Lazada is on the lookout for Thailand’s next entertainment sensation. On Oct. 9, the eCommerce platform kicked off the first episode of LAZ iCON, a first-of-its-kind talent competition where viewers can cheer and vote for their favourite future boy band members.
Produced in partnership with Thailand’s top broadcasting station, One 31, LAZ iCON is a chance for young and aspiring Thai talents to pursue their dreams of pop stardom. A total of 35 male contestants were selected from preliminary auditions. Over the course of the next three months, they will showcase their singing and dancing skills to viewers and an expert judging panel featuring Thai pop icons Da Endorphine, Chin Chinawut and Ohm Cocktail. The final five contestants will become LAZ iCON’s winning boy band. Not only will they become the first pop group in Thailand to debut as Lazada’s Brand Ambassadors, they’ll also sign on as artistes with One 31.
LAZ iCON is the latest example of Lazada’s wildly successful “shoppertainment” strategy. The platform has long been seen as a leader in fusing retail with entertainment to create highly immersive, engaging and memorable experiences for consumers. On a day-to-day basis, Lazada’s in-app livestreaming feature, LazLive, offers a treasure trove of engaging content for consumers to binge while they buy. Meanwhile, campaigns such as 11.11 and 12.12 have become large-scale celebrations that feature A-list celebrities and interactive games alongside incredible sales and promotions.
Bringing this same level of fun and interaction to LAZ iCON, Lazada will give viewers the chance to not only watch the exciting reality show unfold every week but to also vote for their favourite contestants via LazLive and complete various missions to earn extra votes.
“LAZ iCON will appeal to a young audience and enhance our shoppers’ experiences through innovative features on the Lazada platform. Besides being a key initiative in our Shoppertainment strategy, LAZ iCON can become a platform for our youths to turn their dreams into reality,” said Munthana Lorgrailers , the chief marketing officer of Lazada Thailand. “We will be engaging our audiences through a variety of interactive activities and weekly challenges on both Lazada and One 31. We believe this unique partnership and programme can become the ‘the next big thing’ that will excite Thai shoppers and kick-start a trend in the eCommerce industry.”
While already trending before COVID-19, online marketplaces have accelerated their growth as the digitalisation of retail and related fields has become a necessity. The rapid development of this sector, however, has also unfortunately led to an increase in bad actors using fraud, impersonation, counterfeiting and other abuses to damage the reputations of and user confidence in online platforms and the brands and sellers they work with.
In the current landscape of widespread digital transformation, we’ve seen the rise in importance of having a “Trust and Safety” mindset among online businesses. This under-emphasized term refers to the steps taken by platforms to create safe digital environments by reducing the risks of abuses and behaviours that violate community guidelines.
Differing from compliance, which is backed by legal and regulatory requirements, Trust and Safety programmes are company initiatives aimed at enhancing experiences for users so they can transact with confidence in a secure environment.
But what do Trust and Safety programmes entail?
One of the main pillars of such programmes centres on the idea that user trust must be built through positive experiences. It only takes a small percentage of low-quality experiences to destroy trust, which can then lead people to abandon a platform or company entirely. The second pillar is, of course, safety. The importance of this is perhaps even greater, as online abuses can lead to real-life repercussions. As such, the reputation of a business depends on both assets.
To create an effective Trust and Safety programme, an eCommerce platform must, first and foremost, define the rules by forming robust policies around risk entry points. Online marketplaces then need to have mechanisms to remove dangerous content and prevent bad actors from returning. It is no longer enough to just respond to reports of abuse in a passive manner – there is a growing expectation for platforms to use big data to effectively detect and target bad actors.
Another hallmark of an excellent Trust and Safety programme is that it actively coordinates with brands, policymakers, law enforcement, industry stakeholders and even other online platforms to address complex issues and set guiding directions. ECommerce platforms must also take an active approach when instructing merchants to follow their policies and informing buyers about safe shopping practices.
In particular, in a developing market like Southeast Asia, where many consumers are still unfamiliar with the online ecosystem, platforms must clearly communicate their expectations and standards so that users can detect and avoid risky situations.
At an anti-scam webinar hosted in August, Desmond Tan, Singapore’s State Minister for the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment, highlighted the important role eCommerce platforms play in curbing bad behaviour online.
“Digitalisation has changed the way we live, we work and interact with one another and have given us a lot of conveniences online. However, we may not possess good cyber knowledge to adequately protect ourselves online,” Tan said. Pointing to Lazada as an example of successful user protection, he said: “Lazada introduced an early detection algorithm system that was developed using online behaviour analytics to flag potential fraud and automatically remove suspected anomalies. This system has led to a significant reduction in scam reports by Lazada by over 80% in 2020.”
