Innisfree Vietnam today launches its first official online store, on Lazada.
The South Korean cosmetics brand is offering its full range of products on the site, including bodycare, make-up tools, skincare and men’s categories.
Online customers will be offered frequent promotions as well as gifts for bulk orders, says Innisfree.
In its two years, Innisfree Vietnam has opened three stores in Vietnam, all in Ho Chi Minh City.
Despite challenges in the retail sector, CapitaLand Mall Trust (CMT) maintained stability in its fourth quarter.
“This points to the underlying strength of our well-located malls, and the management’s continuous focus on enhancing their offering as well as improving efficiency,” says CMT management company CMTML chairman Professor Richard Magnus.
CMT achieved net property income (NPI) of S$119.3 million (US$90.6 million) for the period, to the end of December, up 2.6 per cent from the final quarter the previous year.
With Singapore’s GDP growth expected to be stable this year, competition in the retail sector will remain intense, with new retail space coming onstream, says Magnus. “To stay at the forefront of a dynamic retail landscape, CMT will continue to push the boundaries and explore new ways to future-enable its malls.”
CMT’s malls had an occupancy rate of 99.2 per cent at December 31, says CMTML CEO Tony Tan.
“As part of our ongoing effort to enhance the offline and online shopping experience in our malls, we introduced seven click-and-collect lounges under CapitaLand’s partnership with e-commerce player Lazada. They are in Bedok Mall, Bugis+, IMM Building, JCube, Plaza Singapura, Tampines Mall and Westgate.”
He says construction for Funan is progressing well. “With less than two years to target opening, Funan has received strong leasing interest for its retail and office components.”
For its fourth quarter, CMT recorded growth of 1.8 and 2.6 per cent in gross revenue and NPI respectively year on year. The increase was mainly because of higher occupancy for Bugis Junction and The Atrium@Orchard, partially offset by lower gross revenue from Bedok Mall because of lower rental rates and reduced occupancy.
For the full year, CMT recorded S$682.4 million in gross revenue, down 1.1 per cent. This was mainly because of the closure of Funan mall for redevelopment, lower rental rates and the lower occupancy at Bedok Mall. This was partially offset by higher rental from IMM Building, JCube and Clarke Quay.
To technology, retailers have and are moving out from brick-and-mortar stores to join the cyber world. As a result, street retail sales are accelerating on the Internet, offering shoppers better deals because they do not have to worry about the overhead expenses which traditional stores have to deal with.
Christy Ng Sdn Bhd founder Christy Ng, who started her business in her mother’s living room years back, now owns five brick-and-mortar stores that delivers to 30 different countries.
She decided to open her own physical store after her loyal customers, who rather try out the shoes before buying them, nudged her into it.
“During the recent MyCybersale blow-out frenzy which ran from Oct 9 to 13 last year, we achieved 10-fold more sales than our physical stores,” she said.
“We also witnessed a 35% increase in sales, specifically during the Alibaba Single’s Day 11.11 and 12.12 mega sale bash.”
She added that 60% of her customer base comes from the online store, whereas the remaining 40% of customer base are from our physical outlets.
MyCybersale is a five-day online sales festival organised by the National ICT Association of Malaysia along with the Malaysia Digital Economy Corp.
MyCybersale 2017 managed to rack in a gross merchandise value (GMV) of RM311 million, exceeding the RM300 million target set for the year.
RM39 million of the RM311 million GMV were derived from international shoppers which surpassed the export revenue target of RM20 million.
It was a phenomenal growth of over 254% from the 2016 export revenue of RM11 million.
Bagman Corp Sdn Bhd group CEO Datuk Liew said his online retail business also witnessed some positive numbers during the online mega sale frenzy.
“Bagman didn’t do all that well during last year’s MyCybersale. However, during the 11.11 and 12.12 deals, we saw a 20%-30% increase in sales.
“It is an improvement from the previous year and I believe online retail is the future,” Liew said.
Liew, who used to sell his designed bags in major marketplaces, however, added that it is hard to do branding on those marketplaces since shoppers mainly go on these sites to search for “affordable” things.
