E-commerce marketplaces act as new search engines

Lazada on August 31 released its Lazada Sponsored Solutions’ report called “Transforming Southeast Asia: From Discovery to Delivery” at its LazMall Brands Future Forum 2022 held at Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore.

In its third edition, the forum is a trade event that brings together the region’s industry leaders and Lazada partners to exchange ideas and innovations aimed at enabling brands and sellers to thrive and offer a differentiated retail experience in Southeast Asia.

With e-commerce user penetration expected to reach 413 million users by 2025, more dynamic shopping journeys are seeing 57 per cent of shoppers in the region searching for products directly on e-commerce marketplaces. This shift away from commonly-used search engines highlights the importance of e-commerce marketing solutions and the digitalisation of businesses to remain resilient and relevant amid rising global interest rates and inflationary pressures.

"E-commerce marketplaces like Lazada have surpassed social media and search engines to become the discovery channel of choice. The behaviour and mindset change during the past two years have driven more high-quality consumers who are looking for high-quality authentic products and experiences to come to LazMall. Brands now have the opportunity to build mindshare and connect with consumers using the tools from Lazada, to accelerate their growth in the e-commerce space and engage the right audience," said James Dong, CEO of Lazada Group who gave the keynote speech at the event.

In their joint address, James Chang, Lazada Group’s CBO and Brigitte Daubry, Lazada Group’s CCO shared that LazMall remains a key offering which Lazada will continue to grow and invest on uplifting customer experience, engagement, and retention.

The e-commerce industry in Southeast Asia underwent tremendous growth from 2019 to 2021, driven by unprecedented buyer adoption during the pandemic.

Reinforcing Chang’s sentiments, Daubry spoke about the importance of deep customer understanding and insights in creating more value for shoppers, and to provide them a differentiated retail experience from offline stores and other industry players.

Lazada’s surveys found that customer stickiness and retention was most likely associated with wider product assortment, competitive pricing, increased convenience, and varied options, as well as a highly-personalised shopping experience.

Lazada's report showed that search-led discovery and product recommendations aided shoppers in the decision-making process, with 94 per cent of shoppers using the search function to discover products on Lazada, and 94 per cent actually purchasing the products they found through search. Additionally, 71 per cent of shoppers purchased products as a result of Lazada’s tailored-to-user recommendations feature.

Lazada’s state-of-the-art technology, powered by Alibaba’s cloud infrastructure is the enabler behind the platform’s offerings, from consumer engagement, seller empowerment, and partner integration.

Howard Wang, Lazada Group’s CTO explained how the company’s data intelligence helps brands and sellers target audiences more accurately, and boost conversion. Wang shared that this is further amplified with the use of AR, which elevates business outcomes and enhances the brand experience for shoppers.

He also spoke about Lazada’s AR technology which enables users to try on beauty products in real-time with true-to-life results, enabling brands to provide a customised and ultra-realistic virtual shopping experience. Virtual Try On (VTO) features rich functions that allow consumers to select and try on products such as eye shadow, eyeline, foundation, and blush from wherever they are. VTO has seen significant success with LazMall brand partners in the beauty space, contributing to significant conversion uplift of up to 3.1 times and up to an 11 per cent increase in average order value.

To celebrate LazMall’s partnership and growth alongside valued brand partners, the winners of the BFF 2022 Awards were also unveiled at the hybrid event.

The annual Awards serve to recognise and honour top performing and innovative global and Southeast Asian brands on LazMall, to promote excellence demonstrated within the online retail landscape and the agility in adapting business strategies in an ever-evolving demanding environment.

Lazada’s Super Brand Day – an unrivalled 24-hour growth opportunity for authentic brands on LazMall With Lazada’s Super Brand Day, authentic brands are given the golden opportunity to boost their sales and significantly expand their customer base on the e-commerce platform.

Lazada consumer study shows overwhelming majority of Southeast Asia consumers now shop online Southeast Asia’s leading e-commerce platform, Lazada, on March 25 announced the results of a regional consumer study in collaboration with Milieu Insight.

Lazada officially announced the launch of Lazada One Lazada, Southeast Asia’s leading e-commerce platform, today announced the official launch of Lazada One, the group’s regional headquarters and Singapore office. With a strong Southeast Asian presence, Lazada is looking to further grow the region’s digital commerce ecosystem, bolstering livelihoods that are already thriving in the booming sector.