Thailand’s leading e-commerce platforms — Shopee, Lazada and TikTok Shop — have rolled out substantial increases in transaction fees and new service charges, intensifying cost burdens on merchants and marking a strategic pivot toward monetising platform ecosystems.

On 15 September, Shopee raised its sales transaction fee by 0.6 to 1 percentage point depending on the product category, and introduced a new “Platform Infrastructure Fee” of 1 baht per order. On 28 September, Lazada increased seller commission rates by 2 percentage points for both regular sellers and LazMall merchants. Effective 1 October, TikTok Shop implemented a revised fee schedule including a “Commerce Growth Fee” of 5.35 percent for electronics and 6.42 percent for other categories (capped at 199 baht per unit, inclusive of VAT), plus a fixed Infrastructure Fee of 1.07 baht per delivered order. TikTok Shop will waive the Infrastructure Fee for sellers recording fewer than 100 monthly orders.

Alongside these changes, TikTok Shop is expanding access to its “Pay Later” instalment service, following an initial pilot in late 2024. The platform has long offered commission-based shopping finance, and this wider rollout brings it into closer competition with Shopee and Lazada, which have already embedded similar services.

The platforms’ evolving business models encompass payments, logistics, advertising, lending and insurance, underpinned by behavioural and transaction data from tens of millions of users. Industry observers describe the shift as a move from pure marketplaces to integrated “commercial infrastructure” entities.

The Thai e-Commerce Association has flagged five sectors facing disruption:

• Banking and finance: Platforms use real-time payment data and instalment schemes to assess creditworthiness, diverting transaction volume away from traditional banking channels.
• Retail and brand relationships: Many merchants now rely on paid promotion (“pay-to-play”) within platforms. Private-label lines produced by platforms compete directly with third-party sellers.
• Logistics and warehousing: The platforms develop in-house fulfilment networks and set standards for delivery pricing and service.
• Advertising and media: First-party data enables closed-loop attribution and precision targeting, shifting advertising spend inward to platform ecosystems.
• Insurance and embedded services: Platforms extend parcel and accident insurance, and could expand further into sectors like health, telecom or utilities by embedding services at checkout.

Estimates place Shopee and Lazada together as controlling approximately 79 percent of Thailand’s e-marketplace volume, while TikTok Shop is rapidly expanding its foothold. The Thai e-commerce sector reached an estimated 1.1 trillion baht in 2024, up from 0.98 trillion in 2023, reflecting a growth rate of about 14 percent.

TikTok Shop reports that its gross merchandise value (GMV) via live commerce has grown by over 500 percent in a recent eight-month span, despite broader economic headwinds. As its commercial presence grows, the platform has collaborated with the Thai government—such as launching an e-commerce curriculum with the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society—to support Thai entrepreneurs.

Some business groups observe that merchants have little visibility into customer data under the platform model, limiting their ability to build direct relationships. Others note that rising platform fees may push brands to emphasise direct-to-consumer channels.

In this environment, calls have arisen for regulatory oversight to ensure fair competition, especially as a small number of platforms amass increasing control over multiple layers of commerce.