Previously reported that ShopBack Malaysia country GM Alvin Gill revealed the average spending per customer surged more than threefold during the recent the 12.12 online shopping celebration compared to the Single’s Day 11.11.
“The average spending per customer during the 12.12 was RM485, whereas for 11.11 it was US$76 (RM302.04).
“This is due to the increase in travel bookings made for the year-end holidays along with Christmas gift purchases, as well as apparels purchases for the New Year,” said Gill.
ShopBack Malaysia collaborated with more than 30 online partners during 12.12, among them were Lazada, Zalora, 11street as well as Booking.com.
Buyers have become more price sensitive and less loyal to the online platforms in a trend that has prompted an intense “pricing game”, the event heard. Consumers are switching over to the e-commerce operators that offer better promotions and prices.
The seminar also heard that so-called social commerce (s-commerce) has become another competitor, under a model where sellers and buyers can make shopping transactions directly.
Pawoot Pongvitayapanu, founder and managing director of Tarad.com, said the platform was launched about 10 years ago as the first e-marketplace in Thailand.
“Today, we are adjusting the positioning of Tarad.com to cope with more intense competition in the e-marketplace model. Without the new positioning, we would not be able to compete against other marketplaces,” he said.
Speaking at the e-marketplace forum held on Sunday at Thailand e-Commerce Week 2017, Pawoot said that nowadays competition in the e-marketplace has become more of a pricing game. Consumers have become more price sensitive and have less loyalty as they follow the bargains.
“Today, the actual competitors in the e-marketplaces are not other e-marketplace players, but s-commerce operators, such as Facebook and Instagram, where sellers and buyers can make their own transactions directly,” said Pawoot.
Thanida Suiwatana, chief financial officer – Thailand, Lazada Group, said that that Thai consumers have become more confident about online purchases.
“We spent a lot of money in doing marketing campaigns. both offline and online, to generate traffic,” said Thanida, adding that Lazada is now a top 10 e-marketplace in Thailand in terms of traffic.
“Having good traffic is one of the most important factors for both bricks and mortar stores and online marketplaces. Any online platforms that can generate good traffic will have more chances to sell products.”
Nuttawit Pholwattanasuk, managing director and co-founder of LnwShop, said that the platform serves individual vendors, enabling them to have their own website and space. It is similar to the idea of a developer of a market or shophouse allowing individual merchants or retailers to do business within their own retail space.
Eric Bui, head of operation, Shopee Thailand, said that online marketplaces now go beyond the transactional, with a focus on the engagement between buyers and sellers as part of an ongoing relationship.
“The way we do our listings and provide services to the sellers, everything is free, with no commissions or listing fees,” he said. “The shipping fee has been subsidised by Shopee. There is no reason why the listings on Shopee should not be the cheapest in the country.”
Haejin Pyun, general manager, marketing strategy, 11street Thailand, said the company started the Thai operation in February.
“We consider sellers and buyers alike to be very important. While other e-commerce players care about the buyers only, we care about the sellers sometimes more than the buyers,” said Pyun.
“In Thailand, more than 50 per cent of the transactions come cash on delivery. At 11street, more than 70 per cent of the transactions come from credit cards. We see a big potential to grow in the Thai e-commerce.
“However, to grow the e-commerce business in Thailand, the payment method is very important. In South Korea, credit card penetration is more than 90 per cent, compared to only 10 per cent in Thailand. Even though they have credit cards, Thai shoppers are still hesitant to put their credit card numbers on an e-commerce site.”
Thananan Arunragtichai, assistant director of Ascend Commerce, said that the company has operated the weloveshopping.com for 15 years as a store front. For its website, the e-marketplace model was introduced three to four years ago.
“Today, Thai consumers have greater expectation for marketplace services, such as cheap prices and high quality, as well as good after-sales service. As an e-marketplace operator, we need to manage their expectations properly,” he said.
Apple fans around South East Asia can now get new iPhones, iPads, and Macbooks from an official store on Lazada.
