Empowering online businesses
Lazada’s new initiatives boost sellers’ capability in a big way, writes Izwan Ismail
LAZADA has stepped up efforts to further strengthen its position as the leading online shopping destination in the region. In conjunction with its seventh birthday celebration, the company announced an all-encompassing series of products and services that will fire up the growth of its brands and sellers, big or small, to win market share in the region by transforming them into “super e-businesses”.
The offerings, dubbed super-solutions, are aimed at resolving three pain points that brands and sellers face — branding, marketing and sales.
These features, which have been rolled out in conjunction with Lazada’s seventh birthday celebration, are aimed at brands and sellers to ensure they are well-positioned to ride the e-commerce boom in Southeast Asia.
“No seller is too small to aspire, and no brand is too big to be a super e-business. That is why we are thrilled to roll out supersolutions to help our brands and sellers become more nimble in digitising their businesses and better reach customers,” said Lazada Group chief executive officer, Pierre Poignant at Lazada’s LazMall inaugural BFF (Brands Future Forum) in Singapore recently.
LazMall is a dedicated space within Lazada for shoppers to get direct access to trusted leading international and local brands, top-rated online brands and authorised brand distributors.
Among the new initiatives Poignant announced at the event include a series of “Super” campaigns, in which LazMall brands and sellers can choose to take part to boost their brand image and better engage with customers.
“Today, Lazada’s mission is to accelerate e-commerce and develop it at a very high speed,” he said.
IMPROVED MARKETING
Besides that, Lazada also announced a new and improved Marketing Solutions Package and Business Advisor Dashboard that can deliver more traffic to storefronts, and arm brands and sellers with near real-time information to help them make faster and better decisions to sell more effectively and efficiently.
New tech tools like Store Builder for brands and sellers to customise their storefronts to differentiate themselves on Lazada, while in-app live streaming, news feed and in-app consumer games can help win the hearts of consumers with higher consumer engagement.
At the same time, the company also formalised cooperation partnerships with 12 leading global lifestyle, technology and fashion companies that will boost collaboration and strengthen their online retail presence.
Called Joint Business Partnerships, these collaborations will enable brands to tap Lazada’s industry-leading tech and logistics infrastructure, innovation and e-commerce expertise.
Lazada also recently inked Memoranda of Understanding with electronics leaders Realme and Coocaa, while the one with Huawei was signed earlier this month. Other brands set to join will include several of the world’s biggest Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) companies.
Commenting on technology and logistics infrastructure, Poignant said Alibaba’s acquisition of Lazada has enabled the company to ride on Alibaba’s technology infrastructure.
“Backed by Alibaba’s technology and logistics infrastructure, we have been able to launch industry-leading tech innovations such as search-image function, consumer engagement games and in-app live streaming over the past year to become the region’s only ‘shoppertainment’ platform on which people can watch, shop and play,” said Poignant.
The annual summit gathers brands and sellers to discuss growth opportunities and technological advancements that will create “super e-businesses”, shaping the future of Southeast Asia’s e-commerce landscape.
ACCELERATING GROWTH
The super-solutions announced will also make it easier for brands and sellers to open up stores on LazMall.
Lazada Group’s president Jing Yin said qualified merchants can now take advantage of the new self-sign-up feature, a simplified sign-up process that can be completed in mere minutes. This is in line with Lazada’s goal of enabling small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to become globally competitive.
“Since the launch of LazMall in 2018, we have seen tremendous growth among our key pioneer brand partners. We want to extend the benefits of LazMall to even more brands and sellers to elevate their e-commerce operations,” said Yin.
“We want to incubate them so they can grow alongside us and become sustainable and successful e-businesses,” he added.
Across the region, 60 per cent of SMEs are keen to invest in technologies to achieve sustainable growth in today’s digital economy. Business-oriented tools including online commerce solutions, customer relationship management and business intelligence, were identified as the top investment priorities.
Currently, there are 400 brands, both local and international, in LazMall in Malaysia, and with the new initiatives, Yin said Lazada is looking at an increase of five times to 2,000 brands in the mall for the next one year.
To further enhance brands and sellers’ ability and performance in LazMall, Yin said Lazada also provides free training via Lazada Univesity in Malaysia where businesses, especially small ones just starting to enter e-commerce, to get the information they need to improve their business on Lazada.
“We also provide face-to-face training at our Malasyian office and new sellers will get the chance to interact and learn from existing sellers and Lazada experts,” he said, adding that the company also uses instant messenger tools for a more effective and instant engagement with Lazada’s partners and Lazada.
THE ‘SHOPPERTAINMENT’ CONCEPT
Pushing boundaries in eCommerce in Southeast Asia, Lazada is driving “shoppertainment” to provide shoppers with a fun, interactive and entertaining experience.
As part of its birthday celebrations, Lazada recently hosted a first-of-its-kind concert called “Super Party” in Jakarta.
The concert, which featured a starstudded lineup including British popstar Dua Lipa, culminated with Lazada’s birthday shopping event on March 27.
The one-day sale includes a new selection of exciting games for redeeming vouchers and attractive deals for consumers in the region.
At the LazMall BFF event, Lazada also handed out awards to top performing brands that have proven to be shining examples of “e-businesses”.
Five awards were presented to outstanding brands and sellers that have been constantly innovating to drive new ways to reach their customers on Lazada.
Comprising global and Southeast Asian brands, the winners are Unilever (Best Marketing Innovation), Pampers (Best Social Media Activation), Coocaa (Fastest Growing Brand), Philips (Customers’ Choice Award) and Wardah (Best Product Launch).