Category: Business & Commerce

July 15, 2021
By Goh Chen Zan

COVID-19 has had a profound impact on every aspect of our lives, from how we shop and how we work to our mental and physical well-being. As the situation continues to evolve, there has never been a more pressing need for businesses to reexamine and reconfigure their strategies. To attain sustainable growth in this changed world, businesses must take a 3Rs approach.

Rediscover Categories

It takes an average of 66 days for a new behavior to become automatic, and after a year of living with COVID-19, we’ve definitely seen the development of some new consumer purchasing behaviors. It is imperative for businesses to discover and embrace these changes. Taking the fast-moving consumer goods category as an example, NielsenIQ observed record growth for products such as cooking ingredients, staple foods and cheeses, as consumers shifted from dining out to eating more at home during the pandemic. Consumers are also downtrading on some categories, like tobacco, while trading up on categories for loved ones, such as their babies, parents and pets. In Indonesia specifically, gifting behavior during the festive season shifted from indulgent products to staple items, according to Kantar.

Other than impacting consumer habits, COVID-19 also redefined the outlook of the FMCG category significantly. For fashion, RedSeer predicts that Southeast Asian consumers will deprioritize style and put more emphasis on function in the future. They’ll also be better disposed to sustainable and preloved products.

Reposition to Grow

Changes brought on by the pandemic have implications to the plans and competitive environments of businesses. As such, companies need to fine-tune their value propositions, pricing and assortments, and future-proof their business models by leveraging technology.

For example, during the second annual collaboration between Lazada and Jakarta Fashion Week last November, many fashion labels and designers leveraged the eCommerce platform to reach wide swathes of consumers beyond their offline stores. The event also included “The Show of Hearts”, a livestreamed Lazada Style Space fashion show that gave participating businesses the opportunity to increase their engagement with shoppers, thereby increasing brand awareness and loyalty.

Renovate Strategic Plans

Last but not least, businesses must stay nimble to identify changes and unlock opportunities during and in the aftermath of the pandemic. The ability for businesses to tweak and refresh their strategies effectively will be a competitive advantage.

The long-term social, economic and health impacts of COVID-19 are still unfolding. Although vaccinations are underway, local economies in Southeast Asia are still facing a lot of uncertainties and challenges given the uneven inoculation pace in the region. Businesses need to be prepared and always look out for bright spots in the economy, including new opportunities that come with the rise in demand for online sales and services.

For more business insights, check out the Lazada Insider podcast.

Goh Chen Zan is a vice president at Lazada and leads the research function in the group strategy team.

May 13, 2021
By Thu Pham

Like so many other business owners in Vietnam, Nguyen Tien Trung found himself struggling to sustain his livelihood when the novel coronavirus broke out across the country. But when he was forced to close down his seafood restaurant, he decided to pivot online – a decision that proved crucial for him and his young daughter.

With lockdowns and other unprecedented offline disruptions caused by COVID-19, the 31-year-old single father realized he had to look to digital solutions if he wanted to provide for his child. He started doing research on different eCommerce platforms and eventually sold his most prized possession at the time – a motorbike – so he could use the money as capital to launch his first online business, selling home and living products on Lazada.

“I researched several different eCommerce platforms, but Lazada was the most suitable choice for sellers with no or little online experience,” Trung said, referencing the round-the-clock support the platform provides to new merchants.

Since joining Lazada, Trung has not only been able to connect with a vast customer base, completing his first order after only just four days of signing up, he’s been using the platform’s insights and resources to grow his store. He is vigilant about studying and analyzing his store’s metrics using Lazada’s real-time data dashboard and often adjusts his business strategy accordingly as a result. For example, after finding out that 95% of his orders came from South Vietnam, he relocated his business to Ho Chi Minh City and has since seen sales rapidly increase to VND25-30 million per week.

