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Tag: Lazada

  • Lazada to launch its first Mid-Year Festival

    Lazada to launch its first Mid-Year Festival

    Following its new theme ‘Go Where Your Heart Beats’, the festival will launch across all six of its markets in Southeast Asia for 24 hours. Lazada held its first Lazada Mid-Year Festival on July 12.

    Consumers will get access to a wide assortment of product deals on Lazada including branded goods and new arrivals. Other benefits during the festival include free shipping deals with participating sellers, and give-away vouchers.

    “Introducing our new Mid-Year Festival during a traditionally quieter shopping season presents more chances in a year for us to bring excitement to shoppers and provide our sellers more opportunities to boost their performance,” said Jing Yin, president of Lazada Group.

    As part of Lazada’s new Mid-Year Festival, the e-commerce company is expanding its ‘Shoppertainment’ strategy with its first region-wide live-streamed game show “Guess It” across six countries. The 30-minute in-app show combines a gameshow concept with professionally-generated live-streamed content.

    A local personality will play host, giving away clues for viewers to guess the price of products.=

    A total of 672 Guess It episodes across the region will feature more than 4000 items from a variety of sellers, with a focus on newly-launched and special edition products.

    Lazada’s live-streamed game show has already resulted in 68,000 new live-streaming account followers in the Philippines, 10 times the number of viewers per average livestream session in Thailand, and double the number per average livestream session in Singapore to-date.

    “Our professionally-generated Guess It content offers a new way to feature brands and sellers, while increasing in-app consumer dwell time and purchase,” said Mary Zhou, CMO of Lazada Group.

    “This is a result of a holistic approach to our shoppertainment strategy – tying in a seller collaboration approach and integrating seamlessly with our payments and customer engagement priorities.”

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  • E-Commerce Giant Lazada Joins Mobile Game EvergleamHill

    E-Commerce Giant Lazada Joins Mobile Game EvergleamHill

    HotNow, the retail marketing platform has announced the soft launch of Evergleam Hill, a casual mobile game where users mine their way to discounts, vouchers, and giveaways. After months of testing, the soft launch version is now available on both the Android Google Play and Apple App Stores, having successfully accrued over 3000 downloads in the past few weeks without any marketing efforts. The game includes new merchant partners including Southeast Asian e-commerce giant Lazada and leading Thai coffee chain D’Oro Coffee.

    Developed as HotNow’s flagship game for its proprietary in-game advertising solution, HotPlay, Evergleam Hill has seen approximately one thousand coupon downloads by avid consumers in the past few weeks. To date, the coupons on the game hold a total discount value exceeding THB 2.5 million (US$80,000), highlighting the benefits of HotPlay as merchants have been able to measurably engage with an ever-growing consumer base by effectively bridging virtual gameplay with real-world rewards.

    Nithinan Boonyawattanapisut, CEO and Co-Founder of HotNow said, “Following a rigorous testing phase with the help of a dedicated gamer community, we are thrilled to celebrate this milestone in the development of Evergleam Hill as we welcome new merchant partners onboard. By successfully bridging the worlds of gaming, retail, and virtual currencies, we’ve been able to leverage the existing synergies within these industries to the benefit of our merchant partners and users alike”.

    Set in the eponymous mining village, Evergleam Hill is a mobile role-playing game where players are rewarded with branded prizes, discounts, and promotions with real-world value from participating merchant partners. As a highly interactive game with stunning visuals, players currently have the opportunity to mine their gold chunks for HOT tokens by exchanging them at the game’s bank, the First Bank of Evergleam Hill. HOT tokens can then be used to purchase in-game items. Further updates to the game’s infrastructure will see branded coupons and discounts from retail partners sold within an in-game marketplace which can then be used in real-world transactions at partnering brick-and-mortar retailers. Users will also be able to sell these coupons and discounts to other players through the game’s marketplace in the near future.

    Benjamin Scherrey, Group CTO of HotNow said, “As we work towards the full global launch of Evergleam Hill, it’s important to recognise that our HotPlay platform offers a new, unprecedented form of mobile advertising that is truly the first of its kind. We are excited to be working with these merchants who have taken a progressive approach to consumer engagement and we look forward to supporting them along with our community of game developers as we work to revolutionise the in-game advertising landscape”.

