Asia-Pacific Power List 2022: Huiyan Pan, Shopee

Huiyan Pan

Regional marketing lead
Shopee
Singapore
New member  

Shopee is one of Southeast Asia’s greatest success stories. As an ecommerce platform, it has managed to overtake competitor Lazada by a stretch in key markets including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, and Vietnam. According to Data.ai (formerly known as App Annie), in Southeast Asia & Taiwan, Shopee continued to rank first in the shopping category by average monthly active users and total time spent in app, and was also the top-ranked app in the shopping category by downloads globally. Last year, Shoppe’s combined GMV for all markets reached US$60 billion, a whopping 80% spike from the year before.

Regional marketer Huiyan Pan can and should take credit for contributing to these impressive numbers, and has been attributed to growing new user bases, particularly outside metro cities to enable better access to ecommerce. To do this, she took a hyperlocal approach using beloved personalities as ambassadors and leveraged key channels such as star-studded TV shows and TVCs. In Vietnam, for instance, sports figures Coach Park Hang-Seo as well as soccer players Tien Linh and Van Thanh were roped in as ambassadors. 

To drive buzz around the brand, Pan also leveraged K-pop to drive engagement across multiple brand touchpoints, which eventually led users to Shopee Live through initiatives such as live concerts. As a result, some 400 million hours were spent by users on Shopee Live last year. 

Pan is especially passionate about empowering local sellers and communities, whether it’s through KOL programmes to train budding livestream talent, spotlighting sellers outside of big cities, or developing tailored campaigns and content to create awareness among sellers. This resulted in 70% year-on-year growth in the number of Shopee sellers outside of big cities in 2021. Particularly in Malaysia, through the #ShopeeSapotLokal campaign, strong user support was rallied for shoppers to shop local. It doesn’t hurt that Pan doubles as the Malaysia marketing lead.

Internally, Pan serves as a mentor and works with junior employees to elevate their marketing competencies. And outside of the organisation, she regularly participates in speaking opportunities to spark passion among young talent, such as through a webinar she presented to students at the Singapore Polytechnic School of Business.