Author: C. Phua

Categories
Business & Commerce Entertainment

Behind the Scenes of Lazada’s Super Shows

Lazada Super Shows

By LazBeat Staff
Dec. 16, 2021

On the evening of November 10, LazLive lit up with star-studded performances in the countdown to 11.11, the biggest one-day shopping festival in Southeast Asia. The spectacle, an example of Lazada’s famed Super Shows, garnered more than 7 million views through the eCommerce platform’s in-app livestreaming channel and was also broadcast through social media and TV networks across the region.

Originally launched region-wide to celebrate Lazada’s birthday in 2019, Super Shows have become integral parts of the eCommerce company’s large-scale shopping festivals. They are the epitome of Lazada’s “Shoppertainment” strategy, bringing together A-list celebrities, amazing products, incredible deals, giveaways and tech-powered engagement tools to drive up excitement – and sales – for brands and businesses.

“Super Shows are there to create additional noise and increase awareness about Lazada’s mega campaigns,” explained Neil Trinidad, the chief marketing officer of Lazada Philippines. “It’s the hype and anticipation the day before leading up to midnight of the actual event day. You want to drive those watching the Super Show to the Lazada app, have them add the products we feature into their carts and have them place their orders.”

This strategy has proven extremely successful. This year’s 11.11 Super Show generated three times the gross merchandise value from its live broadcast compared with last year. A significant amount of this GMV came from sales generated from voucher redemption during the show.

A key reason for this success is the amount of thought and effort that goes into every Super Show. it can take close to three months for a show to go from conceptualisation to actual broadcast. To ensure cohesiveness across all six markets where Lazada operates, the regional branding team usually comes up with the overall concept and headline acts, and the local teams will then identify additional celebrities, ambassadors, key opinion leaders and other features and mechanisms to tailor the show to their target audience.

The Lazada 11.11 Super Show.

Every show is also carefully designed to best amplify the mega campaign it’s promoting, explained Su Woon Ng, senior manager for content at Lazada. “For example, Lazada’s Birthday Super Shows tend to be performance-heavy concerts, while the ones for 11.11 usually have a more gamified format where brands are well-integrated within the segments. But the consistent features across all our gala shows are the interactive giveaways and brands’ seamless integrations within the show concepts. It’s a strategy that helps build our shoppertainment identity in the region,” Ng said.

Already behemoth undertakings, the production of Super Shows has become even more complex in the last two years as a result of the pandemic. While previous shows took place in front of live audiences, Lazada has had to shift these shoppertainment extravaganzas online with a hybrid format that includes pre-recorded performances and segments interlaced with Lazada’s many live customer-engagement tools, such as Voucher Rain, Balloon Rain and Shake It.

The virtual format has allowed audiences to still enjoy Super Shows in a safe way amid the ongoing pandemic and has even boosted traffic and guided GMV on the Lazada app. The challenge, however, is that viewers can leave at any moment during a livestream, which is why it has been of the utmost importance for Lazada to ensure all its virtual Super Shows are jam-packed with exciting and innovative content that engages with audiences and retains their attention.

This year’s 11.11 Super Show, for example, featured more than 80 celebrities, including K-pop group Seventeen, who wowed viewers across Southeast Asia as Lazada’s first regional Happiness Ambassadors. In addition, in Thailand, Lazada featured contestants from its first reality talent competition, LAZ iCON, during its 11.11 Super Show, much to the delight of fans in the country, who by early December had cast up to 20 million votes for their favourite contestants on the app. Similar localisations were made to other Super Shows across the region.

“All the challenges of putting together a Super Show and trying our best to make that magic happen are worth it because the end results are so rewarding,” said Trinidad. “Our Super Shows are celebrations and a way of giving back to our consumers for continuously supporting our brand.”

Sophia Hung, Ting Ting, Kim Martin Viray, Kris A. Aquino and Chanakarn Asawasathapon from Lazada’s regional and country marketing teams contributed to the article.

Categories
Business & Commerce

Lazada Singapore Lights Up Orchard Road
with Online-to-Offline Pop-up

Lazada Pop-Up Showcase Singapore

By LazBeat Staff, with additional reporting by Catherine Yang
Dec. 16, 2021

It’s a bright December day in Singapore, and the main shopping precinct of Orchard Road is aglow with the holiday spirit. This year, as part of the Orchard Road Business Association’s Christmas on A Great Street campaign, an all-new shopping experience is using digital technology to connect brands and consumers for real-life festive fun. Bathed in the warm and welcoming scents of renowned aromatherapy brands such as Pristine Aroma, the Lazada Pop-Up Showcase gives shoppers a chance to literally step into the world of LazMall and LazMall Prestige with in-person showrooms that display exclusive products from more than two dozen brands.

