Lazada to join Tmall.com for 2017 Asean expansion

The company will join forces with Alibaba’s Tmall.com platform and its logistics and payment systems to drive the market, said Alessandro Piscini, chief executive of Lazada Thailand.

Global marketing research firm Nielsen forecasts that Thailand’s online retail e-commerce market, excluding online travel, will reach US$3 billion by 2020, up from $1 billion in 2015.

Online retail e-commerce market in Southeast Asia is expected to value at $20 billion in 2020, up from $5 billion last year.

The e-commerce market will be driven mainly by middle-income earners and the growing number of internet users, according to Nielsen.

The number of internet users in Thailand is projected to exceed 50 million by 2020, up from 40 million in 2015.

Mr Piscini said the synergy between Alibaba and Lazada can be used to support local retailers and manufacturers in expanding to cross-border markets successfully.

Chinese retailers and manufacturers will also be able sell their products in Thailand through Lazada’s website.

Lazada also plans to work with Ant Financial, the Alibaba affiliate that runs Alipay and other financial services in China, to facilitate online payment service to local retailers and merchants, Mr Piscini said.

He explained Lazada plans to combine its six websites in Southeast Asia into a single website within two years, and continue sales through one retail e-commerce channel.

Lazada Thailand’s marketplace platform accounts for 85% of sales revenue, with the remaining 15% from its own marketplace platform selling products from its own website.

To help local merchants and retailers boost their sales, Lazada will conduct an online festival from Nov 11 to Dec 12.

“We expect sales volume at this year’s event to be 3-5 times higher than last year’s event,” said Mr Piscini.

Lazada has expanded the range of products sold at its marketplace to over 2 million items.

Its best-selling products include cosmetics, fashionable clothes and IT gadgets. “We are focusing more on the high-growth product segments like auto accessories and pet care products,” said Mr Piscini.