Last week, Shopee officially announced that starting October 30 at 11:59 p.m., it would cease operations in Chile and Colombia.
The notice posted on both country sites was identical:
“We regret to inform you that Shopee will cease operations today (October 30) at 11:59 p.m.
From that moment, it will no longer be possible to place new orders.
However, all orders placed before this date will continue to be processed and delivered as planned.
Your purchases will be fulfilled as usual, and Shopee’s customer service will remain available to assist you at every stage and answer any questions about your order status.”
Shopee entered several Latin American markets between 2020 and 2021, launching ecommerce operations in Mexico, Colombia, Chile, and Argentina (Brazil operations had already started before the pandemic).
The two markets closed – Colombia and Chile – were both launched in June 2021.
At that time, the top three shopping apps in both countries were SHEIN, Mercado Libre, and AliExpress (Alibaba Group’s cross border B2C marketplace).
As of 31 October 2025, the Colombian app rankings show the top five as Temu, SHEIN, Mercado Libre, Alibaba.com (Alibaba Group’s international B2B marketplace), and Amazon.
Shopee took longer to prepare its Argentina launch, which went live in January 2022, just as the capital markets had begun to turn.
By September 2022, Shopee had completely withdrawn from the Spanish-speaking Latin American markets as a local marketplace. In Chile, Colombia, and Mexico, the company shut down local teams but kept cross-border operations running.
After a tough period from 2022 to 2024 where it faced share price slump and competition from TikTok Shop, Shopee seems to have recovered – its share price has rebounded to about 40% of its peak, and management has recently started mentioning ambitions to become a trillion-dollar company.
In Brazil, the largest e-commerce battleground in the region, Shopee claims to be No. 1 by order volume, while local giant Mercado Libre has been defending its market share by cutting logistics costs and other measures.
Meanwhile, in Mexico, Shopee’s cross-border operations appear to be running normally, with recent Double 11 and Halloween promotions still being rolled out.
Interestingly, on social media, many Colombian consumers expressed sadness over Shopee’s shutdown — while the most common comment from Chilean users was:
“Where will we buy such cheap football jerseys and sneakers now?”
The post Shopee shuts down in two countries first appeared on The Low Down - Momentum Works.