Apple’s Lazada store opens in Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, and Malaysia. Vietnam too will participate at an unconfirmed date.
Alibaba-owned Lazada will get stock directly from Apple, after forming an agreement with the Cupertino company. That makes it the only official online seller of Apple’s baubles in the region. Beats by Dr. Dre headphones and other accessories are also available.
Apple has a store in only one Southeast Asian nation: Singapore. That has created a niche for grey-marketeers to sell Apple’s gadgets – particularly iPhones – at inflated prices, with the ever-present risk of shoppers getting a counterfeit item.
The opening is a boost to Lazada’s efforts to get more major brands to set up storefronts on its site. It already has 3,000 brands, mixed in with 135,000 smaller merchants.
Earlier this year, when Retail in Asia met Duri Graziol, Director of Lazada Indonesia, and our discussion was about very well established brands and their way of targeting South East Asia.
Typically, brands explore different options, among others, creating their own .com., or going with a market place such as Lazada or Alibaba.
Duri’s views on those options were the following :
Creating your own .com
Iis more ambitious and it requires huge investments, which go beyond building the website. Brands can easily build an e-commerce website, but how to bring people to the website, this is the challenge.
Unless, you are selling something specific, which customers cannot find elsewhere, you are a small shop next to a shopping mall. Either people know your shop, or you will be basically just one in the thousands shops in the city, so on the internet.
When people look for products without having any preference or idea, they go to a mall, and if you are not in there, you will miss your chance. In an online environment, those people go to market places and search per category.
Going with a market place
Customers who go to Lazada for instance, do not search per brand, they search for category, and if you are not there, it is very hard to target those customers.
Additionally, a brand, which decides to open its own website will have to deal with high marketing costs to bring traffic to the website, with Lazada, those marketing costs are reduced as we work as a group. This is a massive advantage.
In the countries we serve, infrastructures are a huge obstacle. Indonesia, for instance, has thousands of islands, as well as Philippines, and you need to deal with that, 50% of our orders are done ourselves.
Another advantage of going with Lazada is the customer service management, which is internal for us makes it easier to reply to all questions regarding products, delivery, and logistics issues.
Furthermore, payment, in countries like Indonesia, present some difficulties. Credit card and online banking penetration are still low or COD remains the lion’s share of payment methods and this it has pushed us to develop a business model for it.
Cash on delivery is the solution for markets, in which trust is hard to build, and other payment services are not very well established.
Concisely, Lazada is not only a market place, Lazada means experience in managing the customer journey and the different stakeholders involved in it.
Apple is always looked at as a role model, so we are looking forward to the next giant brand to join Lazada.
The growth rate for retail stores is now at single-digit levels, falling from above 10% in recent years. Online shopping is shouldering part of the blame, but the main culprit is a slowdown in overall consumer spending — long the driver of Indonesia’s economy — due to sluggish wage growth.
Since the busy Ramadan shopping season ended in the summer, Indonesian consumers apparently have tucked away their wallets, at least at brick-and-mortar establishments. Retail store sales in October 2017 grew by an anemic 1.3% from a year earlier, according to preliminary data released by Bank Indonesia, the country’s central bank.
This is causing store closures across the country, where the modern retail business model had entrenched itself over the years. At the end of June, all Indonesian 7-Eleven convenience stores closed their doors. In September 2017, Matahari Department Store, the nation’s largest department store chain, shuttered two southern Jakarta stores.
Same-store sales of the chain over the first nine months of the year fell 2.7% from the same period last year.
The recent lack of foot traffic at a major Jakarta department store typified the trend. As some 40 clerks stood idly chatting away, a nearby supermarket swarmed with shoppers.
Many of the vacant store fronts in the country’s commercial centers are due to the increase in e-commerce. According to one survey, online sales surged 22% in 2017 from the previous year to around $7 billion.