“We talked to different brands to get them to participate in this pop-up store. With their support, we managed to bring this to life and to see this wonderful pop-up with all these products,” said Josephine Wong, the manager of LazMall’s channels and experience.

The pop-up is split across two showrooms that run until January 2. At the LazMall showroom, guests can peruse items from popular brands such as Casio, Garmin, Lego, Metro, Muji, Playline Friends, Pristine Aroma, Rebecca Minkoff, Restrosuperfuture and WMF. During the campaign’s launch on December 1, shoppers were also treated to a preview of the Lazada-exclusive Dick Bruna x LeSportsac collection featuring beloved characters Miffy and Black Bear.

“The Lazada Pop-Up Showcase was the perfect opportunity to debut our Winter 2021 Dick Bruna Collection,” said Kien Koh, LeSportsac’s head of marketing and public relations for Singapore. “After months of connecting with our customers mostly online, it’s great to see the smiles on shoppers’ faces when they see our products in person.”

Lazada Orchard Road Pop-Up
The LazMall pop-up showroom on Orchard Road.

Meanwhile, at the showroom for LazMall Prestige, Lazada’s channel for premium labels, shoppers can browse through a carefully curated selection of products from the likes of Bacha Coffee, Bang & Olufsen, Estée Lauder, Furla, HERA, Lancôme, Longines, Michael Kors, Moët Hennessy, Sulwahsoo and Vertu.

Aside from the impressive line-up of brands, what sets the pop-up apart from traditional brick-and-mortar stores is the fact that it’s integrated within Lazada’s eCommerce ecosystem, using the platform’s technology to make holiday shopping even more fun and convenient. For example, instead of waiting in line for the cashier and then lugging their heavy purchases home, shoppers can simply scan a QR code next to any product to buy it online via the Lazada app and have it delivered directly to their doorsteps.

The showcase is the latest effort from Lazada to pioneer online-to-offline – also known as O2O – retail experiences across Southeast Asia. In April, the eCommerce giant unveiled Come Home to Lazada, a furniture and homeware pop-up concept at Singapore’s Raffles City Shopping Mall that brought together the joys of in-person shopping and the conveniences of online retail. The platform has also done a similar O2O pop-up at Thailand’s Siam Center shopping mall.

“After the amazing success of the pop-up event at Raffles City Shopping Mall earlier this year, we wanted to celebrate the expansion of LazMall Prestige, our premium product channel, on LazMall. And as the official eCommerce partner of the Orchard Road Business Association, there is no better way to connect with shoppers than in the heart of Orchard Road with an online-to-offline engagement,” said Lazada Singapore Chief Operating Officer Carey Chong.

LazMall Prestige Orchard Road Pop-Up
The LazMall Prestige showroom displays exclusive products from premium brands.

Indeed, while eCommerce soared in popularity as a safe and even essential way to shop during lockdowns and other health and safety measures during the height of the pandemic, as more countries slowly open up and looked ahead to a new normal, O2O experiences offer an immersive way for brands and businesses to reach and connect with consumers.

“We are delighted to be part of this pop-up showcase. As the retail landscape continues to evolve, we are excited to partner with Lazada to explore more innovative ways to engage with our consumers both online and offline,” said Belinda Kwai, the global marketing manager of Bacha Coffee.

Being so much more than a point of purchase, the Orchard Road pop-up also features fun activations, such as an Instagram-worthy photo wall with Lazada’s heart-shaped logo, gift-wrapping workshops as well as a mystery-gift vending machine where shoppers can buy miniature products from top-tier brands for just SGD2 apiece. Lazada app users can also take advantage of a “Deals Nearby” function, which shows a list of participating F&B outlets in the area where they can enjoy discounts at in between their holiday shopping.

“We wanted to create something that could spread joy in Singapore this festive season,” explained Paige Lee, the strategic partnerships manager of Lazada Singapore. “With this pop-up, we hope that shoppers can find the perfect gifts for their loved ones and enjoy the holidays together.”

