Lazada is boosting its cross-border operations for international brands and merchants to after its cross-border sales quadrupled over the last three years The Alibaba-owned company says it plans to bring onboard more quality international brands and will identify and nurture the top 300 brands in each of the six. countries that Lazada operates in: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. This will allow those brands to grow their business and enjoy benefits such as higher visibility of their products when users search and browse the site.
“We want to serve as that bridge between our quality cross-border merchants and some 560 million consumers in Southeast Asia,” said Lazada Group’s co-president Jing Yin, speaking in Shenzhen at the company’s first cross-border seller conference for this year.
“Backed by the best expertise and infrastructure from Alibaba, as well as our in-depth understanding of Southeast Asia, we are able to equip our cross-border sellers and brands with the knowledge and tools to ride this massive growth in the region,” Yin told more than 1000 merchants at the event.
What Lazada describes as “a meteoric rise in e-commerce spending in Southeast Asia” reflects the increasing demand for cross-border products as the GMV from Lazada’s cross-border category grew by 4.6 times between 2016 and 2018. According to industry estimates, Southeast Asia’s e-commerce market is on track to hit US$240 billion by 2025, surpassing earlier estimates by $40 billion.
Among the key initiatives announced at this week’s conference was a revamped Global Collection: a dedicated channel showcasing an assortment of Lazada’s cross-border merchants from all around the world. Global Collection 2.0 taps on algorithm-based search functions to filter the wide cross-border assortment to spotlight sellers offering popular and good quality products so customers can find them easily.
“With the new Global Collection, customers will get their parcels much faster,” said a Lazada spokesperson. “They can get their parcels within seven working days from the day they place their orders if they choose the standard shipping option.”
First launched in 2013, Lazada’s cross-border business has grown to become one of the most diverse marketplaces featuring brands and merchants from all over the world. The top five markets which cross-border sellers come from are Mainland China, Hong Kong, Korea, the US and Europe, with women’s fashion, home and living and kids’ fashion ranking among the most popular cross-border items. Lazada is now looking at launching new categories, offering bulky products like furniture and home appliances.
Last year, Lazada set a new record, with its last-mile delivery fleet across Southeast Asia delivering more than 1 million parcels in a day.