A bevy of powerful e-commerce sites — among them Tokopedia, one of Indonesia’s largest online marketplaces, and Alibaba Group Holding’s Lazada — are siphoning shoppers away from stores, a trend that shows no sign of abating. Online sales are projected to keep climbing at a brisk annual rate of around 20% for the foreseeable future.
The growth in smartphone usage has also spurred online shopping, especially in rural areas where modern retail shops are still few and far between.
But the rise in online shopping tells only part of the story. The main reason for tepid consumer spending is weak wage growth. The minimum wage growth rate will slow to 8.71% in 2018, the lowest in recent years, according to the government, noting that relatively low-income earners will be hit particularly hard.
As recently as 2013, minimum wages had soared more than 40%, fueling the country’s free-spending ways. Now, consumers are being forced to cut back in order to save for future outlays, such as on housing and education. This has put a crimp on spending for even daily products.
With a population of over 250 million, Indonesia is the largest consumer market in Southeast Asia. Many economists say the country’s consumption will continue to rise over the long term.
There is little doubt, however, that Indonesian’s retail industry is facing a crisis of sorts, and the government is not helping with the situation.
If this trend continues, the ensuing shock waves may hit other sectors of the economy, possibly dampening foreign direct investment in the country’s consumer market.
Fans of Apple can soon buy their favourite Apple products on Lazada, Southeast Asia’s leading eCommerce company. As an authorised online reseller, Lazada’s customers will be able to choose from a wide range of Apple products including iPhone, MacBook, MacBook Pro, iPad, iPad Pro, Apple TV, Beats by Dr. Dre, and other accessories.
Start shopping this holiday season
Consumers can start browsing this holiday season when the Apple ‘Shop-in-Shop’ on Lazada officially launches today (8th December) in the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore. This will be followed by Malaysia on 11th December, and then in Vietnam.
By shopping on Lazada, customers can choose to pay for their Apple devices through Lazada’s 0% financing instalment plans[1]. Exciting surprises also await Lazada customers looking to score savings from deals offered during the finale of Lazada’s Online Revolution shopping event, the 12.12 Final Sale. More details will be announced later.
The “preferred choice” for global brands
Lazada Group Chief Executive Officer Max Bittner said the Apple ‘Shop-in-Shop’ concept is a testament to Lazada’s reputation as the undisputed and trusted online shopping and selling platform in Southeast Asia. “Lazada is the preferred choice for global brands who, like us, want to drive the explosive growth of eCommerce in Southeast Asia,” said Mr. Bittner, adding: “It also underscores our commitment to give consumers better and convenient access to the world’s best brands and products, especially those from Apple.”
French FMCG company Danone has teamed with Lazada Group to create a series of online stores for Southeast Asia, starting with Thailand in December.
The Danone-Lazada strategic regional partnership covers Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. The two companies say they will create “a superior online shopping experience for key product categories, combining their expertise on shopper needs and behaviours, and bringing convenience and compelling content to the ever-growing number of online consumers across the region”.
The alliance will begin with Danone’s Early Life Nutrition category, which features a portfolio of brands for families with young children. Danone’s Early Life businesses are already working together in Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore – participating in Lazada mega-campaigns such as Online Revolution on 11.11 and 12.12.
The joint venture will stretch beyond simple e-commerce by offering parents advice and information on the growth, development and nutritional needs of children. Lazada’s digital platforms will provide convenient ordering solutions, personalised service and exclusive content and events developed with Danone.
“We have been working with Lazada for more than a year, and accelerating our partnership in the last six months,” says Eric van der Hoeven, VP of growth through engagement at Danone Early Life Nutrition. “We want to support all parents in their journey, and wherever we can, to help them make well-informed feeding decisions for their children at the critical moments in their growth and development. I am very pleased that our constructive collaboration so far will now be taken further in this strategic regional partnership.”
Lazada CEO Max Bittner says young parents live increasingly busy lives and are often confronted with information overload.
“Teaming up with a trusted brand like Danone reinforces Lazada’s position as a source of quality products and enables us to serve the best, most relevant content, service and support for parents on their journey.”