Categories
Inside Lazada

Koonlanan Hongsakul (Earng), 24,
Community Manager, Lazada Thailand

Koonlanan Hongsakul

Dec. 16, 2021

Our “Humans of Lazada” series takes a look at the professional and personal lives of the more than 8,000 people who work at Lazada. Click here for more stories from this series.

Listen to Earng in her own words (English version)
(Thai version)

“Since my high school days, I have always enjoyed outdoor activities and extreme sports, such as scuba diving, freediving, surf skating and wake surfing. Realising that I had a passion for extreme sports, my dad suggested that I try race car driving. He’s an avid motorsports fan and foresaw that I would take a liking to racing. I guess it was also my parents’ way of providing an outlet for the speed demon in me – they would rather I race on the tracks in a car built to protect me and with a safety team that is always on standby than have me speeding down Bangkok’s highways!

One of my favourite things to do while I was still taking racing classes was to hit the Bira Circuit in Pattaya with my dad as part of our weekend activities. In 2020, I decided to participate in the Idemitsu Super Turbo racing event at Chang International Circuit in Buriram. That was my racing debut. I came in third in the division 3 NA junior race and fourth in the overall division 3 race. I’ll never forget the rush, the adrenaline, the feeling of being with other race car drivers and the sense of overcoming a challenge. After that, I was hooked. 

To excel in the sport, practice is important. Usually, two days before a race, I’ll drive for two hours to Bira Circuit or five hours to Chang International Circuit so I can practice on the race track.

A lot of people think that racing is about speed, but it really is about staying focused, anticipating and navigating the bends in the road, and applying just the right amount of brake. Brake too much and you lose momentum. Brake too little and you might crash into a wall. I’ve crashed a couple of times. The thing about crashing is that you always know when it’s about to happen, but there is really nothing you can do except to let go of the wheel. I’ve learned the hard way that if I don’t let go in time, I usually end up hurting my wrists on impact.

There still aren’t a lot of women in motorsports, but I have seen more girls taking it up in the last few years, which is encouraging. There are also pro drivers like Nutjung Tanchanok and Nattanid Leewattanavalagul who are making their mark and they are an inspiration to girls like me.

I’m grateful to have this opportunity. I hope I can continue racing for as long as I can, because the one thing racing has taught me is that no challenge is ever too tough to overcome. It’s always possible to learn to do something you thought was impossible.”

This profile was compiled by Norasikin Bte Ahmad from the Lazada Regional Communications team.

Categories
Inside Lazada

Zulkifli Zain, 33, Transport Operations,
RedMart and Lazada Singapore

Zulkifli Zain

Dec. 16, 2021

Our “Humans of Lazada” series takes a look at the professional and personal lives of the more than 8,000 people who work at Lazada. Click here for more stories from this series.

“Ten years ago, nobody believed in online groceries. Everyone was just going to supermarkets and wet markets. But I wanted to see what online grocery shopping was all about, and if it really could be a good alternative to my weekly trips to the supermarket, so I took my sister’s advice and dove into the deep end by joining RedMart.

I was then fresh out of National Service and was just a young kid trying to learn the ins and outs of the business. I saw how quickly RedMart grew, from getting 20 orders a day to 80 daily orders in five months.

At that time, we were at the Pasir Panjang warehouse, which was about 90 square metres. It was very small, and the racks were stacked about 5 metres high from floor to ceiling. We only had one ladder, which was bulky and heavy. We wanted to work fast, so we often climbed the shelves on our own without the ladder. Those were the days! Now with automation and shelves that are at accessible heights at our new 350,000 sq ft warehouse, we no longer have to scale them. We also used to have to remember where items were located, but now the system does it for us.

We are usually at our busiest during year-end mega campaigns, namely 9.9, 11.11 and 12.12. I remember my first mega campaign with Lazada. I couldn’t even imagine what to expect, but everyone in the transport team was so hyped about it. We did a lot of pre-campaign planning, where everyone would gather and run through checklist after checklist to make sure that everything from the technology to the network to operations were in tip-top condition and ‘battle-ready’.

On the day of the sales event, I remember standing in the middle of the warehouse and looking around to see everything running like clockwork. All the pre-planning was worth it. Everyone knew exactly what to do, who to look for and what to expect. That was when I understood why shopping festivals like 11.11 and 12.12 were important. They bring everyone together to produce this beautiful artwork.