    Participating retail partners at this time are local to Thailand, including American ice cream chain, Baskin-Robbins; Thailand’s coffee chain, D’Oro Coffee; and globally-recognised fast food chain and donut brand, Mister Donut. Apart from food and beverage discounts, Evergleam Hill now features discount coupons from Lazada along with a coupon for a free one-night stay worth THB 6,799 from five-star beachfront resort U Pattaya.

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  • Singapore digital accessories chain Uniq enters the Philippines

    Singapore digital accessories chain Uniq enters the Philippines

    Singaporean gadget and mobile-accessories retailer Uniq has opened its first Philippine store.

    Located at Cyberzone in Quezon’s SM North Edsa Annex, the store targets young professionals who are particular about style.

    Its products known for their “minimalist mobility” and “smart simplicity” to the country’s digitally connected populace.

    “Most of our products are for iPhones and Mac but we also have charging solutions that are more universal,” said Andy Wong, MD and co-founder of Uniq.

    Established in Singapore in 2010, Uniq started out as a phone-case design company.

    The company has entered the Philippines with the help of Macpower Marketing Corporation, which is also partner of Globe, Power Mac Center, and Lazada.

    Uniq products are available in 22 countries via an online store and the company plans to partner with online stores such as Shopee and Lazada.

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  • Lazada activates official Olympic partner status

    Lazada activates official Olympic partner status

    Southeast Asia e-commerce platform Lazada Group has activated its Olympic Games partnership as part of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) long-term partnership with parent Alibaba Group.

    As an official Olympic partner in Southeast Asia, Lazada will help Olympic stakeholders further the reach of the Olympic Movement and connect with the region’s fans.

    “We believe Lazada’s digital footprint will assist us in spreading the spirit of the Olympic Games far and wide across this important region, particularly with a younger audience,” said Timo Lumme, MD, IOC television & marketing services.

    “As an e-commerce pioneer in the region, Lazada seeks to continuously accelerate progress in Southeast Asia and encourage every individual to pursue and ignite new possibilities,” said Lazada Group CEO Pierre Poignant. “We are honored to be activating Alibaba’s partnership with the IOC under our brand and look forward to bringing more Olympic-related moments to this region over the next nine years.”

    Lazada will use the advertising and promotional opportunities connected with using Olympic marks and imagery, including marks from National Olympic Committees. The editions leading up to 2028 include the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, the Olympic Games Paris 2024, the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028 and the Olympic Winter Games 2026 in a city yet to be selected by the IOC.

    Lazada held a series of local-engagement initiatives themed “Every Small Inspiration Matters” during the weekend, starting with internal employee events across the region.

    “As Southeast Asia’s leading eCommerce platform by the scale and by reach, we are capturing and also contributing to the heartbeat of the region,” said Mary Zhou, chief marketing officer at Lazada Group. “Through this partnership, we hope to further extend the heart of the Olympic Games and its meaningful values to Southeast Asia.”

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  • Lazada brand refreshed with New Slogan and Tagline

    Lazada brand refreshed with New Slogan and Tagline

    Southeast Asian e-commerce platform Lazada has launched a new brand campaign – Go Where Your Heart Beats.

    This is the first refresh of the Lazada brand in five years, representing an attempt to elevate the role of the company beyond a transactional shopping platform to a “lifestyle destination”. The move is underpinned by the brand’s “shoppertainment” strategy to enhance the shopper experience, its seller empowerment efforts and ongoing engagements with local community segments.

    The campaign kicked off yesterday with a series of films following the personal journeys of three individuals made possible through Lazada, and introduced the firm’s new brand identity that reflects a more youthful, energetic and dynamic look and feel. It features a new heart logomark, typeface and new palette of Lazada colours.

    “As this region’s e-commerce pioneer, we first introduced Lazada in Southeast Asia to provide effortless shopping online,” said Lazada Group CEO Pierre Poignant. “Seven years on, we are the e-commerce leader that aims to serve 300 million customers by 2030.

    “We are elevating the role of Lazada beyond just a transactional shopping platform, to a lifestyle destination that can enable and progress hopes, dreams and desires – whether you’re a seller or a shopper.”

    The new Lazada brand identity was developed by Superunion Singapore and the accompanying campaign was conceptualised and developed by Wunderman Thompson Singapore.

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  • Sulwhasoo launched on Lazada

    Sulwhasoo launched on Lazada

    Amorepacific’s luxury skincare brand Sulwhasoo has launched on Lazada.