The partnership will come into force by end of November, beginning with workshops bringing together the Danone and Lazada teams in the local countries in sharing insights and planning. The first visible consumer features jointly developed will be implemented on the Lazada websites in Thailand in December.
In its sixth year, the Lazada Online Revolution mega-sale will be the biggest yet when it takes off on November 11 across six countries – Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Themed “Shop the Universe”, the sale will offer 210 million products, up sevenfold from last year, and has expanded its product categories to include fashion, luxury cosmetics, groceries, pet supplies and digital goods such as e-vouchers and prepaid mobile-phone top-ups. International brands include Huawei, Laneige, Levi’s, Mac, Ray-Ban, Shiseido and Triumph.
There will be about 26 million deals offering discounts of up to 90 per cent, including items from the Taobao Collection, which offers kitchenware, furnishings, fashion apparel and accessories.
Shoppers in Southeast Asia ordered about two million items within the first 24 hours of last year’s Online Revolution 2016. Among the top sellers were VR glasses, smartphones, shower gels and mascaras.
As well as its own 130 delivery centres across the six countries, Lazada will work with more than 80 delivery companies to handle demand during the sale.
Southeast Asia is on the verge of a logistics “boom” thanks to e-commerce, but will require huge investment in cities and last-mile networks to cope, says Pierre Poignant, the man behind the systems that keep Alibaba-owned Lazada moving.
Mr Poignant, chief operating officer, said the Singapore-based marketplace, for its part, would continue to bet on delivery and other partnerships as demand grows. It already works with more than 100 companies in delivery and cross-border logistics, from Ninjavan in Singapore to ride-hailing start-up Go-Jek in Jakarta.
But it will expand its footprint to cut costs and improve services, with smaller local hubs closer to customers, as well as a major warehouse it can use in Malaysia for goods that move less often. Lazada, with 130,000 merchants on its platform, has 14 warehouses and over 2 million square feet of space — and plans to open another five to six warehouses next year. It also has 130 smaller distribution centres.
“Logistics in Southeast Asia is going to look very different from the rest of the world. It is hard to believe one player can do everything,” Mr Poignant said in an interview.
“The distance from Aceh to Papua [in Indonesia] is bigger than the distance from Miami to Seattle. People don’t realise.”
Already the world’s fourth-largest internet market, Southeast Asia is expanding at a rate of almost 4 million users a month, making it the fastest-growing e-commerce market globally, according to a 2016 report co-authored by Google.
But while there are key growth engines — a young population of active mobile users and a patchy local retail network — there are also major challenges, as companies like Lazada try to conquer a region made up of thousands of islands, with poor roads and traffic-clogged cities.
Some regions have no formal system for home addresses, Mr Poignant said, complicating deliveries, returns and even payment — more than half of transactions are still settled in cash.
That leads to experiments, combining online purchases with offline pick-up in malls, as in Singapore — or in Indonesia, where Lazada handles a bulk of the last-mile delivery itself, using three-wheeled electric vehicles for bigger parcels. Cars and vans are too slow in traffic, Mr Poignant said.
Taking the lead
Amazon and others, including local players, have not failed to notice the region’s potential: Amazon is using Singapore as its beachhead, while China’s second largest e-commerce company JD.com is making Thailand its point of departure, partnering with the country’s largest retailer, Central Group.
But Mr Poignant argues Lazada’s experience is hard to beat.
“When it comes to logistics we are developing a distinct competitive advantage. We are the only ones to have this open network approach — combining our own infrastructure and partners,” Mr Poignant said.
“Setting up a logistics network is a complex, long process.”
Critical to keeping the advantage is also data, and Lazada is linking up with fast-moving goods producers like Unilever, to turn knowledge into target sales.
Alibaba bought into Lazada last year in an effort to seek growth outside China. The $1-billion deal in April 2016 was Alibaba’s largest overseas deal and it raised its stake to over 80% this year.
Last November, Lazada bought Singapore online grocer Redmart, a purchase that it hopes will help it crack cold storage and expand groceries into the rest of the region, though there is no concrete plan yet, Mr Poignant said.