Not everyone has what it takes to work for a start-up company. It was an amazing opportunity and I’m glad I took the plunge! Now, like thousands of households in Singapore, I get my online shopping and groceries delivered to my doorstep!”

This profile was compiled by Sherwin Loh from Lazada Singapore’s public relations team.

Categories
Business & Commerce

Lazada Sellers on ECommerce,
Innovation and 11.11

11.11 Sellers

Nov. 16, 2021
By LazBeat Staff

While COVID-19 continues to impact Southeast Asia’s economy, it has also highlighted the resilience and ingenuity of humankind. This spirit has perhaps been best illustrated by small and medium-sized businesses owners across the region who have found innovative ways to tackle pandemic-related challenges.

Faiz Daffa Fathullah is one such example. The 19-year-old owns Antarestar, a store that sells outdoor and sporting equipment on Lazada Indonesia. At the beginning of the pandemic, his business suffered a loss as many popular hiking and outdoor activity sites were closed to stem the spread of COVID-19.

“I was thinking hard about how to survive in this pandemic era. I also didn’t want to lay off employees because during this pandemic, it’s hard to find job,” he said. Instead of feeling defeated, the young entrepreneur turned to Lazada’s Bocoran Peluang feature, which provides insights into potential and in-demand goods, and also researched market trends to develop new products that met emerging needs of pandemic-era consumers. “This strategy worked and helped increase sales so that we could survive,” Faiz said.

Entrepreneurs Empowered by ECommerce

Faiz is not the only entrepreneur who has harnessed the power of eCommerce during this tumultuous time. As the fourth wave of COVID-19 swept across Vietnam, Vu Duy Khanh, a Lazada seller for the past six years, opened his third store, Vuon Nha Me, on the platform to get high-demand agricultural products to consumers. Despite having no previous experience in selling fresh food products online, Vu said Lazada’s dedicated support and robust logistics network allowed him to deliver goods to consumers quickly and safely.

“The fourth pandemic wave in Vietnam has seriously affected the retail market. However, thanks to Lazada’s support, my stores can maintain a certain growth during this difficult time,” Vu shared. During the 11.11 one-day shopping festival last week, Vu’s new store sold more than 400 kg of vegetables and 4,000 eggs, recording a 150% increase in orders as compared to a normal sales day.

With its low entry barrier and its wide array of tools and resources, Lazada has become the go-to platform for many sellers, especially new ones such as Rizqi_Enterprise founder Muhammad Naqib Bin Othman.

“I wanted to enjoy the flexibility of running my own business and spending more time at home,” said Naqib, who recently left a decade-long career in the film industry. His store on Lazada sells children’s clothes to parents who are unable or reluctant to shop at brick-and-mortar stores during the pandemic. Aside from being able to set up this store with very little capital, Naqib has benefited from the many forms of support offered on Lazada, including training courses hosted by Lazada University as well as various marketing and promotional tools. These resources allowed him to get his business quickly off the ground, and despite only launching in June, he’s already participated in several mega campaigns, including 11.11.

WATCH: Six Entrepreneurs Share Their Stories

11.11: An Event with a Difference

As Southeast Asia’s biggest one-day shopping festival, 11.11 has become a major source of optimism for sellers amid the ongoing pandemic. In fact, this year’s 11.11 saw more than 800,000 participating sellers and brands, a number that was double that of last year’s.

Bangkok-based Nana Coffee Roasters, for example, started selling its beans online via Lazada after business at its physical locations plummeted due to the lockdown. Seeing promising results, Nana decided to take part in its first 11.11 this year as a way to recover from earlier losses and also to continue building up brand awareness. “We were very excited because we heard that this is the biggest event that Lazada hosts,” said Nana Coffee Roasters founder Wasin Kusakabe.

Being relatively new to eCommerce, he added that Lazada’s support has been crucial: “We’ve received a lot of tips and tricks on how to market and engage with our customers. It really helps to bolster our sales and our confidence in selling online.” This 11.11, his revenue skyrocketed by more than 5,000% compared to that of an average day.

The significance of 11.11 continues to be unmatched even to eCommerce veterans like Gesika Baylon. Baylon started her Philippines-based skincare store Greenika on Lazada in 2018 and took part in her first 11.11 the following year. “We couldn’t believe our eyes when we saw the results on our dashboard,” she said. While her business easily generates seven-digit incomes during weeklong mega campaigns, her biggest revenue of the year still happens during 11.11. “And it happens in just one day,” she said.

