Lazada Platform: The Growth Path of Southeast Asia’s E-commerce Giants
Lazada was founded in 2012 and has quickly become one of the largest e-commerce platforms in Southeast Asia since its establishment. Lazada initially adopted a self-operated model and took the lead in launching business in the five major markets of Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam. In 2013, Lazada not only launched a “last mile” delivery service, but also launched a mobile app, which greatly facilitated users’ shopping experience. In addition, this year is also the year when Lazada Marketplace was born. The platform provides sellers with a full range of services including secure payment, customer service support, distribution network and marketing analysis, covering health and beauty, fashion, home and life, motherhood, etc. 18 product categories including infants, mobile devices and household appliances.
As its business continues to expand, Lazada received investment from Temasek in 2014 and established its first self-owned warehouse in Vietnam, further enhancing its supply chain capabilities. In the same year, Lazada also opened a Singapore site, marking further expansion of its business territory. At this time, Lazada has fully provided FBL services, namely Lazada’s internal distribution services, which has improved logistics efficiency and service quality.
In 2016, Alibaba invested in Lazada, and in the following year achieved full control of Lazada through a capital increase. This move not only breaks down the barriers between Lazada and Alibaba’s systems, but also enables Lazada to gain strategic upgrades and empowerment in terms of platforms, products, and logistics. In 2017, Alibaba continued to invest more and acquired RedMart, a Singaporean e-commerce company, to further strengthen Lazada’s logistics system. With the support of Alibaba’s underlying technology and large and medium-sized platforms, Lazada can iterate products more quickly and improve user experience.
In 2018, Lazada launched LazMall, a platform dedicated to providing consumers with a 100% authenticity guarantee, 15-day worry-free returns and next-day delivery services. It also provides brands and sellers with customized new service model. In the same year, “Alibaba Energy” was fully injected into Lazada, and the Lazada Wallet was released to ensure the security of transactions and promote a digital payment model that customers can trust.
In order to help cross-border sellers successfully conduct business on the Lazada platform, Lazada provides very thoughtful services from entry threshold to logistics, payment and other aspects. Specifically, cross-border sellers can easily enter the Southeast Asian market through the “5 1’s” model: 1 contract can enter 6 markets in Southeast Asia (the entry review can be completed in 3 working days at the fastest); 1 content upload is enough Synchronized to Lazada sites in various countries; a simple LGS freight card can reach markets in 6 Southeast Asian countries; Lazada has a terminal distribution system With warehousing facilities and 190 sorting centers in 6 countries in Southeast Asia, covering more than 70 cities in Southeast Asia, Lazada’s goal is to achieve products that can be directly delivered to consumers within 72 hours; 1 remittance solution can solve the problem of collection and payment; 1 A cross-border novice learning platform, novice sellers can grow into excellent merchants by studying various courses at Lazada University.
Today, Lazada is using emerging technologies to redefine the retail experience, using big data to quickly adapt to changing needs and conditions, connecting consumers with brands, and creating personalized experiences. At the same time, its cross-border business has grown rapidly, with a growth rate of more than 100% for five consecutive years. It has now become one of the largest e-commerce platforms in Southeast Asia with 640 million consumers covering six countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. one.