Navigating algorithmic markets in Singapore: A practitioner reflection on the backstage realities of algorithmic path dependence and sustainable online retailing

This practitioner reflection examines the often unseen ‘backstage’ realities of small retailers operating within AI-mediated e-commerce platforms such as Shopee, Lazada, TikTok Shop, and Carousell in Singapore. While research has extensively analysed how algorithms influence consumers and workers, less attention has been paid to how platforms’ sellers experience and interpret algorithmically governed marketplaces. Drawing on sustained industry engagement and relevant academic literature, I explore how early platform-driven decisions – such as discounting, paid promotion, and campaign participation – may generate algorithmic path dependence that intensifies imitation, reinforces price competition, and amplifies structural asymmetries. Focusing on Singapore's dense, high-cost, digitally advanced retail environment, I reflect on how small sellers attempt to sustain margins, protect creative labour, and cultivate what I describe as a ‘trust dividend’. By surfacing these backstage dynamics, the article contributes to discussions of small-enterprise sustainability and platform governance in tropical and Global South digital economies where platform penetration is high and competitive asymmetries are pronounced.