In addition to working with government ministries, Lazada has collaborated with various broadcast media in Singapore to provide tips on how to practice safe shopping online and respond to suspicious or otherwise risky activity. New sellers are also required to take an online course via Lazada University to familiarise themselves with the platform’s policies. A wider range of learning modules includes awareness of platform terms and conditions and the consequences of non-compliance, which include escalating penalties, account suspension and subsequent account termination.
To enable Trust and Safety policy execution, businesses must also be committed to investing in the latest innovations. For example, at Lazada, anti-fraud mechanisms that leverage deep tech and data science have allowed us to effectively and efficiently detect and remove fraudulent sellers and buyers from our platform. Last financial year, we processed orders from some 110 million active consumers and every single order went through our anti-fraud engine. We also work with the wider cybersecurity community, such as with white hackers, to identify IT vulnerabilities so that we continue to strengthen our digital security.
Aside from stopping the bad, Trust and Safety programmes also aim to enable the good by creating positive user experiences. Having a platform that allows for businesses and consumers to sell and buy with peace of mind should be a digital retail platform’s value proposition. After all, keeping the well-being of users top of mind is not only an effective strategy but also a responsibility eCommerce platforms must undertake if they want to grow a healthy consumer base.
Nguyen Tan Xuan hadn’t planned on becoming an entrepreneur. As a small-town boy from Ben Tre, a province in the Mekong Delta area of southern Vietnam, he thought he found his dream job when he started working as a telecommunication engineer for a large Canadian firm in Ho Chi Minh City.
The job, however, turned out to be all-consuming, with many long days, late-night meetings and tight deadlines. The work was so demanding that it was impossible to even take any days off.
“I felt trapped,” Nguyen said.
Realising that corporate life was not for him, Nguyen started experimenting with starting his own business. It wasn’t easy at first; he tried selling watches and accessories through his personal Facebook page and later tried designing and selling anti-theft products for motorbikes, but both endeavours were short-lived and left Nguyen in debt.
These failed attempts, however, did not deter Nguyen, who saw eCommerce as a way to a better life. Having kept his day job, he was able to pay off his debts and try again, this time by selling healthcare equipment. This third endeavour finally brought Nguyen some success, and towards the end of 2018, he decided to join Lazada so he could further scale his business and grow his customer base.
“Lazada had started opening a channel for individual sellers. I signed up right away and became one of the first individual sellers on the platform,” Nguyen recalled.
At first, he had to juggle his day job with managing his business on Lazada. After finishing work at the office, he would return home in the evenings to pack parcels and respond to customers’ questions. At that time, he only had about 10 orders a day. Wanting to improve his eCommerce know-how, he enrolled in some sales courses, where he learned about customer psychology and advertising techniques.
Nguyen Tan Xuan prepares orders for his customers.
After six months of launching on Lazada, Nguyen became one of the platform’s top sellers. This gave him the confidence to expand into the household appliances category as well – a decision that has proven extremely beneficial to his business’ growth. Nguyen’s strong performance on Lazada has also enabled him to access a wider consumer base. Thanks to the success he’s found on the eCommerce platform, Nguyen was eventually able to quit his corporate job to fully focus on his business.
As a seller, Nguyen says that Lazada’s support and resources have been instrumental to his business success. For example, he often uses platform tools such as Seller Pick and Sponsored Display to boost his products’ visibility. Meanwhile, with the Flexi-Combo tool, he can offer free gifts to consumers, which in turn leads to more positive ratings for his store.
The young entrepreneur has also found tremendous success by participating in Lazada’s mega campaigns, which bring buzz, high traffic and a wide variety of seller tools. During the recent 9.9 shopping festival, for example, he received nearly 8,000 orders in just three days and managed to make triple of his regular revenue.
Even during the pandemic, Nguyen was able to use his online business to maintain his livelihood and continue reaching and selling to customers nationwide.
“This is very hard time for everyone but I can still achieve these huge orders with a lot of support from the Lazada operations team and Lazada Logistics,” he said.
Wanting to share the benefits of eCommerce, Nguyen became a mentor with Lazada’s LazMaster programme, which aims to connect successful sellers with new joiners as mentors and mentees, respectively.
“I want to make Lazada a helpful place for every seller, so they can easily start their dreams, their ambitions and develop themselves,” Nguyen said. So far, he has conducted two big learning sessions with 800 mentees and more than 10 small learning courses with nearly 300 participants. He is also a district leader of Binh Thanh, which has more than 600 seller members.
Now, at the age of 28, Nguyen is confident that he’s found his true calling as an eCommerce entrepreneur and has encouraged other young people to step out of their comfort zones to pursue their dreams.
“If you are passionate about business, then boldly pursue it. If I can do it, so can you,” he said. “Failures are always valuable lessons for us”.
Thu Pham is an associate in Lazada Vietnam’s public relations team.
Many consumers and merchants these days are no stranger to online shopping, but few are familiar with how digital platforms actually work and process millions of transactions in just a blink of an eye.
