Shopee leaves Poland and thereby Europe

Shopee, an online marketplace from Singapore, has left Poland. The company launched there just over a year ago. After also canceling operations in France early last year, Shopee is saying goodbye to Europe as a whole.

Shopee was founded in 2015 and has been very successful in Asia. The marketplace has been operating in Europe since late 2021. The Singaporian company launched in Spain that same year.

Polish exit after little over a year

The company put up an announcement on their Polish website last week. The news does not come as a surprise, Reuters writes, as some of Shopee’s Polish jobs were cut only a few months ago. Shopee has been active in Poland since September 2021, when it simultaneously entered Europe.

Leaving all European markets

In March of last year, Shopee also pulled the plug on their operations in India and France just months after launching there. The Spanish website is also currently down. After a rapid expansion strategy, Shopee is now leaving the European market as a whole.

After a rapid expansion, Shopee says goodbye to Europe.

‘Global market uncertainties’

Shopee is part of tech company Ltd. Sea, best known for its gaming branch Garena, which was previously active in Europe. The mother company has seen its market value dip from 200 billion dollars in 2021 to just 27 billion dollars in 2022.

Like many tech businesses, Sea is facing declining demand after investing heavily in their gaming and ecommerce companies over the pandemic. When leaving the Indian and French market last year, Shopee said in an announcement the exit happened ‘in view of global market uncertainties’.