    The partnership marks the brand’s expansion into the Southeast Asia e-commerce market.

    With this Lazmall store, shoppers in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam can access Sulwhasoo’s range of beauty products.

    “The influence of South Korean beauty trends and culture in this region is undeniable, and we are pleased to bring one of Korea’s top skincare brands Sulwhasoo online with Lazada – reinforcing our leadership in the beauty category and in serving our female customers,” said Lazada Group president Jing Yin.

    The South Korean beauty-and-cosmetics conglomerate is already leveraging Lazada’s platform for distribution of four key brands including Laneige, Mamonde, Innisfree and Etude House. These brand stores are housed on LazMall, a place for shoppers to get directaccess to international and local brands, top-rated online brands and authorised brand distributors.

    “Lazada is the region’s e-commerce leader, particularly in the beauty space, and the best possible partner to take our business online in Southeast Asia,” said Mina Kim, senior VP of Sulwhasoo at Amorepacific.

    “We hope to bring Sulwhasoo’s value of Asian beauty to more customers and help them experience our unique beauty solutions in a new way.”

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  • Bobbi Brown Sells on Lazada

    Bobbi Brown Sells on Lazada

    Bobbi Brown cosmetics is launching on Lazada Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore this week.

    The flagship stores on Lazada Singapore will see the largest online inventory of products – more than double the selection of the largest existing online distributor.

    Bobbi Brown said its partnership with Lazada will further its mission of bringing “high-touch educational experiences”. The flagship stores will provide consumers tips on selecting the right product for their needs and skin. Customers will also be able to seek advice from the brand’s beauty consultants through Lazada’s instant-messaging feature.

    A live-streaming event tomorrow on the Lazada app will involve makeup tutorials by local beauty influencers. Besides midnight flash sales, there will also be “live” exclusive deals and promotions shoppers can purchase in-app during the livestream.

    The partnership with Lazada will not just extend the reach of its range of products in Southeast Asia, but also to bring more innovative and immersive ways to share educational tips with a larger audience within the shopping experience, according to Bobbi Brown brand manager Yanny Li.

    Bobbi Brown is the fifth brand under Estee Lauder Companies to launch its e-commerce flagship store on Lazada.

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  • L’Oreal Extends Lazada Partnership to next-day deliveries

    L’Oreal Extends Lazada Partnership to next-day deliveries

    L’Oreal has signed a joint business plan with Lazada to fulfil next-day delivery in top metro cities by June this year. This L’Oreal-Lazada logistical pact demonstrates the cosmetics company’s ambition to grow its e-commerce business in Asia. Both companies will also pilot consumer engagement tools such as in-app live streaming, and jointly launch products exclusively available to Lazada customers.

    “We are confident of creating the leading online beauty destination in Southeast Asia by combining Lazada’s extensive last mile logistics network to bring L’Oreal’s products faster into our customers’ hands,” said Jing Yin, president of Lazada Group.

    “Our partnership today signals our commitment and joint ambition of dominating the Southeast Asian beauty and skincare e-commerce market share by providing the best customer experience.”

    Other technological advancements such as new search features will ensure L’Oreal products are easily searchable within app to bring the most personalised products to its fans.

    “Lazada and L’Oreal will collaborate in many areas, from technology, sales and marketing to logistics,” said Pierre-Yves, MD, Southeast Asia, at L’Oreal.

    “Lazada’s technology infrastructure, logistics network and brand-engagement capabilities are the gold standard of the industry. Our joint efforts will take us one step closer to creating a true beauty-shopping destination on Lazada.”

    The L’Oreal-Lazada collaboration started in 2014, bringing 820,000 followers to the L’Oreal store on the platform. E-commerce sales now comprise 11 per cent of its global sales.

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  • Grab now has more rivals than ever before in Vietnam

    Grab now has more rivals than ever before in Vietnam

    From an e-hailing app, Grab has made great steps forward, providing many different services. Most recently, it started the payment service GrabPay and lending service Grab Financial. The consumer lending market in South East Asia is very large. As estimated by the World Bank, about 2 billion people in the world cannot access bank services, and most of them are in Asia Pacific.

    The non-cash payment market, according to Grab, is worth $500 billion in South East Asia. An analyst commented that Grab is wise taking a ‘roundabout’ approach to consumer lending (it conquered the transport market first before aiming for the consumer credit market).