For those curious about the behind-the-scenes operations of eCommerce platforms, Lazada held its first-ever Tech Open Day (TOD) on July 31, 2021, to encourage communication among industry professionals and eCommerce tech lovers in China. The virtual event, which has so far garnered over 27,000 views online, focused on engineering technology in the morning and algorithm application in the afternoon. More than 10 speakers from Lazada’s tech team shared best practices and intimate knowledge on topics ranging from user growth to advertising algorithms and eCommerce campaigns.
During the event, Lazada’s tech team showcased how technological innovation is achieved in the context of Southeast Asia’s diverse and segmented eCommerce market. Over the years, Lazada has been investing heavily in new technology, and its product and technology architecture have been key to the company’s long-term development.
“At Lazada, we are investing for long-term, sustainable growth. Our infrastructural robustness and scalability will continue to pay dividends as we innovate and forge ahead into the future,” said Lazada Group chief executive officer Chun Li.
Three Stages of Technological Evolution
According to Howard Wang, Lazada’s chief technology officer, the company went through three stages of technology evolution.
The first stage began when Lazada was born in 2012, when the eCommerce market in Southeast Asia was still at a nascent stage. The team took a pragmatic approach to adapt whatever technologies that worked to support the platform’s rapid growth in market share.
As Lazada expanded, challenges to the platform’s technology system scalability and stability surfaced. As part of Alibaba Group’s ongoing investments into the company, Lazada’s technology architecture and infrastructure was re-platformed in 2018 and its core eCommerce platform was revamped, signalling a technology leap to the second stage of faster operations and innovation.
During this second stage, merchants and consumers saw a marked improvement to Lazada’s online capabilities. Many, in particular, were impressed with the much smoother experience of mega campaigns.
“We were lucky to be able to quickly upgrade our technologies, which has since become one of the platform’s key competitive advantages,” Wang said. “The upgrade enabled much higher scalability, stability and robustness of our technology system. We have since seen remarkable growth in multiple areas, evidenced by the launch of an array of new initiatives to enhance both merchants’ and consumers’ experience.”
Lazada Group Chief Technology Officer Howard Wang speaks at the company’s inaugural Tech Open Day.
The second stage also saw Lazada become the pioneer of eCommerce Shoppertainment in Southeast Asia. Tapping into Alibaba’s 20-plus years of knowledge and experience, Lazada started in 2019 to roll out features such as in-app livestreaming and interactive games.
Finally, the third stage of development kicked off in 2020 and focused on further localising Lazada’s technology to address the diversified needs of users in Southeast Asia and to ultimately empower greater business growth. Despite the pandemic, Lazada successfully launched a new logistics platform with Project Apollo, which allows the company to centralise its network and data management, better allocate and control routes, and more effectively manage costs.
The successful launch of Project Apollo demonstrated the strong ability of Lazada’s tech team to quickly innovate and adapt to pandemic-era challenges. Driven by Michael Lang, who leads Lazada’s logistics technology team, the project was carried out as a collaborative effort between around 500 staff across multiple locations in Southeast Asia and China. The system completed five rounds of testing and was put into use within three months.
Lazada’s third stage of tech innovation also highlighted the key role that artificial intelligence plays in the company’s digital infrastructure. Based on a deep understanding of user behaviour gleaned through machine learning, AI technology helps enhance the core efficiency of eCommerce by accurately meeting various segmented consumer needs. Alibaba’s industry-leading AI platform also powers Lazada’s search and recommendation engines as well as its advertisement products. As such, product page views supported by Lazada’s search and recommendation engines have increased by more than 100% year over year from 2018 to 2020, and the company’s buyer conversion rate has seen a year-over-year uplift of over 20%. Lazada also opened a new technology centre in Beijing in July. The centre focuses on R&D and AI technology application in eCommerce and specialises in algorithm engineering, product, user growth, search and recommendation among other areas.
Constant Innovation, Constant Growth
Thanks to these breakthroughs, in the past year alone, Lazada has grown its annual active consumer base to 110 million and monthly active user count to 150 million. The technological advancement has also resulted in a significant uplift in logistics efficiency.
Currently, Lazada’s AI team consists of around 200 algorithm engineers in Singapore, Shenzhen, Beijing and Hangzhou. Committed to constant innovation, the AI team is building out a new advertising system, Phoenix, that features OneBP – a unified business platform – and OneEngine, a unified online advertising engine. The system is supported by an intelligent operations platform and a data feedback platform to ensure higher operations and data-processing efficiency. It also provides Lazada’s brand partners and sellers with easier access to more diversified advertising products and marketing solutions and enables their products to be better matched with their target consumers.
Lazada’s continuous investments in technology has been its key competitive advantage, putting it miles ahead of competitors in terms of system stability, seller and brand enablement as well as customer satisfaction. With this technology architecture and strong infrastructural foundation built up over the years, Lazada has become not just a digital marketplace but a platform that empowers both businesses and consumers.
