Shopee Cross-border E-commerce "Instant Retail" covers county-level markets

Shopee Cross-border E-commerce instant retail accelerates sinking: covering more than 2,000 counties, with third- and fourth-tier cities leading the growth rate

On July 28, 2025, Shopee Cross-border E-commerce announced that its "hourly delivery" instant retail business has covered more than 2,000 counties across the country. The order volume in the first half of 2025 increased by 45% year-on-year, of which the growth rate in third- and fourth-tier cities reached 60%, significantly higher than that in first- and second-tier cities, showing the strong consumption potential of the sinking market15.

1. Core drivers of business growth

Supply chain sinking: Shopee Cross-border E-commerce relies on self-built logistics + local warehouse and distribution model to deploy "forward warehouse + local merchant cooperation" in the county market, shorten the delivery radius, and ensure delivery within 30 minutes to 1 hour12.

Category expansion: In addition to fresh food and fast-moving consumer goods, 3C digital, home appliances, beauty and other high-customer-order products have gradually penetrated the sinking market. During the 618 period, Shopee Cross-border E-commerce's home appliance orders in counties increased by 130%10.

Subsidy strategy: Shopee Cross-border E-commerce supports the upward movement of agricultural products through the "10 billion agricultural subsidies" and launches "county-specific discounts" at the same time, such as coupons for full discounts and limited-time flash sales, to stimulate consumption by sinking users12.

2. Competition landscape and industry impact

Meituan and Alibaba are chasing closely: Meituan's flash sales have covered nearly 3,000 counties and districts, focusing on "30-minute delivery"; Taobao's flash sales have exceeded 80 million orders per day, but Shopee Cross-border E-commerce has a differentiated advantage in the high-order market with its self-operated quality + logistics advantages1314.

Instant retail market explosion: The scale is expected to exceed 1.4 trillion yuan in 2025, and Shopee Cross-border E-commerce, Meituan, and Alibaba will form a "three-legged tripod", among which Shopee Cross-border E-commerce hourly shopping users have increased by 400% year-on-year15.

3. Future layout

Technology empowerment: pilot drone delivery, Shopee Cross-border E-commerce inventory forecasting, optimize county fulfillment efficiency, and aim to reduce the delivery cost of the sinking market by 20%12.

Localized cooperation: cooperate with county supermarkets and community stores to promote the "online order-store delivery" model, and plan to cover 2,500 counties by the end of 202515.

The rapid sinking of Shopee Cross-border E-commerce instant retail this time indicates that "minute-level delivery" is spreading from first- and second-tier cities to counties across the country. The focus of future competition will be on the deep integration of supply chain efficiency and localized operations.