Lazada bets on Chinese e-commerce models to win big in burgeoning Southeast Asian markets

Lazada Group, the Southeast Asian e-commerce platform, is betting on the tried-and-tested technology and e-commerce models of parent company Alibaba Group Holding as it strives to conquer the largely untapped online shopping market in the region.

Lazada has adopted Alibaba’s technology to power its platform, and this week announced a host of tools for sellers on its online shopping centre Lazmall to build its brand and better engage with users. Merchants and retailers on Lazmall can now do everything from customising the look of their online stores to engaging with customers via a live-streaming function – a popular method of engagement on e-commerce sites in mainland China.

The Singapore-based e-commerce platform first received investment from Alibaba in 2016, and later became a subsidiary of the Hangzhou-based e-commerce company, receiving a total of US$4 billion in investment. Alibaba is the parent company of the South China Morning Post.

“We believe that in Southeast Asia there is a very different way of shopping, consuming, and entertainment,” said Pierre Poignant, chief executive of Lazada, at the company’s press event on Thursday. “Consumers do everything on their smartphones … we need to make the [shopping] experience more fun and entertaining with ‘shoppertainment’.”

In its shoppertainment model – the integration of shopping and entertainment – Lazada has incorporated games and live-streaming functions into its app, and consumers who play games have a chance to win vouchers for their shopping.

Shoppertainment as an e-commerce model was developed primarily on the mainland by e-commerce companies like Alibaba, JD.com and Pinduoduo, which have sought to make the shopping experience fun by prolonging user engagement and increasing the length of time that customers spend on the platform.