    Consumer lending is a fertile business field for Chinese e-commerce firms. The firms offer online payment apps to users to ‘learn’ about their financial capability.

    Grab, as an app, quickly attracted users, especially investors. Just within six years, Grab became an unicorn company, i.e. an unlisted technology firm with valuation of $1 billion and higher, in South East Asia. Analysts estimate that Grab is valued at $6 billion.

    The challenges

    The total number of Grab downloads has reached 95 million all over South East Asia. This could serve as the launch pad for it to conquer the consumer lending market.

    “GrabPay e-wallet will be used for both transport and food delivery services, two of the most used services in South East Asia,” said Jerry Lim, director of Grab Vietnam.

    However, the analyst said, by expanding its business, Grab would have to compete with more rivals who are ‘powers’ in their fields. In online payment, for example, it will have to compete not only with AirPay (Sea) and Alipay (Alibaba Group), but also with local firms such as ZaloPay (VNG) and MoMo.

    In Indonesia, Grab bought an e-commerce platform, Kudo, in April 2017. Grab believes that this is the factor which can help expand GrabPay. However, in Vietnam, Grab’s two big rivals – Sea and Alibaba — both have strong support from two popular e-commerce floors – Shopee Vietnam and Lazada Vietnam.

    Similarly, GrabFood has rivals in the food delivery sector, where Sea’s Now, which inherited the large custom from Foody, is the leader.

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  • Lazada strengthens its position as Singapore’s top eCommerce platform with RedMart’s move to the Lazada app

    Lazada strengthens its position as Singapore’s top eCommerce platform with RedMart’s move to the Lazada app

    With RedMart officially completing its move to the Lazada platform on 15 March, customers can now enjoy a one-stop solution for all their shopping needs. Those who buy their groceries online via RedMart now have access to more than 400,000 retailers in Lazada’s ecosystem, all within the same app and at redmart.lazada.sg. The move also makes Lazada the top eCommerce platform in Singapore in terms of traffic and product range.

    RedMart’s move is part of Lazada’s plan to become Southeast Asia’s biggest eCommerce ecosystem and offer customers the best selection of products across all categories. Combined with RedMart, Lazada has more than 165,000 grocery and supermarket offerings, more than any other grocer (retail or otherwise) in Singapore and Southeast Asia.

    James Chang, CEO of Lazada Singapore, said: “Bringing Lazada and RedMart together is an ambitious project aimed at offering Singapore customers a platform to shop for all their needs more easily and conveniently. Customers can compare similar products across all the retailers in our ecosystem, shop for complementary offerings and benefit from having more payment options, such as the Lazada Wallet.”

    “Since making the move, order volume generated via the new RedMart store on Lazada has been encouraging, with customer orders submitted in the first five days after the move (15-19 March) growing at a similar rate as on the previous platform. This shows that we have been successful in bringing together general merchandise and groceries to create a truly one-stop shopping experience. Lazada is now the top eCommerce platform in Singapore, offering more products and attracting more shoppers than any other platform.”

    Lazada will be rolling out a series of app updates over the next few months to further enhance the shopping experience for customers.

    “We are constantly looking at ways to improve the platform. We take our customers’ feedback seriously and want to ensure that we not only offer them the best selection of products, but also the best user experience,” James added.

    Lazada will launch the following RedMart features and functionalities by end-June 2019:

    1. Order Amend – allowing customers to add more items to an existing placed order;
    2. Delivery Slot Incentives – incentivising customers to consolidate deliveries within the same area and timeframe to reduce our carbon footprint;
    3. My List Features – including managing lists and stock up reminders.

    Other improvements in the pipeline include:

    1. Search Functionality – additional sorting by relevance and/or savings;
    2. Delivery Slot Reservation – allowing customers to reserve their delivery slot before they add items to their shopping cart;
    3. Order Rescheduling – allowing customers to change their delivery timing post-checkout.

    Orders made on the new RedMart on Lazada will continue to be fulfilled according to customers’ chosen two-hour delivery slot between 7AM and 10PM, seven days a week including public holidays, while orders with other Lazada sellers will be fulfilled separately. LiveUp Loyalty Programme members will continue to enjoy free shipping on RedMart for orders over $40, and cashback benefits in the form of Lazada credits which can be used for any orders on Lazada, including for RedMart items.

