Lazada Malaysia overtakes Lazada Singapore as fastest e-commerce platform

KUALA LUMPUR: Lazada Malaysia has overtaken Lazada Singapore to become Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing e-commerce platform in the past nine months.

Lazada Malaysia chief executive efficer, Hans-Peter Ressel, said Lazada Malaysia recorded over 100% growth in sales for 2016.

“Malaysia’s e-commerce market is well-developed, as it is supported by the logistics facilities and the local and foreign courier companies,” he told reporters after launching Lazada Malaysia’s Fifth Birthday campaign here today.

He said the payment methods, such as cash on delivery and online payment facilities available in Malaysia, had made online shopping more convenient for Malaysian customers.

To-date, about four million users had downloaded the Lazada Malaysia mobile application (app), with at least 10,000 users downloading the app and shopping on the platform on a weekly basis.

“We plan to triple the number of products that are sold on our platform to about 30 million by year-end, up from the current 10 million to 12 million products,” said Ressel.

He said the outlook for the company was positive, with the growth for 2017 to remain the same, or even accelerating further from the previous year.

Currently, the Lazada Group has its presence in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.

In Malaysia, about 15,000 merchants conduct their online business via the platform.

“We signed a deal with SME Corp Malaysia last week to bring an additional 25,000 merchants in the couple of months until next year,” said Ressel.

He said the company had been investing heavily in data technology and automation to equip the online merchants with world-class logistics solutions, marketing tools, content management, as well as end-to-end e-commerce services.

On the collaboration between Lazada Malaysia and its major investor, China’s Alibaba Group, Ressel said, the group had assisted them in growing the business and tackling the e-commerce challenges.

On the digital free trade zone which is expected to launch on Wednesday, he said, the Malaysian government was one of the most active and supportive governments in Southeast Asian countries which endorsed its e-commerce players. - Bernama