KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 6): Lazada's LazMall, the region's leading online branded destination, continues to record significant growth year-on-year, chief executive officer of Lazada Group Chun Li said during the recently concluded second edition of LazMall Brands Future Forum (BFF) 2021.

The event highlighted LazMall’s growth and that of its brand partners who have successfully leveraged their infrastructure and capabilities in artificial intelligence, technology, and digital marketing to develop customised strategies to enhance customer lifecycle and grow their businesses on the platform.

The Lazada platform now has over 110 million annual active consumers, while online transactions have increased over 100% year on year.

Since its inception less than three years ago, LazMall has grown to house over 32,000 local and international brands, with a high quality customer base willing to spend more on brands they know and love, as well as discovering new brands on the platform. 

"New buyers on LazMall have doubled year over year, and their average purchase value is double that of our average buyer. This demonstrates growing consumer trust and confidence in the platform when purchasing higher value items online," he said.

Ahead of its upcoming 9.9 Biggest Brands Sale, Lazada Malaysia reported that it has added over 3,800 new brands, including Nike, La Mer, Aesop, and many more, to its authenticity-guaranteed branded destination, LazMall, over the past year.

The influx of new brands on LazMall has also resulted in a wider selection of high quality assortments available to local online shoppers on its e-commerce platform.

“In recent months, the number of local LazMall customers and orders has more than doubled year over year. This momentum is set to continue as we continue to enhance our brand partners’ digital customer experience and assist them in expanding their consumer touchpoints through our infrastructure, technology, and logistic solutions,” head of LazMall, Lazada Malaysia, Chenxi Zhou said. 

Additionally, Lazada has recently launched LazMall Prestige as a premium offering across the region, giving shoppers access to renowned brands like Bacha Coffee, Bang and Olufsen, Coach, La Mer, Salvatore Ferragamo, and many more.  

Southeast Asia welcomes 40 million new internet users

According to Li, there were 40 million new internet users in Southeast Asia alone last year.

"This means that 70” of the region's population are internet users now," he noted, adding that innovation, creativity, cutting-edge technologies, and better customer experiences continue to transform the e-commerce landscape, resulting in a great online migration.

"At the heart of the future is e-commerce. I've been working in this industry for two decades, and I am extremely excited about all the changes that have taken place as well as upcoming ones," Li said and noted that the pandemic has pushed many brands, retailers, and shopping malls to go online. 

In Malaysia, well-known department stores such as Marks and Spencer have joined the Lazada platform.

Across the region, others such as the Siam Centre in Thailand have assisted their tenants to "set up" storefronts on LazMall.

"We would not have expected this 18 months ago," he noted.

Different products, varying levels of growth

Head of strategic account and retail at Lazada Group, James Chang, said that between 2019 and 2020, online sales in Southeast Asia's retail space recorded varying levels of growth.

Electronics products growth went up from 14% in 2019 to 21% in 2020, and the fashion segment increased to 13% from 9% previously.

Meanwhile, general merchandise such as home and living, as well as kitchen and dining products grew by 9% in 2020 compared to 6% in 2019,  while the health and beauty product category grew from 5% to 9% during the same period.

Chang said the retail segment would continue to grow, despite being affected by slight setbacks during the pandemic.

"Southeast Asia has a large young population and strong gross domestic product (GDP) growth that will quickly bolster the size of the middle-class segment, resulting in overall retail growth.

“We believe it will continue to reach new heights with a five per cent growth rate per annum right up to 2025,” he said.

The event also showcased the second “BFF Awards” ceremony, which recognises brand excellence in the online retail space, agility in adapting business strategies in an ever-evolving commerce environment, and constant creativity in enhancing customers’ online buying experience through fun and interactive elements. 

Nike won the “Best New Brand Launch Award” and Coach bagged the “LazMall Rising Star Award”, while Lancôme’s Lancôme Advanced Génifique Youth Activating Concentrate secured the “Best New Product Launch Award”.

Nike general manager digital commerce Southeast Asia & India Marketplace, Ken Yamada, thanked Lazmall for the recognition and said “I stand here representing a huge team at Nike and our partners, and synergy that made this direct store possible live on LazMall."

"I just thought of all the obstacles and challenges that we had to overcome to launch five stores in only a few weeks and I'm tremendously proud to be accepting this award, amongst so many different brands that went live on digital stores this year." 

The “LazMall Marketing Excellence Award” goes to Shiseido Group, Starbucks was awarded the “LazMall Innovation Excellence Award”, Synagie secured the “Lazada Partner Award”, and L’Oréal Consumer Products Division was the winner for “Best Use of Lazada Sponsored Solutions Award”.