  • Lazada Fires Up Growth Of “Super eBusinesses” In Southeast Asia

    Lazada Fires Up Growth Of “Super eBusinesses” In Southeast Asia

    Southeast Asia eCommerce leader Lazada today announced an allen compassing series of products and services that will fire up the growth of its brands and sellers – big or small – to win market share in the region by transforming them into “Super eBusinesses”.

    The offerings, dubbed super-solutions, are aimed at resolving three pain points that brands and sellers face – branding, marketing and sales. These features, which have been rolled out in conjunction with Lazada’s 7th Birthday celebration, are aimed at brands and sellers, of all sizes, to ensure they are well-positioned to ride the eCommerce boom in Southeast Asia.

    “No seller is too small to aspire, and no brand is too big to be a Super eBusiness. That is why we are thrilled to roll out super-solutions to help our brands and sellers become more nimble in digitising their businesses and better reach customers,” said Pierre Poignant, Lazada Group Chief Executive Officer. The “super-solutions” which were unveiled include: – A series of ‘Super’ campaigns in which LazMall brands and sellers can choose to take part to boost

    their brand image and better engage with customers;

    – A new and improved Marketing Solutions Package and Business Advisor Dashboard that can deliver more traffic to their storefronts, and arm brands and sellers with near real-time information to help them make faster and better decisions to sell more effectively and efficiently;

    – New tech tools like Store Builder for brands and sellers to customise their storefronts to differentiate themselves on Lazada, while in-app live streaming, news feed and in-app consumer games can help win the hearts of consumers with higher consumer engagement. (See factsheet for details)

    At the same time, Lazada also formalised cooperation partnerships with 12 leading global lifestyle, technology and fashion companies that will boost collaboration and strengthen their online retail presence. Called Joint Business Partnerships (JBP), these collaborations will enable brands to tap on Lazada’s industry-leading tech and logistics infrastructure, innovation and e-commerce expertise. Lazada today inked Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) with electronics leaders Realme and Coocaa, while the one with Huawei was signed earlier this month. Other brands that are set to join will include several of the world’s biggest FMCG companies.

    Backed by Alibaba’s technology and logistics infrastructure, Lazada has been able to launch over the past year industry-leading tech innovations like search-image function, consumer engagement games and in app live streaming to become the region’s only “shoppertainment” platform on which people can watch, shop and play, said Poignant at the inaugural LazMall Brands Future Forum (BFF). The annual summit gathers brands and sellers to discuss growth opportunities and technological advancements that will create

    ‘Super eBusinesses’, shaping the future of Southeast Asia’s eCommerce landscape. Accelerating the growth of Lazada brands and sellers The super-solutions will also make it easier for brands and sellers to open up stores on LazMall. Qualified merchants can now take advantage of the new self-sign up feature, a simplified sign-up process that can now be completed in mere minutes. This is in line with the Lazada’s goal of enabling SMEs to become globally competitive.

    “Since the launch of LazMall in 2018, we have seen tremendous growth among our key pioneer brand partners. We want to extend the benefits of LazMall to even more brands and sellers to elevate their eCommerce operations,” said Lazada Group President Jing Yin. “We want to incubate them so they can grow alongside us and become sustainable and successful e-businesses.”

    Across the region, 60 percent of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are keen to invest in technologies to achieve sustainable growth in today’s digital economy. Business-oriented tools including online commerce solutions, customer relationship management (CRM) and business intelligence, were identified as the top investment priorities1.

    Further promoting excellence in eCommerce, Lazada also handed out awards to top performing brands that have proven to be shining examples of “eBusinesses”. Five awards were presented to outstanding brands and sellers that have been constantly innovating to drive new ways to reach their customers on

    Lazada. Comprising global and Southeast Asian brands, the winners are Unilever (Best Marketing Innovation), Pampers (Best Social Media Activation), Coocaa (Fastest Growing Brand), Philips (Customers’ Choice Award) and Wardah (Best Product Launch).

    Driving ‘Shoppertainment’ in Southeast Asia Pushing boundaries in eCommerce in Southeast Asia, Lazada is driving ‘shoppertainment’ to provide shoppers with a fun, interactive and entertaining experience. As part of its 7th birthday celebrations, Lazada is hosting a first-of-its-kind concert, called “Super Party”, in Jakarta on March 26, 8 pm (Jakarta time).

    The concert, which features a star-studded lineup including British popstar Dua Lipa, culminates with Lazada’s birthday shopping event on March 27. The one-day sale promises a new online shopping experience that includes a new selection of exciting games for redeeming vouchers and attractive deals for consumers in the region.

