Shopee, the Singaporean shopping app, has gotten authorization from the central bank in Brazil to operate as a payment institution, Reuters reported Monday (May 2).
The report came from a notice in the government’s official gazette.
Shopee will be able to “manage prepaid payment accounts, in which funds must be previously deposited,” the gazette read.
Shopee is now one of the biggest eCommerce apps in the country. It has been able to attract users to its low-cost marketplace from other local companies.
See also: Shopee Launches Digital Retail Initiatives
Shopee also had five partner brands hitting at least $100 million in gross merchandise value in 2021, PYMNTS wrote earlier this year.
That came while Shopee Mall saw an increase of eight times in the number of users shopping online at least once a month during that year.
Shopee plans to start using AI in order to get more personalized entertainment content and deals which are based on shopping behavior and user interests, according to the report.
Shopee COO Terence Pang, speaking at the company’s Brand Summit, said that retail is on a path to become more digital than it is now, with eCommerce becoming a general and accepted way of life.
He said there’s plenty of room for growth in Southeast Asia for Shopee to keep expanding and enhancing its Shopee Mall to serve more customers. The Shopee Mall eCommerce platform is on track to boost efforts in key growth areas to improve its standing, and plans to improve its brand through more awareness, broader marketing and higher business performance.
Read more: Colgate-Palmolive Goes Direct to Consumer to Boost Sales in Asia
PYMNTS also wrote that Colgate-Palmolive will be teaming with Shopee to help the beauty brand grow more sales in the Southeast Asia region.
That could increase the sales by 20 times over the next four years.
Colgate will become a strategic partner under Shopee’s Regional Champion Brands Programme, to boost growth on local and regional levels.