In the lead-up to this year’s 11.11, shoppers collected more than $410 million worth of Lazada Bonus vouchers. And to understand just how much this excitement means to sellers, one only needs to look at the amount of preparation online businesses have undertaken in the past few months. According to Lazada’s Digital Commerce Confidence Index, four out of five sellers revealed that they were increasing their inventory levels and 47% said they would bolster their workforces ahead of 11.11 and other mega campaigns. Buoyed by the year-end shopping festival season, 76% of the 900 sellers surveyed said they were expecting more than 10% sales growth this quarter.

“11.11 is the biggest campaign of the year. A lot of buyers come in and buy things, and the way they spend money is different from other campaigns or normal days because Lazada also offers a lot of attractive vouchers, discounts, giveaways and things like that,” said Liang Wee Ling, who operates the mother and baby products store 8miles on Lazada Singapore.

Liang spent four months preparing for this year’s event to ensure that she would have adequate stock and also packing capabilities. It’s a lot of work, but the benefits, she says, are more than worth it. Aside from the on-the-day boost to traffic and sales, 11.11 plays a crucial role in ensuring a business’ long-term success. Not only are sellers more likely to receive ratings for orders during 11.11, they gain exposure to more shoppers, many of whom have a high chance of becoming regulars.

These benefits are what make 11.11 a truly special occasion. As Liang put it: “You must join 11.11. It is something you cannot miss.”

Categories
Social Responsiblity & Sustainability

Shopping Festivals Deliver Support to
Thailand’s Visually Impaired Communities

LazadaCARES Thailand

Nov. 16, 2021
By Kwang Pimchaya

For five years, Pattanachai Sakkawee sold street food just outside a mall in one of the busiest parts of Bangkok. Come rain or shine, the 36-year-old would set up his stall and prepare kang tai pla pad hang, a deliciously spicy southern Thai dish of fried fish kidneys that locals usually eat with rice. He loved his work, especially getting to know his customers, and was able to generate enough money to support his wife and three children, the youngest of whom is only four months old.

But when the pandemic hit Thailand early last year and malls shuttered as a result, Sakkawee’s family lost its only source of income. The economic impact was exacerbated by the fact that Sakkawee, who is blind, had limited access to other job opportunities.

While the ongoing pandemic has affected all corners of society, its impact has been most acutely felt by the disenfranchised. According to an International Labour Organisation study released in June, the COVID-19 crisis has been particularly detrimental to Thailand’s vulnerable groups, especially informal workers like Sakkawee. The report said the number of working poor in the country was expected to rise to at least 11% of the total employed population this year.

As president of the Thai Association of the Blind Community, Sakkawee is well aware of the plight of those like himself. The foundation provides support to some 30,000 people with visual impairments. Many of them worked as masseuses, sold lottery tickets or sang on the streets – occupations that became unviable during the lockdown.

“We were receiving numerous requests for help from our members and others from visually impaired communities,” Sakkawee recalled. It was at this time that Lazada Thailand reached out to his association to offer help in the midst of the pandemic. “It was like a miracle,” he said.

WATCH: The Thai Association of the Blind Community Receives LazadaCARES boxes

The eCommerce platform was looking for ways to help Thai communities affected by the pandemic. Working with some of its brand partners, it launched LazadaCARES during its 9.9 shopping event to donate and deliver care packages to nine charitable organisations, including the Thai Association of the Blind Community. Through this initiative, Thai shoppers were able to convert their LazCoin rewards into care boxes that contained a variety of daily essentials, such as instant rice porridge, cereal, bottled waters, vitamin waters, antibacterial shower gels and bathroom cleaning products. During the campaign, a total of 99,999 care boxes were delivered to those most affected by the pandemic and recent floods that had swept across the country.

“The LazadaCARES boxes came at the time we needed them the most, during the many months when we couldn’t go out to work,” Sakkawee said. “We are so grateful to the brands and shoppers who participated in this campaign. Because of their generosity, more than 20,000 households with at least one family member who is blind received care boxes.”

Seeing the overwhelming support for the LazadaCARES initiative, the eCommerce platform extended it for 11.11, its biggest one-day shopping festival. Boxes delivered during this campaign contained mainly medical items and healthcare supplies, such as COVID-19 test kits, oximeters, thermometers, alcohol gels and face masks.

As the nation starts to open up again and as vaccination rates rise, the prospect of being able to return to work is welcome news for many like Sakkawee, although it’s still tinged with an awareness that the pandemic is far from over.

