Lazada (Chinese name Lai Zanda) was founded in 2012 and is one of the online shopping websites in Southeast Asia. It is supported by the German startup incubator RocketInternet and Smwer Brothers. Lazada’s target markets are mainly Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. With Southeast Asia as its core fulcrum, it is a competitor of Shopee.
In 2014, the company’s revenue was US$154.3 million and its net operating loss reached US$152.5 million.
In April 2016, Alibaba Group announced that it planned to acquire a controlling stake in Lazada by paying US$500 million for new shares and purchasing US$500 million worth of shares from existing investors.
In June 2020, Li Chun, the former CEO of Lazada Indonesia, took over the position of CEO of Lazada Group, and the former CEO of the group, Pierre, was transferred to the position of special assistant to Zhang Yong, chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group.
In fiscal 2020, Lazada’s marketplace business showed strong growth momentum, driven by a blowout in order volume, with order volume increasing by more than 100% year-on-year. Lazada launched stimulus programs across Southeast Asia to help small and medium-sized enterprises conduct online business.