Trung has also taken part in Lazada’s mega campaigns, which have helped bring in hundreds of millions of Vietnamese dong in daily sales. While he had no experience in these sort of large-scale retail events prior to joining Lazada, the platform’s dedicated key account management team helped him easily – and quickly – find his footing and path to success. Not only did the team offer guidance on choosing the right products for campaigns, it also offered marketing support to help Trung better connect with and engage customers.

“The Lazada team helped me with new promotional tool and store setups and motivated me to do more livestreams. Because of this, I’ve become more confident in interacting with customers and have also learnt how to take attractive images and videos by myself to promote my products,” Trung explained.

Trung now spends his time between running his successful business and being a father. While it can be challenging at times, he says the flexibility of having his own online business means he can spend more time with his daughter, whether it’s to play with her or to make her breakfast and take her to school, while still being able to take care of his store’s operations and expand his own digital skills by taking courses at Lazada University.

Having experienced firsthand the benefits of using eCommerce, Trung has become especially passionate about encouraging his friends to start their own stores on Lazada and has helped them navigate the platform’s many tools and resources to optimize their businesses and drive traffic and conversions. Thanks to these efforts, many of his friends have achieved success since joining Lazada.

Trung himself has expanded his business with two more stores on Lazada that focus on electronic accessories and sporting goods. He also plans to open an online seafood store on the eCommerce platform in the future so he can utilize Lazada’s fresh-food delivery service.

“Running an online business is very interesting, and thanks to it, I can have more time to care for my daughter and maintain our livelihood,” he said.

Thu Pham is from Lazada Vietnam’s public relations team.

May 13, 2021
By Juliane Rose Sun and Zinc Tan

Adrian Goh is an authorised distributor of eco-friendly cleaning brand White Magic in Singapore and has been selling its products on LazMall, Southeast Asia’s largest virtual mall, for over four years. At the height of the pandemic last March, as more people turned to eCommerce, he began to notice more counterfeit White Magic products appearing online, which impacted his business as a direct result.

“There was a period of time when we saw that there was quite a fair bit of products carrying our brand name,” Goh said. He took steps to report the unauthorised sellers and counterfeit products, which included bamboo towels, multi-purpose melamine sponges, free-hand mop sets and accessories, to Lazada’s dedicated intellectual property rights protection team. Almost immediately, he saw how it helped his business bounce back.

“After we reported the counterfeit products and got them progressively removed, we actually saw a significant increase in our sales, somewhere close to 30%. Because when the counterfeits are removed, the buyers will go back to buying the original brands.”

Counterfeiters hurt businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises such as Goh’s, since they undercut prices and undermine the quality of brands. According to Forbes, counterfeiting was the largest criminal enterprise in the world in 2018, and sales of counterfeit and pirated products is expected to grow to $2.8 trillion by 2022.

To raise awareness of how patents, copyright and trademark infringements can impact daily life, the World Intellectual Property Organization in 2000 established World Intellectual Property Day, which has gained more traction in recent years due to the proliferation of online commerce and brands’ increased need to safeguard their intellectual property rights as a result.

For this year’s World IP Day, which happened on April 26, the theme focused on the importance of helping SMEs combat counterfeiters. In a video message for the event, WIPO Director General Daren Tang highlighted that SMEs account for 90% of companies in the world and 70% of global employment.

“SMEs are the engines, the unsung heroes of our economy. And yet for many of them, there is still a lack of knowledge about how IP can help them translate their ideas into products, and how IP can be a powerful tool for them to not just survive, but to also compete and grow,” he said.

“This year’s World IP Day reflects our mission to support SMEs,” said Alan Chan, Lazada’s chief risk officer. “It is why we are constantly collaborating with rights owners, customers and platforms to raise the bar on IP protection.”

