Lazada taps Thailand as hub

E-commerce site plans local recruitment drive

Lazada, Southeast Asia’s leading e-commerce website, has enlisted Thailand as a hub for product development and marketing to support regional business.

The development is aimed at recruiting and attracting talent, driving operational efficiency and maximising cost savings.

Lazada set up a subsidiary, Lazada IHQ Ltd, last year with registered capital of 60 million baht. The Board of Investment granted tax incentives to Lazada IHQ.

Singapore will remain Lazada’s corporate headquarters in the region.

Thailand and Indonesia are the two largest e-commerce markets in terms of sales for Lazada.

In 2015, Lazada’s sales transactions from six Southeast Asian countries reached 4.6 billion baht (US$1.3 billion), including 1 billion baht from Thailand.

“We decided to commit more investment to Thailand by setting up a regional hub here to support product and marketing development for other companies in the region,” said Alessandro Piscini, chief executive of Lazada Thailand.

Lazada IHQ will launch a mobile app development team in Thailand in June, with some team members transferring from a development centre in Russia.

Thailand’s e-commerce market is expected to grow by 30-40% this year, Mr Piscini said, citing a forecast by the Electronic Transactions Development Agency.

“Lazada aims to grow faster than the industry’s growth,” he said.

To achieve the target, Lazada Thailand aims to increase the number of online merchants by 15-20% each month.

Online sales transactions from upcountry accounted for 70% of Lazada’s total in 2015, with the remaining 30% originating in Bangkok, as fourth-generation (4G) wireless broadband service became more widespread.

Consumer-to-consumer (C2C) e-commerce made up 85% of Lazada’s transactions, with 15% provided from business-to-consumer (B2C) sales.

Lazada’s online shopping business has grown rapidly in the past four years, with the number of online sellers increasing from 300 in 2013 to 8,400 in 2016.

The number of employees has risen from 20 in 2012 to 800 in 2016.

The company’s product assortment is up from 500,000 in 2012 and now features 2.8 million items, while warehouse space has leapt from 115 square metres to 17,000 sq m during the period.

Some 65% of Lazada sales transactions were made using mobile phones in 2016, compared with 1% in 2012.

To celebrate its fourth anniversary, Lazada will have a Birthday Sale campaign during March 15-18 with discounts of up to 90%.