Company’s expansion plan until 2020 marks a substantial milestone for the platform due to the global convergence towards e-commerce market

By SHAHEERA AZNAM SHAH / Pic By AFIF ABD HALIM

Lazada Malaysia aims to continue with the target set for the e-commerce platform to double its growth within the next two years, banking on enhanced customisation in its products.

Newly-appointed CEO Christophe Lejeune (picture) said the company’s expansion plan until 2020 marks a substantial milestone for the platform due to the global convergence towards e-commerce market.

“We are accelerating through our current strategy, and the growth that we are planning for the next two years will be more important than the growth in the past.

“Our platform has been measured for the past six years, and customer experience has been identified as the key growth for any online platform to take off,” he said at the launch of the “Milk Formula Guarantee Programme” in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

He added that Lazada’s recently updated mobile application serves the enhanced customer experience goal through customisation developed from users’ purchasing behaviour.

“We have recently released an updated version of our new mobile app, which carries the technology from e-commerce giant, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

“The algorithm will decode the customers’ browsing and purchasing data to provide a distinctive set of recommendation for each account user,” he said.

Meanwhile, Lejeune said he anticipates more brick and mortar retailers participating in the online space as a move to innovate in line with the current purchasing behaviour.

“We had a strong year with offline brands such as Carlo Rino and others in 2017, and we expect more companies to turn to online market to capture the spending sentiment as well to spur the sector,” he said.

In December, former CEO Hans-Peter Ressel said the e-commerce platform was expected to register a 35% surge in business participation from offline retailers.

The company also projected an increase of more than two million customers in its customer base this year, with a 30% increase in the frequency of online purchasing monthly.

On the “Milk Formula Guarantee Programme”, Lejeune said Lazada Malaysia plans to remove the barriers in purchasing infant formula through the online platform.

“Customers are concerned about the source and shelf life of milk formula products, particularly from the unauthentic distributors.

“This programme expects to reassure (customers) that every pack of milk product purchased on Lazada Malaysia are compliant to the specific necessary standards,” he said.

The guarantee programme includes leading milk formula brand, namely Abbott Nutrition Malaysia, Fonterra Brands (M) Sdn Bhd, Friesland- Campina, Nestlé SA and Wyeth as they are strengthening their product reliability all milk formula stockkeeping- units (SKUs) for the Malaysian market.

He added that the programme is supported by a compulsory supply- chain management, including in hygienic standards and the “first-expiry- first-out” system implemented at the warehouse.

“Our operation demonstrates responsibility and complete conviction in our supply chains, in order to provide seamless customer experience,” he said. Under the programme, Lazada Malaysia will be compensating its customers with a mixed refund through cashback and vouchers, if the quality of the products are not satisfactory.

Last year, Ressel noted that infant and children-focused products such as baby diapers and Nestlé’s Milo were the top selling products on the e-commerce platform.