“We are glad we can be going back out again to work, but who knows when we may have to shut down again,” Sakkawee said. “We can only take each day as it comes, but I think the best of humanity also shines the brightest during dark days. I’m sure that we can overcome whatever challenges are still ahead of us.”

Kwang Pimchaya is a manager with the public relations team at Lazada Thailand.

Categories
Inside Lazada

Khadijah Shamsul, 31,
Seller Engagement Senior Associate,
Lazada Malaysia

Humans of Lazada - Khadijah Shamsul

Nov. 16, 2021

Our “Humans of Lazada” series takes a look at the professional and personal lives of the more than 8,000 people who work at Lazada. Click here for more stories from this series.

“I’ve always looked forward to 11.11 because, as an avid bargain hunter, I know 11.11 always has the best deals. My family and I usually save all our ‘wishlists’ for the year and wait for 11.11 to arrive. That way we get to reward ourselves for the hard work over the year with the best bargains!

About nine months ago, I joined Lazada. So this 11.11 was extra special, because it was my first with my favourite eCommerce platform and I got to be part of the team behind all these great deals that shoppers like myself look forward to every year. And this year, I know what it took to make the magic happen when the clock strikes midnight on 11.11.

Preparations for this biggest one-day sales event start as early as September for the seller engagement team. This year, we kicked off the preparations by setting up a resource centre for sellers on the Lazada University portal to keep them informed in the lead-up to the event. We worked closely with our participating sellers to source and ‘hunt’ for the best products, so that we could offer our consumers a variety of assortments at the best prices. Through Lazada University and our Facebook community group, we educated sellers on how to draw up ‘must-buy’ lists and promote their products. We provided trainings on leveraging livestreams and reward features, and gave them tips on using the right tools to help drive visibility and traffic.

My colleagues were telling me that in pre-pandemic days, the team would organise a countdown event in the office, and Lazadians would stay up all night to watch the sales numbers on dashboards while eating midnight meals together and celebrating when they’ve hit their targets. Even though I’ve yet to experience it this year, I’m more excited than ever to get my ‘wishlist,’ because I know all the hard work it took for that to happen!”

This profile was compiled by Chiah Siow Yen from Lazada Malaysia’s public relations team.

Categories
Inside Lazada

Pham Thi Thao Hien, 24,
LazLive Livestreamer, Lazada Vietnam

Humans of Lazada - Pham Thi Thao Hien

Nov. 16, 2021

Our “Humans of Lazada” series takes a look at the professional and personal lives of the more than 8,000 people who work at Lazada. Click here for more stories from this series.

“My story with Lazada began two years ago, when I was engaged as a freelancer to emcee for a booth game at Lazada Vietnam’s 11.11 seller conference. Some of Lazada’s livestreaming (LazLive) team members approached me and asked if I would like to become a professional livestreamer. At that time, livestreaming was only just gaining some traction in the eCommerce world, and I was still pursuing an information security degree in university, so I didn’t jump at the opportunity right away. But the team was persistent! They contacted me again about a month later and changed my mind. Looking back, I think it was meant to be.

Today, in addition to hosting livestreams, I also produce the shows. In 2020, a year into the job, I worked with the LazLive team to launch and host a new series called “Slash-It” for 11.11. It was a first for a mega campaign in Vietnam. The initiative attracted millions of viewers and, before I knew it, people started to call me the “Queen of Slash-It”! Never in my dreams did I think this would happen. Introducing shopper-viewers to the best products, engaging with them online and helping our brands boost sales are what I love most about my job. As we celebrated the one-year anniversary of “Slash-It” last week, I was just grateful and glad to be part of this journey of bringing a new way to shop for people, many of whom have been homebound for many months. This is the future of retail, and it’s exciting to be a part of this future.”

This profile was compiled by Thu Pham from Lazada Vietnam’s public relations team.

Categories
Entertainment

Lazada Thailand Launches Pop Idol Competition

LAZ iCON

By LazBeat Staff
Oct. 14, 2021

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.”

WATCH: LAZ iCON promo clip

Categories
Business & Commerce Social Responsiblity & Sustainability

Why Trust and Safety is Essential for eCommerce Platforms

Lazada Trust and Safety

By Alan Chan
Oct. 14, 2021

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.

Alan Chan is Lazada Group’s Chief Risk Officer.