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  • Lazada and Mastercard Collaborate to Empower Brands and Sellers in eCommerce

    Lazada and Mastercard Collaborate to Empower Brands and Sellers in eCommerce

    Lazada, Southeast Asia’s leading online shopping and selling platform, and Mastercard today announced a five-year partnership to grow the eCommerce ecosystem in Southeast Asia (SEA).

    This comes as Lazada is committed to delivering the best eCommerce offerings that serve the needs of the region’s brands and sellers. This partnership also enables Mastercard to reach new audiences with Lazada’s wide network of users in the SEA region, including those in developing markets. At the same time, merchants will benefit from Mastercard’s solutions.

    Here are some initiatives that Lazada and Mastercard will roll out in this partnership:

    • Develop joint marketing and education campaigns to increase consumer confidence, as well as reward schemes to incentivize the use of digital payments;
    • Lazada will be able to access Mastercard’s regional and global sponsorship platforms to create unique promotions;
    • Mastercard’s data-driven insights will combine offline and online behaviors to help Lazada understand how to drive greater e-commerce growth within the growing base of Internet-savvy and mobile consumers in the region;
    • Lazada will be the anchor merchant for certain new Mastercard solutions in select markets.

    As leaders in their respective fields, Lazada and Mastercard aim to unlock the inherent potential of Southeast Asia’s fast-growing digital ecosystem by creating opportunities on a trusted marketplace platform for brands, sellers and buyers, providing new revenue streams for businesses.

    Mary Zhou, Chief Marketing Officer, Lazada Group, said: “The rapid technological advancements in the region has created new possibilities for businesses and consumers. As we continue to nurture the growth of brands and sellers online, we want to enable them to also future-proof their businesses in the face of an evolving landscape and ultimately help them become more globally competitive. This partnership allows merchants to leverage Mastercard’s data and insights to better reach out to and engage with their consumers.”

    Rama Sridhar, Executive Vice President, Digital & Emerging Partnerships and New Payment Flows, Asia Pacific, Mastercard, said, “The e-commerce boom in Southeast Asia has brought merchants fast-evolving and borderless new opportunities while giving consumers access to a vast world of retail options. Our partnership with Lazada builds open marketplaces and advances digital democratization, bringing more to buyers and sellers in the region. It underscores how imaginative product proposition, advanced analytics and a deep understanding of consumer passion points can converge to deliver game-changing impact across Southeast Asia’s digital economy.”

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  • Alibaba Group sales down this month

    Alibaba Group sales down this month

    Alibaba Group sales soared 41 per cent in the December quarter as its customer based neared 700 million.

    The Chinese company’s turnover for the three months reached US$17.057 billion and its net income attributable to shareholders $4.807 billion.

    “Our resilient operating and financial performance is a direct reflection of our persistent focus on better serving our growing base of nearly 700 million consumers across retail, digital entertainment and local consumer services,” said CEO Daniel Zhang. “Our growth is also driven by the power of Alibaba’s cloud and data technology that helps expedite the digital transformation of millions of enterprises.”

    Alibaba group sales from core commerce increased 40 per cent to $14.958 billion, while the cloud-computing division posted 84 per cent growth, turning over $962 million. The digital media and entertainment division achieved 20 per cent growth to reach $944 million.

    In a statement, Alibaba said its Taobao platform achieved “robust user growth and enhanced engagement”. Last December, its China retail marketplaces had 699 million mobile monthly average users, representing a quarterly net increase of 33 million. The annual active consumers on its China retail marketplaces was 636 million for the 12 months ended December 31, compared to 601 million for the 12 months ended September 30 last year, “reflecting successful user acquisition programs, such as referrals through the Alipay app”.

    More than 70 per cent of the increase in annual active consumers was from third-and-lower tier cities.

    Tmall thrives

    Alibaba said GMV on its Tmall business grew 29 per cent year on year in the December quarter, outpacing the industry.

    “This robust growth was driven by strength in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), apparel and home furnishing categories,” the company said.

    During the quarter, Tmall signed up new brands to the platform including Valentino, Ermenegildo Zegna, Stuart Weitzman and Sergio Rossi which opened flagship stores and joined the Tmall Luxury Pavilion.