Committed to protecting IP and product authenticity, Lazada is the first and currently only Southeast Asian eCommerce company with a dedicated Intellectual Property Rights Protection Team. The team serves three main functions: managing the system for reporting and taking down listings that infringe upon IP, using AI algorithms to automatically detect and remove suspected counterfeit listings and working with various stakeholders to advance protection for rights holders. The eCommerce giant’s IPR protection programme also includes an Intellectual Property Protection Platform – an easy-to-use portal for rights holders to submit takedown requests and also find useful resources. The platform now has more than 1,000 registered users, and, thanks to Lazada’s ever-improving technology, the average time needed to process a takedown request dropped by 35% between 2019 and 2020.

“Using data and technology, we strive to set the industry standards of what IP protection should be and bring more ideas to market,” Chan said.

For SMEs like Goh’s, these efforts by Lazada have helped ensure a safe and secure space that empowers businesses to reach their full potential.

“Lazada has put in quite a lot of effort into IP protection as opposed to other platforms,” Goh said. “It has placed more emphasis in this area to help protect sellers’ rights and benefits.”

Juliane Rose Sun is a manager in Lazada’s security risks and enterprise intelligence team, which works closely with brands to safeguard their intellectual property rights. Zinc Tan also works in the same team and supports the development of communication assets.

By LazBeat staff, with additional reporting by Jessica Horsan
April 15, 2021

Sugeng Wibowo was on his way to lunch on his motorbike when a pedestrian suddenly appeared from nowhere to cross the street. He fell as he swerved his vehicle to avoid hitting the pedestrian. Except for feeling some pain and soreness in his right eye, Wibowo, who was 17 at that time, didn’t think much of the incident. Over time, however, his vision seemed to deteriorate. A doctor later discovered a retinal tear caused by the fall. Wibowo underwent several long and painful surgeries, only to be told in the end that he would never fully regain his eyesight. 

The accident didn’t stop Wibowo from going to college and graduating with an engineering degree nor did it interfere with his skills and abilities. Still, with the stigma that unfortunately comes with many physical impairments, Wibowo struggled to find the job he wanted, which was to work for a multinational bank or consultancy firm. He sent out resume after resume, sometimes even with pictures of himself before the accident, so that prospective employers would not see that his right eye was impaired. But even when he made it to the interviews, he would be told that he failed to pass the required medical tests.

That was nearly two decades ago. Today, the 36-year-old father of two runs his own online business in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. He first ventured into digital commerce in 2013, setting up his own website to sell fragrances. A year later, one of his closest friends introduced him to Lazada, on which he launched his store, Toko Alona, selling home décor and bedding products.

WATCH: Sugeng Wibowo’s seller story

Toko Alona marked the first time Wibowo sold on an eCommerce platform, and the vast ecosystem of resources and support proved immensely helpful to him as an entrepreneur.

“When I ran my own online business, I had to do everything by myself, including creating and driving traffic to the site,” he said. With Lazada, not only has he been able to leverage the platform’s existing consumer base, its reputation as a trusted eCommerce destination has made customers feel more confident about buying from his store as well.

The eCommerce platform’s sophisticated technology has also played a major role in Wibowo’s entrepreneurial success. “With the data insights I get from Lazada, I can learn more about my consumers – what items they’re most interested in or what promotions they like – so I can better determine the next steps in business development,” he said.

Since launching on Lazada seven years ago, Wibowo’s business has allowed him to provide for his young family. In 2015, he expanded with an offline store on one of the main streets of Kaliurang, a small town just north of Yogyakarta. The business has also created jobs for those in the local community, including a dozen housewives whose work as tailors bring additional sources of income for their families. Even when the pandemic hit, Toko Alona continued to sustain the livelihoods of Wibowo and his staff. 

“As an online seller, customers do not care what you look like, they only care about the quality of the product,” Wibowo said, reflecting on the challenges of being seen as having a physical infirmity. “I’m thankful I followed my heart, gave this a try and now even have a brick-and-mortar store because of the success I had on Lazada.”