“One of the reasons why we acquired RedMart is that groceries is a very specific set of skills that you need to develop,” Mr Poignant said. “We have the ambition to develop this category across the region.”
CapitaLand is advancing its omni-channel strategy by forging an alliance with Lazada Singapore, and has also signed an agreement to manage Alibaba Shanghai Center, comprising four office towers and a retail podium.
Its China project is the start of a strategic collaboration between the Singapore-based real estate group and Alibaba Group, Asia’s largest e-commerce company, to reinvent modern retail through the seamless integration of offline and online (O&O) channels.
CapitaLand’s Singapore deal involves an agreement to launch an exclusive online mall on Lazada Singapore, which is part of Lazada Group, Southeast Asia’s largest e-commerce platform, now essentially controlled by Alibaba. The shop-in-shop on Lazada.sg will position CapitaLand as Singapore’s first omni-channel retail landlord connecting retailers to shoppers both offline and online, complemented by a world-first in-mall collection service for shoppers.
“Even as new technologies disrupt traditional business models, real estate remains an important part of a holistic customer journey, as affirmed by leading digital players who are seeking to gain a foothold in the physical space,” says CapitaLand president/group CEO Lim Ming Yan.
He says he foresees win-win outcomes for all parties as strategic alliances are forged to future-enable properties and support retailers in embracing an omni-channel business model.
“The key to unlocking the next stage of growth lies in blending physical and digital channels to create a seamless O&O experience for the customer.
“We will continue to leverage digital tools and partner disruptors to strengthen our customer engagement, embrace smart building technologies to uplift the quality of our built environment, and harness data to enhance customer experience at our properties.”
Supports Smart Nation
The Lazada deal supports the Smart Nation push to reinvent retail. CapitaLand will launch a shop-in-shop aggregating the offerings of retailers in its Singapore malls on Lazada.sg by the end of the year.
Shoppers at the CapitaLand official store on Lazada.sg will have the option to collect their purchases in CapitaLand malls, and in so doing so will be rewarded with membership points in the CapitaStar loyalty program.
Initially CapitaLand will roll out two unmanned click-and-collect lounges at Plaza Singapura and Bugis+ for shoppers to collect purchases or make returns. As well as collection lockers, the lounges will have fitting rooms and a product-testing bench.
“As the owner and manager of Singapore’s largest network of shopping malls, we have embarked on creating a digital channel that supports our mall tenants in tapping the growth potential of e-commerce,” says CapitaLand Mall Asia CEO Jason Leow.
By enabling shoppers to collect online purchases in its malls, last-mile delivery costs for retailers will be reduced in the long run.
“Also, our retailers will enjoy comprehensive marketing support in the physical and digital space and get a leg-up in their e-commerce business.”
Shoppers will not only have the option of click-and-collect, but benefit from free delivery and have 14 days to make returns, says Lazada Singapore CEO Alexis Lanternier.
“This partnership is an important step for Lazada to expand our network of partners as we evolve the e-commerce ecosystem in Singapore.”
Both CapitaLand and Lazada will help onboard retailers and promote the platform to shoppers, with the intention of rapidly scaling up the initiative in the next two years.
‘Bricks and clicks’
Under its contract with Alibaba, CapitaLand will oversee the pre-opening and management of the shopping podium and one of the four office towers in Alibaba Shanghai Center, which has a total gross floor area (GFA), excluding car park, of about 80,000 sqm. The four-storey shopping podium – three levels above ground and one basement level – takes up about 20,000 sqm.
Alibaba Shanghai Center is strategically located in the northern core of Shanghai’s Hongqiao CBD, less than 2km from Hongqiao Transportation Hub. Scheduled to open next year, the retail component serves working professionals and residents of the mid- and high-end housing zones nearby.
Leow says the company and Alibaba will jointly explore the possibilities of combining “bricks with clicks”, starting with Alibaba Shanghai Center, and creating O&O experiences.
