By LYDIA NATHAN / Pic By ISMAIL CHE RUS

Online shopping platform Lazada is expected to register a good growth this year as it expands its market share in Malaysia’s e-commerce sector.

The company — which is majority-owned by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd — currently operates in Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam.

Lazada chief marketing officer Andrew Gnananantham said one in three people now use the company’s services as it gained consumer trust over the years, which has made the platform a one-stop lifestyle destination.

Lazada reported an average of 23.7 million monthly traffic visits and was ranked the top e-commerce platform in terms of active users, according to the Digital 2019 reports from Hootsuite and We Are Social.

“It is no longer just a shopping app, but has also enabled thousands of people to become entrepreneurs over the years. We have been able to do this through our capabilities in technology, backed by Alibaba expertise and insights,” Gnananantham told reporters at the launch of Lazada’s seventh birthday party in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

He said the platform has formed a strong network of third parties over time, which include banks, telcos, logistics providers and products from more than 400 brands.

“The top three categories that we found consumers buying were fashion, beauty, and home and living. We also saw an increase of purchases from tier two and tier three cities as it became a normalised shopping behaviour pattern,” he said.

In conjunction with the seventh anniversary, Lazada has added some new elements which include a Group Buy
feature.

Gnananantham said the feature would enable consumers to invite friends to shop for the same products, while receiving special group discounts.

“Consumers will have 24 hours to fulfill a certain number of people before the order is processed. The sale prices will be worth it,” he said.

The platform will also have multiple flash sales and brand mega offers running from March 21 till March 27, 2019, to encourage consumers to take advantage of the sales.

Gnananantham said with a variety of sales going live simultaneously, the group expects a gross trade value will surpass the RM100 million mark that it reported during the “11.11” sale in 2018.

“We had about 70,000 sellers last year. Over the next three years, we expect to have more than 100,000 sellers on board with us,” he said.

Lazada will also host its first ever international live stream concert in Jakarta across all six markets.

“We have two celebrities from each market performing, following our success of the ‘11.11 Super Show’ broadcast last year,” Gnananantham said, adding that some 4.5 million viewers had tuned in during
the period.

Moving forward, Lazada’s main focus is to build a long-term sustainable business by creating a vast ecosystem in the e-commerce industry.

Gnananantham said trying to make all third-party sellers successful is no easy task.

“The whole marketplace is a big focus for us, because it includes so many people across the board. For instance, Lazada partnered Alibaba’s Taobao University for the LazStar Academy where sellers attained their training certification,” he said.

He added that they also have Lazada communities, where sellers form alliances and help each other on the different aspects of how to sell.