While continuing to grow his business, Wibowo has used his story to empower those with real or perceived limitations to achieve what they thought could not be possible. He joined the Yogyakarta chapter of Lazada Club, which covers a community of more than 150 sellers in the area and two other nearby cities and towns, and became a seller leader, volunteering his time to train and impart his knowledge and experience to other small-business owners and encouraging his friends and relatives to become online entrepreneurs. Once, an elderly woman at a Lazada Club gathering he organised approached him to ask for advice. They met again at another event a few months later and she thanked him because the advice she shared worked. Even though it was a simple gesture, it meant a lot to Wibowo to know he helped another person who had challenges to overcome.

“It’s my responsibility to encourage others,” Wibowo said. “I will continue to do that through my business and my work with the sellers’ community.”

By Daryl Teo
April 15, 2021

It’s been a little over a year since COVID-19 transformed the world. During this time, we have seen more than 40 million new internet users in Southeast Asia alone. This means that 70% of the region’s population now uses the internet, with more than one in three consumers being new to digital services.

We see signs of possible green shoots in the economy being fuelled by small and medium-sized enterprises embracing digital transformation, incorporating sustainability goals and adopting a mobile-first approach. Regional governments have launched several initiatives to help SMEs keep up with the digitalisation race. For example, Malaysia launched the Digital Economy Blueprint, which aims to accelerate adoption of digital tools and foster inclusion among the rakyat – ordinary citizens – and across all levels of businesses to eventually position Malaysia as the regional producer for digital products and solutions.

The key enablers of a mature digital ecosystem include payments, telco connectivity and digital adoption. We are seeing a liberalisation of mobile data price points as Mobile Virtual Network Operators come up with cheaper data-only plans for everyday mobile users. Handsets are also being launched at ever-more affordable price points globally. The proliferation of e-wallets and the subsidies doled out by competing companies serve to accelerate even more digital participation from all consumers. 

Amid this growing digitalisation, 5G network capability, if it can live up to its promise, will have a significant impact in the region through the following ecosystem of technologies, as outlined in a KPMG report:

• Artificial intelligence (AI): As more consumers join the online ecosystem, more data is created by their daily activities. With cloud computing costs exponentially reducing, AI is well-poised to offer more turnkey solutions and unearth deeper actionable insights. Increased 5G internet bandwidth can improve decision-making with machine-driven insights and support to help make sense of these new waves of data.
• Internet of things (IoT): New production capabilities have made sensors and their implementation more affordable. With a greater variety and volume of data collected, we are able to enjoy lower costs of operations with predictive maintenance capabilities and automate more tasks with smarter appliances. Coupled with the ultra-low latency that 5G brings, we could start commercialising a new wave of products, including semi-autonomous driving and healthcare robots.
• Robotics: With better and smoother internet connectivity, we can enjoy more applications with finer precision, such as robotic surgery and multipurpose response drones. With the unprecedented benefits of network slicing, when 4G networks get disrupted by urban fires, 5G offers the potential to continue disaster response with drones operated on a safe, secure and segregated spectrum band that continues to power essential communication.
• Augmented reality: With its higher speed and lower latency, 5G offers consumers opportunities to enjoy more immersive experiences as they work, study and play, even in remote areas. Schools can teach with simulations of real-life situations; sport events can have detailed overlays to feature fun statistics and work environments can be augmented with virtual reality meetings.

Enabling an inclusive and secure 5G ecosystem

While the universal roll-out of 5G technology may still take a number of years, we need to be mindful that its advent does not widen the digital divide between the haves and have-nots. With a deeper integration of technology into our everyday lives, we need to work collectively to ensure that the game-changing potential of 5G is inclusive and benefits the entire population. Sufficient support and educational opportunities must be incorporated to redirect gains from the digital ecosystem towards helping underserved populations also be part of the economic growth.

Security is critical here to protect the increasing amount of activity performed and logged on digital ledgers. With 5G technology bringing new dimensions of network slicing, fuelling more use cases running synchronously and autonomously with negligible impact on network latency and workload requirements, data security has to expand its role in safeguarding different authentications. Our increased internet dependency has to be corroborated with an elevated level of cyber defence.

