JAKARTA, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Alphabet Inc's ( GOOG )

YouTube and e-commerce platform Shopee said on Wednesday

they were launching an online shopping service in Indonesia and

planned to expand it in Southeast Asia as competition picks up

with a rival operator owned by TikTok.

Under the YouTube Shopping tie-up, people will be able to

purchase goods viewed on YouTube through links to Shopee, which

is owned by Southeast Asian technology conglomerate Sea Ltd. ( SE )

Company executives told reporters they plan to expand the

service to Thailand and in Vietnam in a few weeks. YouTube

Shopping is already active in South Korea and the United States.

Indonesia's "energy and velocity around online shopping" is

what prompted the launch, YouTube Asia-Pacific director Ajay

Vidyasagar said in Jakarta.

With YouTube Shopping, Alphabet Inc ( GOOG ) and Shopee will be competing

against TikTok, the Bytedance-owned video app, which has

increased its ambitions for the region after taking control of

Indonesia's biggest e-commerce platform Tokopedia.

Asked about the size of the partnership with Shopee,

Vidyasagar said it was very significant, but declined to give

numbers. He said YouTube Shopping would be opened to partners

other than Shopee "in a phased, sequenced manner."

Reuters reported last year, citing sources, that YouTube was

planning to apply for a licence to operate e-commerce services

in Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest economy.

TikTok's shopping service, TikTok Shop, accounted for $16.3

billion in 2023 in gross merchandise value in Southeast Asia, in

a nearly fourfold jump from the previous year, consultancy

Momentum Works said in a report.

This has made the platform the region's second largest

e-commerce platform after Shopee.

The region of nearly 700 million is one of the world's

fastest growing e-commerce markets. The Momentum Works report

said Southeast Asia's eight largest e-commerce platforms racked

up $114.6 billion in gross merchandise value in 2023, up 15%

from 2022.