Alibaba Group’s head of intelligent building, Wang Tao, says Shanghai is an important platform and the group’s headquarters there will serve as a strategic nerve centre for rolling out Alibaba’s New Retail strategy.
“We believe our collaboration will chart new frontiers in integrating online, offline, logistics and data across a single value chain to meet the needs of consumers.”
Saha Group Fair is anticipated to attract over 1 million visitors, contributing more than 300 million baht in transactions. The fair runs until Sunday at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center.
Saha Pattana Inter-Holding Co, an investment company of Saha Group, has entered into a partnership with Lazada Thailand Co, aiming to use the e-commerce channel to explore its business at home and abroad.
Saha Group chairman Boonsithi Chokwatana said the cooperation will fully take place this year after both parties started working together in 2014 to improve their selling platforms, warehouse systems, logistics management, payment methods and customer service centres.
The companies have since signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) enabling the Thai group to explore markets abroad, with Asean countries and China being targeted in particular.
brands from Saha Group are now available via Lazada in various categories, including health and beauty products, lingerie and sport wears. More product categories will be added, including home and living products and groceries.
Mr Boonsithi said Lazada is the leader in the Southeast Asian e-commerce market and seventh in terms of overall website popularity. It has a strong business base in Indonesia, Malaysia and other Asean market as well as China, the hometown of Alibaba, which is the parent company of Lazada.
“This will help increase opportunities for our products to expand into the Asian market, particularly China, where customers are familiar with online shopping,” he said.
Lazada expanded its online business into Asean five years ago in the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore and Thailand.
“One strong trend being seen among Thai consumers that is very positive for e-commerce is the higher penetration of mobiles,” said Alessandro Piscini, chief executive of Lazada Thailand.
A lot of people access the internet for the first time through a mobile device and they are spending more time online for entertainment and various other content, he said.
“E-commerce is not just about a website, but also the sub-businesses that complete the user experience i.e. payments or logistics,” said Mr Piscini, adding that Lazada will continue to invest in strengthening this ecosystem through its facilities to be put in the Eastern Economic Corridor.
Lazada offers more than 10 million items in Thailand and 100 million items across Southeast Asia. The company plans to add two to three product categories including groceries.
Saha Group has engaged in online business for a decade but sales remain sluggish, accounting for only 1% of Saha Group’s total.
After partnering with Lazada, the group forecasts the sales contribution from online channels will rise to 10% in the next three years.
The 75-year old group, which is Thailand’s leading consumer product conglomerate, has annual sales revenue of more than 200 billion baht from a variety of products, including food and drinks, household goods, clothes, leather goods, shoes, cosmetics and sports gear.
“The cooperation with Lazada opens a new business chapter for our group,” said Mr Boonsithi.
To support the online channel, Saha Group’s subsidiaries Tiger Distribution and Logistic Co yesterday signed a MoU with Paltac Corporation of Japan to strengthen its logistics businesses.
Tiger Distribution is spending 1.8 billion baht to develop Tiger Suvarnnabhumi DC Project, a large scale warehouse building in Lat Krabang, Bangkok. It is expected to open this distribution centre in June next year.
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba said Wednesday it would inject another $1 billion into Southeast Asia’s Lazada, as the cashed-up company increases its stake in the region’s nascent online shopping market.
The investment will raise Alibaba’s holding in Lazada to 83 percent from 51 percent and take its total outlay on the company so far to more than $2 billion.
“The e-commerce markets in the region are still relatively untapped and we see a very positive upward trajectory ahead of us,” said Alibaba chief executive Daniel Zhang, estimating only three percent of Southeast Asia’s retail sales are conducted online.
Alibaba, founded by China’s richest man Jack Ma, is a dominant player in the fast-growing online commerce market as shoppers increasingly shun bricks-and-mortar stores.
Earlier this month Alibaba forecast annual revenue growth of 45-49 percent. That followed an almost doubling in its net profit in the quarter ended March 31, on a 60 percent surge in revenue.
Alibaba’s Taobao platform is estimated to hold more than 90 percent of China’s consumer-to-consumer market, while its Tmall platform is believed to handle over half of business-to-consumer transactions.