With the right safeguards in place, the 5G ecosystem will not just be the fundamental underpinning of the fourth industrial revolution but can also deliver seismic benefits of edge computing. By allowing vast amounts of data to be parsed in mobile data centres at the edge of the data source and only passing back the results over the network to the corporate cloud, the technology increases features available on electronic gadgets.

While 5G’s ability to unlock a wider ecosystem of capabilities is revolutionary, the ability to leverage this ecosystem of technologies to empower brands and sellers, help consumers and ensure that communities live better is the real game changer. That is the true power of digital transformation.

Daryl Teo leads the regional government affairs and portfolio management functions at Lazada Group.

By LazBeat Staff
March 16, 2021

Part of Felix Yuwono’s job is to train up Lazada’s customer care team. Only, who – or rather, what – he trains isn’t your typical service representative but are the eCommerce platform’s artificial intelligence chatbots.

As one of the largest eCommerce platforms in Southeast Asia, Lazada has developed two AI-powered chatbots; the Lazada Customer Engagement Officer – CLEO for short – was created to cater to consumers’ needs, while another tool called ADA offers help to sellers on the platform. Not only are these chatbots available 24/7, they’ve been “taught” by Lazada’s dedicated AI training team on how to address questions and requests in real-time with a high degree of precision while still retaining the warmth of human interactions.

If a shopper wants to know about delivery options, for example, they can simply ask CLEO, which will be able to instantly share a full list of shipping options and rates. Or if sellers are unsure of how to maximise their sales, ADA is on hand to provide guidance on everything from logistics support to available campaign tools.

Despite the sophistication of these chatbots, Yuwono, the head of AI at Lazada Indonesia, emphasizes that they are designed not to replace but rather promote human capabilities.

“Sure, the chatbot can answer questions, but when it comes to complex problem solving with creativity and analytical thinking, that’s when the AI trainer plays a key role,” he said, adding that AI trainers shape the characters of artificial intelligence and help them understand different consumer questions as well as various styles of language, from regional dialects to colloquial slang.

While AI trainers are a relatively new profession, demand for them has grown in recent years as industries across the globe have accelerated their digitalization. In fact, according to a recent World Economic Forum report, it is estimated that machines and algorithms will create 97 million new jobs by 2025.

These jobs will play a particularly critical role in eCommerce – currently one of the fastest-growing industries in the global market – with AI trainers already key to creating comfortable, safe and engaging shopping experiences.

“At Lazada, the AI ​​trainer profession is truly an important part of our operations,” Lazada Indonesia CEO Ferry Kusnowo said. Thanks to these trainers, the eCommerce platform boasts a Chatbot Resolve Rate – the measure for the company’s AI-fuelled problem-solving – that’s higher than the industry average, Kusnowo explained.

The job of AI training, of course, is no easy feat, involving constant refinement and updates to algorithms. Because of this, AI trainers must not only be sophisticated in creating computer programmes but must also have the analytical skills and creativity to solve complex problems as they arise. They need to be able to fully understand the questions and pain points of users, check the data, come up with and implement solutions and also monitor the impact that those solutions have. And of top of all that, they must also keep up with the latest trends and recognize changes in communication conventions so that AI programmes can maintain the level of human-like conversation abilities that users have come to expect.

While the job may be demanding, Yuwono, who was named Global Champion for the Best Use of Self-Service Technology and Best Technology Innovation at the 2019 Contact Center World Awards, says that it’s precisely these challenges that make AI training such a rewarding vocation, especially at a time when digitalization is becoming increasingly essential.

“Being an AI trainer pushes me to always build, measure and learn,” he said. “As our technology continues to evolve and advance, it’s important that we as humans also keep up with the latest in digital innovations.”

By Emma Paterson
Feb 16, 2021

Last August, Adidas rolled out its “Two Worlds Collide” Super Brand Day on LazMall, Lazada’s premium B2C channel, featuring exclusive “Star Wars” shoes to coincide with the 40th anniversary of “The Empire Strikes Back”. The limited-edition sneakers were inspired by key characters from the “Star Wars” franchise, including Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Yoda, the Stormtroopers and C3PO.

