The move is part of its online-to-offline (O2O) strategy, extending its reach beyond traditional e-commerce through one-hour delivery.
Shopee Instant Mart offers supermarket products, fresh food, groceries and everyday essentials, with free delivery, no minimum order, 24-hour service and delivery within one hour.
Thanyathorn Laowatchara, business director of Shopee Thailand, said the services are designed to meet growing demand for speed and convenience while helping SMEs, retailers and community pharmacies develop integrated O2O business approaches and pursue new growth opportunities within the Shopee ecosystem.
Shopee Instant Mart partners include Big C Supercenter, Lotus’s, Tops, MaxValu Thailand and Villa Market, alongside specialist stores and local retailers.
Initial coverage focuses on Bangkok and surrounding provinces as well as Chiang Mai, Chon Buri, Khon Kaen, Nakhon Ratchasima, Songkhla and Phuket, with nationwide expansion planned.
Its Shopee Telepharmacy connects consumers with licensed pharmacists for advice on minor symptoms, medication use and medicines requiring pharmacist consultation.
Users can communicate through video calls, voice calls or in-app chat.
The service, which was certified by the Food and Drug Administration on June 19, partners with Pharmcare and pharmacy operators.
Shopee acts solely as an intermediary and does not directly sell medicines.
AMAZON MODEL
Thanawat Malabuppha, honorary president of the Thai E-Commerce Association, said delivery speed is becoming a competitive benchmark. Food delivery has conditioned consumers to expect delivery within hours while e-commerce is moving from next-day towards same-day and instant delivery.
He said Shopee is pushing fulfilment from around four hours towards two hours with sellers packing orders and Shopee handling fulfilment and delivery.
“This is similar to Amazon’s model as Shopee is trying to bring sellers into its fulfilment system to gain greater control of the ecosystem,” he said.
Globally, Amazon has raised expectations through same-day and rapid delivery while JD.com, Taobao and Meituan in China offer delivery models of around 29 minutes.
Mr Thanawat expects on-demand commerce competition to intensify. Line Man and Grab have strengths in fast delivery while Shopee can leverage its broader e-commerce product assortment to expand rapid delivery beyond food and groceries.
“Next year, we will see faster delivery, wider product assortments and more sellers and brands joining fast fulfilment,” he said.
He added that the pressure is already rising with sellers sometimes required to pack 10 orders in a minute to meet new delivery key performance indicators.