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Shopee Design Platform: Mass Ad Generation with Automated Design Functions
Topics
Product
Problem
Shopee needed a scalable way to generate tens of thousands of high-quality promotional banners and creatives across multiple markets. Manual workflows between design and marketing teams were slow, repetitive, and often inconsistent across campaigns. Sellers and internal teams lacked fast, intuitive tools for creating eye-catching visuals at scale.
Strategy
We built an AI-powered design platform integrated into Shopee’s Seller Centre. The solution included mass background removal, Magic Brush for quick product cleanup, and Banner Creator templates. Sellers could create polished, platform-ready ads in minutes, while internal design and marketing teams automated 70–80% of repetitive creative tasks. This reduced design-to-marketing handoff time by 30% and created a consistent visual identity across the superapp.
Results
The platform transformed Shopee’s design operations into a high-speed, automated creative pipeline. 70–80% of all banners and promotions in the Shopee app were generated or assisted by the system. A cross-functional team of 5 core developers and 30 XFNs across 3 organizations delivered an AI design solution with 4x ROIC and 74% IRR. The system was one of the earliest large-scale AI-assisted design tools in Southeast Asia (2019), reducing manual workloads and improving campaign agility.
BY THE METRICS
70–80%
Of banners generated or automated with the tool
30%
Reduction in manual steps between design ↔ marketing handoffs
4x
Return on Invested Capital (ROIC)
74%
Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
Shopee’s growth required a new way of thinking about creative production. At regional scale, manually generating banner assets for sellers, flash sales, campaigns, and in-app promotions was unsustainable. The design platform brought AI-driven efficiency into the workflow.
From Manual Design to AI-Assisted Creative Automation
The project evolved to eliminate bottlenecks in the creative workflow, moving through stages of design manual handoffs, semi-automated templating, and finally a fully AI-assisted platform:
- Phase 1 – Manual Banner Production: Designers created banners one by one for sellers and campaigns.
- Phase 2 – Semi-Automated Templates: Banner Creator introduced standard templates in Seller Centre, improving speed and consistency.
- Phase 3 – AI-Powered Tools: Background Remover, Magic Brush, and automated mass ad generation enabled sellers and internal teams to instantly create campaign-ready visuals at scale.
Banner Creator empowered sellers to design personalized banners in minutes, while mass automation kept campaigns visually consistent across regions. Key use cases included product launches, seasonal campaigns, and flash sales.
"The banners and promotions you see in Shopee today are 70–80% generated or automated with this system."
This innovation positioned Shopee ahead of competitors by embedding AI into everyday seller tools and internal workflows, enabling faster campaign launches and significantly reduced design bottlenecks.
"The banners and promotions you see in Shopee today are 70–80% generated or automated with this system."
Key Takeaways
- AI tools can streamline ad production and eliminate repetitive design tasks at scale.
- Embedding creative automation inside seller tools empowers merchants to create high-quality assets directly.
- Cross-functional collaboration (tech, design, marketing) is essential to roll out AI-driven creative platforms.
- Early adoption of AI in design ops (2019) delivered strong ROI and lasting strategic advantage.