Lazada engaged key opinion leaders to showcase exclusive product launches across various local markets and also created a range of marketing activities that were aligned with the brand’s campaign concept. These included a “shoefie” photograph contest and mini games on Facebook and Instagram to drive engagement, such as one that asked users to help Lazzie, Lazada’s mascot, to find a pair of exclusive “Star Wars” sneakers hidden in a maze in the shape of the eCommerce platform’s logo.

Adidas’ Super Brand Day generated sales that were doubled that of the brand’s 2019 figures for 11.11 and helped drive lasting impact even post campaign, with business-as-usual sales growing by more than 50% after the August event. Over 60% of the consumers that day were also new to the fashion category, demonstrating the ability of such campaigns to increase customer acquisition while boosting traffic and brand awareness.

“We saw fantastic results that stemmed from two hugely committed teams – Adidas and Lazada – working together with an entrepreneurial mindset,” said Amit Dasgupta, Adidas’ vice president of brand and eCommerce in Southeast Asia.

Inspired by Alibaba’s Tmall campaign of the same name, LazMall’s Super Brand Day is a 24-hour shopping event akin to a brand’s exclusive 11.11 event and showcases the best deals and co-branded experience for existing fans as well as new customers. Through creative storytelling and social activations that include games, contests and KOLs, businesses can drive sales and elevate brand awareness at the same time.

Since its first Super Brand Day in July 2018 with M.A.C Cosmetics, Lazada has partnered with more than 50 brands and activated more than 100 selective campaigns. Participating brands have recorded more than 40 times uplift in sales compared to their daily averages, more than eight times in sales compared to mega campaigns like 11.11 and up to six times follower growth in their stores.

Super Brand Day was the first of Lazada’s “Super Series” of campaigns provided to brand partners to elevate their online presence and utilise the best of the eCommerce platform’s ecosystem solutions and resources to drive followers, buyers and sales growth. Also part of the series is Super Brand Parade, a multiday initiative that empowers brands to design engaging, thematic shopping experiences for their consumers.

Super Brand Parade was inspired by a regional campaign collaboration between Lazada and L’Oréal in June 2020 when L’Oréal wanted to create a special campaign to “bring beauty back” to shoppers in Southeast Asian countries that were starting to emerge from lockdowns.

Karan Kansal, L’Oréal’s eCommerce APAC director of consumer products division, explained that the brand didn’t want to create just a sales event but a celebration. That’s why it partnered with Lazada to host a three-day marathon affair, anchored on a “Back to Beauty” theme, that included everything from livestreamed content featuring celebrities to games, special promotions and even augmented reality technology.

“We were thrilled to partner with Lazada, leveraging their technology like LazLive to connect with our consumers online,” Kansal said. “During this Back to Beauty campaign, we showcased livestream tutorials and creative look inspirations to help everyone express themselves, whether they’re staying indoors or heading out. It was a high-impact, integrated marketing event.”

By creating an integrated, customer-focused experience powered by Lazada’s technology and other resources, Super Series events have helped strengthen LazMall’s partnerships with key brands, especially in areas of logistics infrastructure and fulfillment capabilities, said Jessica Liu, Group President and Head of LazMall at Lazada.

Lazada also recently added to the series Super Brand Openings, which aim to help consumers experience the largest online brand launches on LazMall, and Super New Arrivals, which are designed for savvy shoppers to be the first to get the latest products.

“LazMall campaigns deliver benefits far beyond campaign day, by step changing the brand’s daily baseline performance on Lazada,” Liu said. “A key objective for Lazada is to propel the growth of all our brands and sellers. Campaigns, including those in our Super Series, are a proven avenue to drive longer-term buyer and sales growth.”

Emma Paterson is a senior vice president and the head of top brand solutions within the regional LazMall operations team at Lazada.