The Singapore-based sales platform announced on Thursday that it was completely withdrawing from the Polish market. The news was a surprise, because Shopee had not previously signaled such plans, and the closure of the online store was scheduled for only 36 hours ahead. The possibility of placing orders will be suspended until Friday, one minute before midnight.
Why is Shopee leaving Poland? Asia has more potential
In a statement received by Business Insider, the company explained that it always tries to focus on “the most promising development opportunities available to us”, and the situation in our part of the world in the long term is, according to the platform, uncertain.
“Taking this into account, as well as the fact that the region continues to have significant macroeconomic uncertainty, which distorts the assessment of development opportunities in the long term, we have decided to terminate our operations in Poland,” reads the statement quoted by BI.
Shopee also admitted that it sees growth potential in the markets of Asia and Latin America, and it is in these regions that it intends to concentrate its forces now. For now – during the transitional period – it is still to support “the local community of sellers and buyers” and “members of the company’s local team”.
Shopee couldn’t stand the clash with Allegro on the Polish market?
The Asian e-commerce platform became famous in Poland for its eccentric, flashy advertisements and very low prices. It is very possible, however, that it did not withstand the clash with platforms with an established position on the Vistula River. As we wrote on Gazeta.pl on Thursday, Shopee’s exit from Poland shows that the platform’s activity on our market was probably not profitable.
The first signals that something bad is happening with Shopee on the Vistula appeared in October 2022. At that time, the media circulated the news about the dismissals that were to affect Polish employees of the Singaporean company.
Source: Gazeta
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