    Meanwhile, Alibaba’s proprietary grocery retail chain Freshippo (formerly Hema) continued to expand its footprint, “optimise its stores and introduce new initiatives that improve customer experience”. As of December 31, there were 109 self-operated Freshippo stores in China, primarily located in tier 1 and tier 2 cities, which continued to achieve “robust same-store sales growth” through the quarter.

    ‘Robust’ Lazada growth

    Alibaba’s Southeast Asian e-commerce platform Lazada achieved what the company described as “robust growth” in GMV. The company upgraded Lazada’s technology, which resulted in boosting the number of active users and achieved greater user engagement on Lazada’s mobile app.

    “We continue to invest resources to integrate Lazada’s business and technology operations into Alibaba with the aim of building a strong foundation for us to extend our offerings in Southeast Asia.”

  • Lazada Excels cross-border business across Southeast Asia

    Lazada Excels cross-border business across Southeast Asia

    Lazada is boosting its cross-border operations for international brands and merchants to after its cross-border sales quadrupled over the last three years The Alibaba-owned company says it plans to bring onboard more quality international brands and will identify and nurture the top 300 brands in each of the six. countries that Lazada operates in: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. This will allow those brands to grow their business and enjoy benefits such as higher visibility of their products when users search and browse the site.

    “We want to serve as that bridge between our quality cross-border merchants and some 560 million consumers in Southeast Asia,” said Lazada Group’s co-president Jing Yin, speaking in Shenzhen at the company’s first cross-border seller conference for this year.

    “Backed by the best expertise and infrastructure from Alibaba, as well as our in-depth understanding of Southeast Asia, we are able to equip our cross-border sellers and brands with the knowledge and tools to ride this massive growth in the region,” Yin told more than 1000 merchants at the event.

    What Lazada describes as “a meteoric rise in e-commerce spending in Southeast Asia” reflects the increasing demand for cross-border products as the GMV from Lazada’s cross-border category grew by 4.6 times between 2016 and 2018. According to industry estimates, Southeast Asia’s e-commerce market is on track to hit US$240 billion by 2025, surpassing earlier estimates by $40 billion.

    Among the key initiatives announced at this week’s conference was a revamped Global Collection: a dedicated channel showcasing an assortment of Lazada’s cross-border merchants from all around the world. Global Collection 2.0 taps on algorithm-based search functions to filter the wide cross-border assortment to spotlight sellers offering popular and good quality products so customers can find them easily.

    “With the new Global Collection, customers will get their parcels much faster,” said a Lazada spokesperson. “They can get their parcels within seven working days from the day they place their orders if they choose the standard shipping option.”

    First launched in 2013, Lazada’s cross-border business has grown to become one of the most diverse marketplaces featuring brands and merchants from all over the world. The top five markets which cross-border sellers come from are Mainland China, Hong Kong, Korea, the US and Europe, with women’s fashion, home and living and kids’ fashion ranking among the most popular cross-border items. Lazada is now looking at launching new categories, offering bulky products like furniture and home appliances.

    Last year, Lazada set a new record, with its last-mile delivery fleet across Southeast Asia delivering more than 1 million parcels in a day.

  • Pierre Poignant succeeds Lucy Peng as Lazada Group CEO

    Pierre Poignant succeeds Lucy Peng as Lazada Group CEO

    Lazada Group has announced its new CEO this year, with group executive president Pierre Poignant taking the role immediately. The move is a leadership succession plan for both Lucy and Pierre where Lucy will remain as Executive Chairwoman and continue to be based in Singapore.

    In a media statement, Lazada described the change as “succession planning”.

    Poignant, who was appointed president in August, will lead the company’s strategic development into new growth pillars, while continuing to manage Lazada’s operations in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, working closely with country CEOs and regional functional team leaders.

    “Pierre is a well-respected Lazada co-founder, who has contributed tirelessly to the company for the past six years,” said Peng. “He and the team of other co-founders had the vision to build our logistics network from the ground up back in the days when no one in Southeast Asia believed in e-commerce – this valuable asset has now set us apart from the competition. Over the years, Pierre has consistently delivered beyond his call of duty and excelled in every role he has taken up.”

    Poignant said Lazada has benefitted from the Alibaba ecosystem, from the technological prowess to the logistics network.

    “This year is a turning point for Lazada. We have improved and evolved and now come out stronger, more efficient, and more agile than the start of the year. Our transformation has just begun and I am confident next year will be another watershed year,” said Poignant.

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