdog to the number one social platform, not just in Malaysia but around the world, in a remarkably short time. When TikTok Shop launched in Malaysia in 2022, it changed where shopping starts. People no longer had to search for a product. The product found them, in a video or a live.

That put enormous pressure on both Shopee and Lazada. Free shipping, promo codes, cashback, shoppable video and live selling all became table stakes.

So who pays for all of this? Merchants.

Friends who started selling early tell us Lazada once gave customers RM600 in rebates for buying a TV. Those days are gone. Today, our electronics clients would be happy to keep a healthy 8% margin on the marketplaces.

Every platform war is paid for somewhere: commission and service fees, voucher co-funding, shipping subsidies, and ads just to stay visible. During 11.11, merchants are expected to join every campaign mechanic. Many sell more units than on any other day of the year, and keep less from each one.

And now China is selling direct

The newest pressure doesn't come from a local platform at all.

  • Taobao now has a Malaysian experience in Bahasa Melayu, English and Chinese, with free shipping above a minimum spend and some orders arriving in about five days.
  • Pinduoduo and its sister app Temu (both owned by PDD Holdings) ship direct from China, often free, even for a single low-priced item.

The 10% tax on imported low-value goods (under RM500), in force since January 2024, narrows the gap a little. It doesn't close it. If a shopper can buy the same phone case for RM3 delivered from the factory, a local reseller paying rent, staff and platform fees cannot win on price.

So the real question is: if you can't win on price, what do you win on?

What local merchants and brands can do

1. Stop competing on price you can't control. If you resell the same unbranded product as a hundred others, China-direct will always undercut you. Move towards your own brand, your own bundles or your own variations, so there's no identical listing to compare against.

2. Make "local" a feature. Next-day delivery, easy returns, a local warranty, halal certification, Bahasa Melayu customer service, products made for local skin, weather and taste. Cross-border sellers struggle to match these. Say them loudly on your listings and in your content.

3. Treat 11.11 as acquisition, not profit. Decide in advance what you're buying: new customers, reviews, ranking. Then cap your voucher spend accordingly, and plan how you'll bring those buyers back at full price in December and at Chinese New Year.

4. Build an audience the platforms don't own. Push buyers to your WhatsApp, email or membership list. The platform owns the marketplace; you can own the relationship. A repeat customer costs far less than a new one.

5. Use creators to sell, not just to be seen. On TikTok Shop and Shopee, affiliate creators earn commission only when they sell. Many small creators selling consistently can beat one big name posting once. In one of our skincare launches, 61 nano creators delivered 914,000 views, and the top post came from a creator with fewer than 7,000 followers.

6. Go live, consistently. Live selling rewards a regular schedule. A fixed weekly slot with the same host builds a returning audience that buys from you, not from the lowest-priced listing. It works for big-ticket items too: car brands now sell from the showroom floor on TikTok Live.

7. Win on trust and content, not discounts. Demos, reviews, before-and-afters and honest comparisons give people a reason to pay a little more. A good video keeps selling long after the campaign voucher has expired.

8. Spread your risk. Don't put everything on one platform. Fees and algorithms change overnight. Selling on two marketplaces plus your own website and social channels gives you room to move.

For the campaign side of sale days, see our mega-sale influencer formula for 8.8, 9.9 and 11.11.

The bottom line

The marketplaces will keep fighting each other with free shipping and vouchers, and China-direct will keep getting faster and lower-priced. Local merchants who try to win that fight on price will keep losing margin. The ones who win will be the brands people choose on purpose: because they trust them, recognise them and know they'll be looked after.

That's not a discount. That's a brand. And 11.11 is the best day of the year to build one.

Are you ready for 11.11 this year?

11.11 is weeks away, and the brands that win plan early. Whether you need creators who sell, a live stream that brings buyers back, or a campaign that protects your margins, we can help you build it.

Let's talk. WhatsApp us and we'll reply within one business day.

Sources: Lazada livestreams 7th birthday concert featuring Dua Lipa (The Drum); Temu launches in Malaysia (RinggitPlus); Taobao expands free shipping to 12 regions (Jing Daily); Malaysia's tax on imported low-value goods (ASEAN Briefing).