But its international commerce business accounted for only 10 percent of revenue in the last quarter.
Lazada, a huge online shopping destination in Southeast Asia, and Singapore Post Limited, the country’s postal and eCommerce logistics service provider, announced that Lazada Singapore has moved its warehouse operations to SingPost Regional eCommerce Logistics Hub in Tampines Logistics Park.
With investments by Alibaba in both companies, the move allows Lazada and SingPost to leverage on each other’s strengths to meet rising eCommerce demand in Southeast Asia. This combination of strengths in eCommerce and logistics will enable both companies to be in a leading position in the industry to serve a wider spectrum of customers, both in Singapore and the region. This also emphasises Lazada’s aim to work together with the wider eCommerce ecosystem in Singapore.
“Moving Lazada Singapore’s entire warehouse operations to the SingPost Regional eCommerce Logistics Hub is the next natural step as we seek closer integration with our partners to better serve the needs of Singapore customers,” said Alexis Lanternier, CEO of Lazada Singapore. “With the recent launch of 99SME, our local sellers have access to more than 3.5 million monthly visitors in Singapore. Moving forward, we can help them expand and sell regionally.”
SingPost Regional eCommerce Logistics Hub consolidates and integrates both warehousing and delivery hub capabilities into one building. With an integrated, end-to-end solution housed in one building, SingPost is able to provide Lazada with improved efficiency, resulting in a faster turnaround time.
Lanternier added: “This also adequately prepares us for the Great Singapore Sale starting 6 June, and we are bringing in more brands than ever before, local and global. Customers can shop more with the confidence that their orders will be processed and delivered faster.”
Sam Ang, executive vice president of SingPost, and CEO of Quantium Solutions International said: “Technology plays a big part in our Regional eCommerce Logistics Hub, increasing productivity and efficiency. This collaboration sees Lazada’s eCommerce platform and SingPost’s end-to-end logistics capabilities coming together and it will result in scale and efficiencies for both of us.”
“Better still, these efficiencies will help the SME eTailers that are connected with the Lazada platform to strengthen their competitiveness in the eCommerce market domestically and internationally. We look forward to working with Lazada and supporting them as they grow in Singapore,” added Ang.
Convenience store chain 7-Eleven Malaysia is now offering Lazada Malaysia offline payment services at its stores nationwide via its partnership with MOLPay.
As the leading convenience store in the country, 7-Eleven is continuously making its way up by enhancing customers’ shopping experience and has added Lazada offline payment to its services.
“It is clear that our main intention is to always remain number one and in order to do so, we are trying our best to give the best experience in true convenience to our customers,” said 7-Eleven Malaysia chief executive officer Gary Brown at the official launch of Lazada Offline Payment at Berjaya Times Square Hotel.
With the new service, 7-Eleven Malaysia now allows customers to confirm orders from Lazada and proceed to checkout with 7-Eleven as the preferred payment option.
Transactions can be completed by presenting a printed slip or SMS code of the online purchases to the cashier at any 7-Eleven stores nationwide.
“The partnership is a strategic fit, benefiting both 7-Eleven and MOLPay’s individual strength.
“This is also an alternative payment option for our online shoppers, enabling them to shop for over 12 million items that are available on our website and paying over the counter at any 7-Eleven stores nationwide,” said Lazada Malaysia chief executive officer Hans Peter Ressel.
The aim of the new experience is to fulfil customer’s expectation and provide them with the best convenience possible.
“As Malaysia still has a considerable number of people who do not have digital banking or have limited access to digital banking, this provides the flexibility in ensuring all households and businesses have access to Malaysia’s digital economy regardless of their income level,” said MOLPay chief executive officer Eng Sheng Guan.
As the first free-standing convenience store chain in the country to provide such payment services, it aims to reach customers in the non-urban areas such as the east coast and Sabah and Sarawak.
The newly introduced experience will also ease the process of online purchases as payment can be made offline, 24 hours and seven days a week.